PHOENIX – A special warning system has been installed in a Peoria Police Department patrol car that will protect a police dog from the excessive Arizona heat.

A mat placed on the floor of Officer Aaron Brewer’s patrol car will detect when his dog is present.

If a dog is in the car and a handler removes the car keys from the ignition, the engine will keep running.

If the car’s air conditioning fails when the handler is away and the temperature rises above 90, then a siren will sound.

Once the alarm goes off, the handler has three minutes to get to the car and disable it before a message is dispatched.

If the handler can’t be located, Peoria police will send officers to the vehicle’s last known location.

The system starts working when the dog gets in the patrol car.

“You don’t have to turn it on or off,” Peoria police spokesman Mike Tellef said. “The dog getting in turns it on, and the dog getting out turns it off.”

High temperatures during much of the year in the metro Phoenix-area can be deadly to animals left inside a vehicle.

Tellef believes Peoria was the first police department in the country to install the system, which cost about $800 to $900.

“From listening to Officer Brewer talk about the unit, it does place him a little more at ease,” Tellef said. “But he insists that he still has the responsibility for the care of his K-9 partner, and this unit helps add additional safety if he gets distracted.”

Only one system has been installed, although the department does have another police dog handler.

“We want to make sure it’s going to work the way we want it to (before installing it into more vehicles),” Tellef said.

At least 30 dogs died in an East Mesa mobile home fire that authorities have labeled “suspicious,” because the tenant had been evicted the day before, authorities said.

The animals, apparently belonged to a woman who had hoarded as many as 50 dogs, ranging from Chihuahuas to Labs, with the intent of rescuing them, neighbors said.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s spokesman Doug Matteson said investigators have been called to the location a number of times in response to zoning violations over the past few years.

The owner of the property, identified as Beth Schmeltz, had apparently lived there with her husband, who was not identified, and had collected a variety of junk in addition to the animals.

Maricopa County Animal Care and Control was working with animal rescue groups to help the remaining dogs.

The East Mesa area where the fire occurred is in a county island and is not covered by Mesa police or fire.

Rural/Metro Fire Capt. Dan Caudle said the fire was being investigated as an arson because the Schmeltzes had received an eviction notice the day before the fire started.

“Obviously that raises red flags with the investigators,” he said.

Caudle said Scmeltz and her husband had been evicted by the landlord two years ago but had never left.

He said that because the house was so cluttered, investigators had not been able to determine an obvious point of origin of the fire.

Caudle added that he was initially told that 12 dogs had died the morning of the fire but did not have updated information.

The clutter both inside and outside the singlewide trailer helped fuel the blaze, Caudle said.

A bobcat at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

COTTONWOOD – Three people in the central Arizona community of Cottonwood were attacked by a bobcat, including two men who were bitten by the animal after it wandered inside a bar.

Officers called to the Chapparal Bar on Main Street arrived to find the bobcat in the parking lot , and they shot and killed it.

Tests were ordered to determine if the animal was rabid.

Cottonwood police say about an hour before the bar attack the animal attacked and scratched a woman who had gotten out of her car after thinking she had hit it.

A short time later, police got a report of a bobcat acting aggressively toward a woman outside a Pizza Hut.

About 11 p.m. came the call from the bar that a bobcat was inside attacking people as patrons climbed atop bar stools to get away.

Animal lovers in Arizona’s smallest city and its largest county can now earn cash for helping to protect four-legged friends.

Hefty rewards are being offered in South Tucson and Maricopa County to people who report dogfighting and other acts of animal cruelty.

South Tucson, at 1 square mile, and the 9,224-square-mile county announced programs this week.

The South Tucson reward program, headed by the Tucson Dog Protection committee, offers up to $2,000 for information that leads to charges against Tucson Greyhound Park.

The Tucson Dog Protection ordinance, which passed on the November ballot, dictates better care for the park’s racing dogs.

Greyhounds at the park must not be left in their cages more than 18 hours each day, not be fed raw or diseased meat, and may not be given steroids.

“We are hoping that a cash reward might encourage someone who is on the fence about reporting a violation to come forward,” said Susan Via, a retired assistant U.S. attorney and head of Tucson Dog Protection.

“It is the law and it is going to be enforced,” she said. “Sometimes a financial push is all that is needed to get people to report it.”

Track general manager and CEO Tom Taylor could not be reached for comment.

Maricopa County’s program, headed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Humane Society of the United States, offers up to $5,000 to those who report dogfighting and other animal abuse.

Arpaio estimated that his office is housing about 200 animals inside a former jail in downtown Phoenix, including 15 pit bulls that were seized from rapper DMX, who is serving time in the county’s “tent city.”

Cockfighting and dogfighting are “undeniably cruel blood sports,” said Kari Nienstedt, Arizona director for the Humane Society.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

MESA – A 2-week-old baby died in Mesa after apparently being attacked by the family’s dog.

Mesa police Detective Steve Berry says police were called Wednesday night by a woman who said her daughter had been bitten by a family dog at her home.

Berry says officers found the infant in the living room with obvious bite wounds to the head, and that baby was unresponsive when paramedics arrived.

Berry says the mother had placed the baby in a low-lying bassinet or crib and that she discovered the attack when she returned a few moments later.

The parents’ names weren’t immediately released. However, Berry says the father is a Mesa police officer who was at work at the time while the mother is a police officer for the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community.

The dog, a chow, has been quarantined.

PHOENIX – The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the Humane Society of the United States are teaming up on a reward program to help stop animal fighting in Maricopa County.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced Tuesday a new program that will allow tipsters to alert the sheriff’s office of animal fighting operations in return for up to $5,000.

Kari Nienstedt, the Arizona director for the Humane Society of the United States, called cockfighting and dogfighting “undeniably cruel blood sports” and said that the sheriff’s enthusiasm to prosecute animal-cruelty offenders “makes him a great ally to have in the battle against animal fighting criminals.”

Arpaio and Nienstedt held a joint press conference Tuesday, against a backdrop of puppies.

They asked residents to be on the lookout for signs of dogfighting, including large numbers of pit bulls held in one location; training equipment for the blood sport, such as treadmills and tires hanging from trees; and gatherings of people at odd hours.

Arpaio estimates that Maricopa Animal Safe Hospice – the program teaches inmates to care for abused and neglected animals before putting the animals up for adoption – currently houses some 200 animals at the First Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix.

Among the dogs housed are 15 pit bulls that were seized from rapper DMX, who is currently serving time in Tent City. “He’s eating bread and water right now and his dogs are eating steak,” Arpaio joked in reference to DMX’s recent lockdown for allegedly assaulting an officer.

Arpaio said the new alliance with the Humane Society of the United States is a project close to his heart.

“I’ve always loved dogs-and cats,” Arpaio said. “A dog is a man’s best friend.”

Anyone with information about animal fighting is asked to call the sheriff’s hotline at (602) 876-7283. Identities are protected.

PHOENIX – Some people are finding it impossible to keep their horses as the economy worsens, leaving owners scrambling to sell or find shelters for their animals. They occasionally wind up setting horses free to fend for themselves.

Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford, wants to make it easier for horse owners to get information about shelters and to make sure that the shelters they contact can care for horses properly.

“A lot of people don’t realize when they get a horse how expensive it is, especially during hard economic times. They (often) end up turning animals loose,” Konopnicki said.

He has introduced House Bill 2178, which would require the state Department of Agriculture to create a registry of approved equine rescue facilities and to make that information available on its Web site and in its offices.

The bill, which has won approval from the House Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee and is heading to the floor, also would establish standards for equine rescue facilities that would be listed on the registry. They would have to be nonprofit organizations that maintain physical conditions and sufficient resources to care for horses.

“A lot of times people don’t realize that it’s not like taking in a dog,” Konopnicki said. “This bill aims to make sure that horse rescue centers know exactly what they’re getting into when they take a horse.”

Officials at the Department of Agriculture didn’t return several phone messages seeking comment on the bill. The department is responsible for seizing neglected or abandoned horses; animals that aren’t returned to owners are auctioned.

Holly Marino, who heads the Horse Rescue of North Scottsdale, said getting horses into shelters can save them from slaughter. While there are no longer horse slaughterhouses in the U.S., auctioned horses sometimes go to slaughterhouses in Mexico.

“We get horses from all over the country and do our best to get them healthy,” she said. “Horses are social animals and a lot of the psychological trauma they experience is healed just by being in a loving environment with other horses.”

Betty Welton, president of Healing Hearts Animal Sanctuary in Willcox, spoke to lawmakers on behalf of the bill, saying that some individuals and organizations wishing to provide shelter to horses aren’t up to the task.

“Well-intentioned people can sometimes get overwhelmed with the cost of caring for horses or the sheer volume of horses in need that we’re seeing today because of the economy,” Welton said.

Healing Hearts has 30 horses on its 54-acre property, but it can accommodate 60.

“Certain organizations are better organized and more equipped to handle certain things,” Welton said, “and we want people to have that information before they hand a horse over to someone who may be well-intentioned but can’t realistically care for a horse.”

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HB 2178

• Requires the Arizona Department of Agriculture to create a registry of approved equine rescue facilities.

• The department would have to make the registry available on its Web site and in its offices.

• To be listed on the registry, the facilities would have to be nonprofit organizations that offer physical conditions and care sufficient for horses.

Alexis Dorey, 11, reads at home with her dogs Charlie (left) and Gizzmo. Alexis is taking part in a new Humane Society book club.

Alexis Dorey is lost in the vast Alaskan tundra, with wolves as her only companions.

The fifth-grader at Holladay Intermediate Magnet School in Tucson is vicariously living the life of a 13-year-old Eskimo girl in “Julie of the Wolves.”

The book is the first selection in the Humane Society of Southern Arizona’s new Dog Gone Good Book Club. The free program is open to kids ages 10-14. The Humane Society is registering readers now for the book club’s first meeting Feb. 28.

Alexis is racing through the pages, eager to see how Julie survives.

“It’s amazing so far,” the 11-year-old said of the fiction book, written by Jean Craighead George in 1972.

Alexis loves to read with her dogs nearby: Gizzmo, a 5-month-old Shih Tzu and Charlie, a Wheaton terrier mix. She said the club is perfect for her, combining her loves of reading and animals.

Her heart especially goes out to homeless animals. “I like how the Humane Society rescues everything from geese to turtles,” Alexis said.

Heather Dorey said the book club and other programs for kids at the Humane Society are ideal for daughter Alexis, who wants to be a veterinarian.

“We got her involved to get her exposed to animals,” she said. “The book club is perfect because she loves to read.”

Heather Dorey predicts the program will inspire kids to read.

“It gives kids that might not be very interested in reading an opportunity to read for fun and to get together and talk,” Dorey said.

Said Alexis’ dad, Blake Hall, “I think it’s good to get involved just to learn basic animal responsibility.”

Through the book club, kids can discuss their thoughts and feelings about animal-related topics found in fiction, nonfiction, documentaries and current events, said Inge Koopman-Leyva, manager of children’s programs at the Humane Society.

The book club, which meets every other month, can help kids understand the importance of caring for animals, she said.

“Kids are sitting in front of TVs and video games too much,” Koopman-Leyva said. “The purpose of the club is to encourage kids to read, and what better way than to bring animal lovers and book lovers together?”

For more information, call 881-7405 or go online to www.hssaz.org.

Story Time for Pets

Reading out loud can be pretty scary stuff for some young children.

So why not try reading to a dog?

The Humane Society of Southern Arizona is launching Story Time for Pets on Feb. 28, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The program is for children ages 5-9.

“It’s to encourage kids that are shy about reading out loud,” said Inge Koopman-Leyva, manager of children’s programs at the Humane Society.

A dog is never judgmental and is always a good listener, she said.

Kids can read books about animals to a therapy dog that is accompanied by its trainer, as well as listen to stories. The free story time will meet every other month at the HSSA Education and Cruelty Prevention Resource Center, 3402 E. Kleindale Road.

For information and to reserve a spot, call 881-7405 or send e-mail to ikoopmanleyva@hssaz.org.

Megan Curtis, 5, reads to therapy dog Boomerang, a 3-year-old Australian cattle dog, at the Himmel Park Library. The Humane Society is starting a similar program this month.

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IF YOU GO

What: First meeting of the Humane Society of Southern Arizona’s Dog Gone Good Book Club, for ages 10-14

When: 10 a.m. to noon Feb. 28. Sign-ups are ongoing.

Where: HSSA Education and Cruelty Prevention Resource Center, 3402 E. Kleindale Road

Price: free

Info and registration: 881-7405 or ikoopmanleyva@hssaz.org

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SUGGESTED READING

Some popular animal books for children, recommended by the Pima County Public Library:

Ages 5-9

• “Officer Buckles & Gloria,” by Peggy Rathmann

• “Dear Mrs. Larue: Letters from Obedience School,” by Mark Teague

• “Eight Animals Play Ball,” by Susan Middleton Elya

• “Splat the Cat,” by Rob Scotton

• “Skippyjon Jones,” by Judy Schachner

• “Tacky the Penguin,” by Helen Lester

• “Way Out in the Desert,” by T.J. Marsh & Jennifer Ward

• “Wild about Books,” by Judy Sierra

Ages 9-12

• “The Black Stallion,” by Walter Farley

• “Catwings,” by Ursula K. LeGuin

• “Hank the Cowdog,” by John R. Erickson

• “Julie of the Wolves,” by Jean Craighead George

• “Shiloh,” by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

• “Warriors, the New Prophecy” (series), by Erin Hunter

Donna Rae Yuritic, who spends time as a chaplain for animals, hangs out with Honey (left) and Chico at a dog park in Scottsdale. Yuritic estimates there are 50 animal chaplains in the U.S. and Canada.

MESA – When one of Donna Rae Yuritic’s dogs died, she conducted a funeral that was attended by 25 mourners: 20 people and five dogs.

The Scottsdale woman is a trained and certified animal chaplain whose ministry serves “fish to fowl, hamsters to horses, cats, dogs and exotic animals,” according to her business card.

She will bless animals, perform last rites, conduct animal memorial services and be on hand with families when the vet determines euthanasia is the best option for a very sick pet.

Yuritic travels with an emergency bag that contains such items as holy water, toys to calm a stressed dog and different candles appropriate for rites for animals’ companions who might be Christian, Jewish or of other faiths.

The bag has prayer cloths that can be laid over a dog that has been put down.

Her Compassion for Creatures Animal Ministry provides “spiritual support for animals and their families.”

She estimates there are 50 animal chaplains in the U.S. and Canada.

Yuritic winces when people call themselves “owners” of animals because it suggests possession or control. Such creatures, she believes, are human companions – with souls.

“It is my personal belief that animals do not need any special graces or help from us to get to heaven,” she said.

Ron and Marilyn Ogden were heartsick when Lady Blue, a Queensland healer, died just days before her seventh birthday.

“She was just everything to me,” Ron Ogden said. “I went kind of berserk. My wife and I never ate for four days. I even asked God to take my life because I wanted to join her.”

Marilyn ordered Ron to see a doctor.

An inactive Mormon, Ron said he realized he needed a church to help them.

“I sat down and I went absolutely through the Yellow Pages” looking for churches and talking to staff on “how they felt about animals having souls,” he said. But no one’s response was suitable.

Then at a veterinary office, he found a pamphlet from Compassion for Creatures. Ogden called Yuritic, who was traveling as part of her main job as a tennis professional.

He shared his grief. They reconnected when Yuritic returned to the area, and the chaplain wrote a prayer for Lady Blue.

“We love Donna,” said Ogden, who lives in Glendale. “I get tears when I talk about her. Donna has been my spiritual mentor and has helped us out in so many ways that she is the most wonderful person that I have run across in my life.”

As a result, the Ogdens have embraced Religious Science and are active at New Vision Spiritual Growth Center in Scottsdale, where Ron, like Yuritic, is involved in the Animal Kinship Ministry that meets the third Sunday of each month.

Yuritic has taught and played tennis for more than 30 years in the U.S. and Europe and is the pro at Village Racquet and Health Club in Phoenix.

Out of her compassion for rescue animals, she became involved in New Vision’s Animal Kinship Ministry.

When a program called Chaplain of the Pets Program was offered at the church through Chapel of the Fields in California, Yuritic enrolled in the nine-month program and was certified.

Her next step is to complete some courses, write a paper and take tests, and then she will become an ordained chaplain. She must have an altar in her home and must have observed an animal euthanasia.

Yuritic has done animal blessings at WestWorld of Scottsdale and has conducted children’s events in which each child put the name of a pet on a white card with a helium balloon “and released it to heaven.”

With stickers and metallic signs on her van, Yuritic seeks to make her ministry known.

People commonly inquire, then say how much they wished they had had her services when their pets died.

She finds herself answering many questions about animals’ souls and helping people get comfortable with what is appropriate either when a pet dies unexpectedly or after a decline in health.

The pet industry has been thriving she said, as people spend freely for the comfort and reciprocal love of animals. It is exemplified in pet hotels, dog-sitters, dog walkers, portraits painted of one’s pets, biodegradable caskets, memorial services and elaborate urns to hold pet ashes, she said.

Even with the downturn in the economy, most people continue to indulge their animals, Yuritic said.

Yet, she said, there has been a disturbing trend of people abandoning their homes in the mortgage meltdown and leaving their pets behind.

“I know of a Doberman-shepherd mix that was left in a locked Chandler backyard with six puppies,” she said.

“She was nursing but she had no food or water.”

Many are uninformed about what can be done with a pet’s body after death, and veterinarians need to better educate clients, she said.

It’s illegal to bury dogs and cats in one’s backyard, but it commonly happens, she said.

One can pay for cremation and take possession of remains. Metropolitan Phoenix has a limited number of pet cemeteries, including one in Sun Lakes.

“If you leave your animal’s body (at a veterinarian) and you do not claim the body, the body is taken to the dump,” she said.

Yuritic offers prayers and blessings by phone, email or other means – and this time of the year, she offers pet prayers for holiday gifts.

Seat latches, GPS items for collars touted for safety after crashes

Many people allow their pets to scoot around, unrestrained, in the back seat of the car or in the bed of a truck.

In an accident, the animal could get loose and create problems for first-responders, which Phoenix rescuers believe could be a greater problem during the holiday travel season.

Phoenix fire officials on Wednesday hosted representatives from Bark Buckle UP, a pet-safety solutions provider that partners with public-safety agencies on consumer-awareness programs.

Bark Buckle UP designs vehicle restraints, primarily for dogs, that families use to kennel or protect them on the road. The company’s products reflect its belief that if seat belts save lives, then pets should be buckled up, too.

According to the company’s Web site, 82 percent of dogs travel in vehicles on family vacations.

Bark Buckle UP makes safety harnesses, leashes with seat-belt latches, vehicle kennels, and lightweight GPS tracking devices for dog collars, among other products designed as a safe way to transport pets.

Unrestrained dogs can create problems for firefighters, emergency medical personnel and police officers trying to organize a response to the already-chaotic scene of a vehicle collision.

Many dogs that are shocked from the trauma of an accident scene will snap at strangers and could delay rescue efforts, said Phoenix Fire Division Chief Mark Faulkner.

“The other concern is they get out and travel through traffic, get hit and cause another accident,” Faulkner said.

Former Paradise Valley Police Chief John Wintersteen was among a handful of national law-enforcement experts who called for more awareness about pet vehicle restraints during the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual conference earlier this month in San Diego.

Unrestrained dogs and cats trapped under cars or running around into oncoming traffic can create more tragedy after the original accident, he said.

“Oftentimes, there isn’t sufficient manpower to deal with the pet problem (at an accident scene),” said Wintersteen, who was among law-enforcement leaders from California, Connecticut, Nevada and New York who spoke about the issue at the IACP meeting.

Garter snake

A snake native to southern Arizona deserves endangered species protection, but the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has no resources to make that happen, the service said this week.

The northern Mexican garter snake’s listing is precluded by higher-priority species and will be reviewed in a year, the service said Monday.

“The northern Mexican garter snake faces significant threats in the United States and Mexico. However, we don’t have the resources at this time to engage in the listing process for all species nationally that warrant Endangered Species Act protection,” said Steve Spangle, Arizona field supervisor for Fish & Wildlife.

More than 250 species are candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act, leaving the service to prioritize plants and animals to take through the peer review, agency and public comment period. Though the service rejected the snake as a candidate in 2006, further declines in Arizona and Mexico prompted this week’s decision, the service said in a news release.

Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, is dismayed by the feds’ delay, he said.

“This is a very common tactic for them,” Greenwald said, referring to the Bush administration’s record on endangered species listings.

The center sued Fish & Wildlife over 282 species, including this snake, that have been named candidate species under Bush. Just 61 have been listed, Greenwald said.

The Clinton administration listed 521 and Bush’s father 231, he said.

The lawsuit calls for a schedule for listing of unlisted species deemed worthy of protection.

The sheer number of backlogged listings shows the Bush administration has not made “expeditious progress,” a requirement for precluded listing, Greenwald said.

The center is hoping for better progress under the Barack Obama administration, Greenwald said.

“We would hope for a schedule for all 282 species, including the garter snake,” he said.

The northern Mexican garter snake, which can grow to more than 3 feet, is native to northern Mexico, the southern half of Arizona and western New Mexico.

The snake lives in dense brush along waterways and has been threatened by non-native species that compete for food and by human development.

Because the species is threatened by non-native species, controlling those species – including crayfish, bullfrogs and some fish – could help the snake recover, Fish & Wildlife said.

Dr. Chris Visser works on removing three teeth from a Mexican jaguar at the Phoenix Zoo.

An Arizona veterinary dentist and his son, a human dentist, led a team of doctors in undoing life-threatening dental damage suffered by an endangered Mexican jaguar.

A rancher in southern Sonora had trapped the rare cat in a small box trap and kept him there for nearly 10 months.

The jaguar, estimated to be 3 to 4 years old, broke off all four of his canine teeth and ground three incisors to stumps trying to gnaw his way through the metal cage.

Mexican authorities confiscated the cat in January 2007 and placed him in a 400-acre zoo in Hermosillo.

“The tooth damage resulted in infection that could kill the animal. He experienced a lot of pain and needed the best medical care. That was not possible in Mexico,” said Dr. Benjamin Alcantar of the Centro Ecologico De Sonora, the state run zoo in Hermosillo.

Phoenix zoologists heard about the problem and called Dr. Chris Visser of Scottsdale, one of the leading experts in the country on the dental care of exotic animals.

Visser often donates his services to the zoo through his Aid Animal Dental Clinic in Scottsdale.

For the Mexican cat’s complicated work – four root canals and three extractions – Visser assembled anesthesiologist Victoria Lukasik and his son, Louis Visser, a dentist for humans who has trained in veterinary dentistry. Assisting were Dr. Brian de Guzman, a cardiovascular surgeon from St. Joseph’s Medical Center. The zoo’s chief veterinarian, Dean Rice, and Alcantar were also involved.

But the appointment had to wait a year until last Friday while the paperwork that spelled out the delicate process of shipping a protected species between nations was approved.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department, which partners with Sonora on a jaguar conservation project, accepted responsibility for the cat and its one-year residence at the Phoenix Zoo.

The U.S. has listed jaguars as endangered since 1997. Four have been spotted in the state near the border, although Phoenix was once part their range.

The cat’s procedure began at 7:28 a.m. Friday, when he was darted with an anesthetic as he dozed in the quarantine cage he is mandated to occupy for his first 30 days in the U.S.

Doped up, he was weighed, tipping the scales at 132 pounds, larger than the average weight range of 80 to 100 pounds for jaguars in northern Sonora.

The jaguar would stay under for the next six hours, monitored by Lukasik, one of the few board-certified animal anesthesiologists in the country.

First the jaguar’s teeth were X-rayed. Then the Vissers drilled, rinsed, ground and cut within his clamped-open mouth as his giant scarlet tongue flopped to one side.

Shawn Groves, a member of the zoo’s Dangerous Animal Response Team, sat nearby with a rifle in his lap, a precaution taken for all big animals. In eight years on the job, Groves has never fired a shot.

Lukasik was satisfied with the blood pressure readings, an area of special risk in veterinary anesthesia.

When the elder Visser stitched up the extraction sockets at about 11:30 a.m., he finally relaxed.

“One reason we can do this is the Pet Memorial Program,” he said, standing beside his sleeping patient.

The funding tool raises money to provide special veterinary care for the zoo’s animals. In the past two years, the effort has paid $200,000 for sophisticated technology, such as digital X-ray equipment, he said. Plans are under way to help equip the clinic at the Hermosillo zoo.

If all goes well, the cat will be on public display at the Phoenix zoo in three weeks. Visser will examine him in six months. A good report could signal the start of a breeding program, mating the visiting male with the zoo’s lone female jaguar. Meanwhile, his DNA will be studied.

Sgt. Charlotte Banks calls out to Beast, a 6-year-old female Belgian Malinois, at the kennel,

SIERRA VISTA – In late August and early September, Sgt. 1st Class Charlotte Banks found herself in charge of 62 military working dog teams providing part of the security coverage at the Republican National Convention.

Today, the 34-year-old is the kennel master for the 18th Military Police Detachment on Fort Huachuca, where there are a dozen teams of four-footed and two-footed soldiers providing security on the Army post.

Banks is one of two female kennel masters in the Army. One can tell she would like to be in the midst of handling dogs, but her current job is more administrative.

It’s hard not be part of a dog-human team as she did for more than half of her career as a soldier, said the 15-year veteran, who hails from Lavonia, Ga. “I would rather be on patrol with a dog,” Banks said.

But with rank comes more paperwork.

Those who have served in the military know the old adage that rank has its privileges. But, Banks said, “Rank also has its paperwork.”

Being a kennel master means ensuring human military police officers’ and dogs’ needs are taken care of.

Her responsibilities include being responsible for their training records, medical needs and food rations for the animals.

She arrived on the post in early October after a two-year stint as an instructor and supervisor at the Department of Defense schoolhouse for military working dogs and their handlers – officially, the 341st Training Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

Banks said most people do not know the importance of the military’s dog and human teams.

While the program is not new, today’s canines are trained to protect a soldier and to attack an enemy. They also are part of detecting drugs and explosives and as special search dogs, as well as the traditional mission of patrolling, she said.

A new job for dogs and handlers also is being a combat tracker team, which includes the dog locating explosives and tracking them back to the person who planted them, Banks said.

She said the ability of dogs is unbelievable, especially when it comes to their sense of smell.

The human equation in the team mix also is critical, Banks said.

Obtaining the right animal for missions has led her to being part of a traveling team to find dogs for the program.

In her travels, she has gone to Europe, where she and others in a buying team looked over dogs and decided that 120 of them fit the military’s needs, she said. The cost of the dogs purchased on that trip was more than $300,000. Over the lifetime of a military working dog, the cost for care and food probably ranges up to $40,000, Banks said.

For civilian pet owners who are concerned about the future of a dog, the animals are no longer “put down” once their military days are ended. Those that are adoptable find new homes outside of a military kennel.

And she would know. At her home is one of her former partners, a Belgian Malinois, named Tanja, who has adapted well to nonmilitary life. Her 6-year-old son Tristan keeps the 12-year-old animal going, the single mother said.

“He teaches her new tricks,” Banks said, shyly admitting the dog trainer in her has a hand in developing the relationship between Tanja and Tristan.

There is a special trust between the animal and the handler, and woe to any soldier who mistreats their partner, Banks said. The dog always has one rank higher than its handler, so mistreatment is akin to hitting a person of superior rank.

When she was in Minnesota, she watched as 35 teams came off a C-130 after completing a security mission at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

“That was impressive,” Banks said, adding some of them had been her students at the Lackland school.

An additional 27 military teams were at the GOP convention, which was the Department of Defense’s contribution to security at the event, she said.

In all, Banks estimates there were between 90 and 100 dogs involved in security at the Republican event.

As kennel master, she also is thinking of three human-dog teams currently in harm’s way.

The connection between canine and human for her began halfway through her job as a military police officer.

“Your adrenaline goes up when you are working with dogs,” she said.

A skunk is shown in this undated photo from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. State health officials say Arizona is on track to break a record for rabies cases, and encounters with rabid skunks are part of the reason.

PHOENIX – Arizona is on pace to break its record for animals testing positive for the rabies virus, prompting state officials to urge people to protect themselves and their pets.

The Arizona State Health Laboratory confirmed rabies in 162 animals this year, and those animals exposed 38 people and 119 pets to rabies, the state Department of Health Services said Friday.

The record was set in 2005, when the lab confirmed rabies in 169 animals.

Many of the cases of people and pets exposed to rabies occurred in the past few weeks, officials said.

A prized hunting coon from Pima County had to be euthanized last week after it was exposed to the virus and did not have prior vaccinations.

People are equally susceptible, and rabies has a 100 percent fatality rate for those who don’t seek immediate treatment.

Craig Levy, the Department of Health Services’ program manager for vector-borne diseases, said the rise has a lot to do with people being more diligent about turning over animals for testing and with neighborhoods being built closer to the wild.

“We do have more and more people encroaching into wildlife areas, which means more contact with wildlife,” Levy said.

But some rabid animals, such as bats, can fall into a yard regardless of the location, Levy said.

Because grounded bats look like mice, children often want to pick them up.

“Most people exposed in Arizona this year were playing with bats,” he said.

Recent incidents that led to Friday’s warning included a hiker attacked near Prescott by a rabid fox that also bit an animal control officer.

A striped skunk and a fox found near Flagstaff tested positive for the rabies virus, officials said.

Barbara Worgess, director of the Coconino County Health Department, said other cases this year have involved a bobcat and another skunk.

The latest cases were reported by people who noticed the animals hanging around neighborhoods, she said.

“Someone noticed (the skunk) was out during the day and acting weird, and the next day they found it dead,” she said.

Worgess said most animals in the area that are found to have rabies were exposed to a variant of the rabies virus carried by bats.

Owners can protect dogs and cats by making sure they receive rabies vaccines and booster shots.

Dogs should be kept on a leash in the wilderness to prevent contact with wild animals, officials noted.

Levy said children should be taught not to touch or play with an animal that looks sick or is acting abnormally.

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Tips

The Arizona Department of Health Services offers these tips for protecting yourself and pets from exposure to rabies:

• Don’t let pets roam off the leash in the woods.

• If you find a bat on the ground, don’t pick it up; call animal control officers.

• Keep pet rabies vaccinations up to date.

• If exposed to an animal that shows symptoms of rabies, seek immediate medical attention.

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On the Web

Arizona Department of Health Services:

www.azdhs.gov

Yuma teacher relies on guide dog to navigate campus

Suzanne Canole and her guide dog Sport stroll around the courtyard at Cibola High School in Yuma last month.

YUMA – There’s a new kid at Cibola High School this semester and he’s having a ball making friends and learning his way around campus.

But he’s going to have a dog of a time shaking the whole teacher’s pet thing.

Thank goodness Sport is at the side of a lady who not only loves and cares for him, but gratefully relies on him for being her constant four-legged companion.

“He’s a very loyal puppy,” said teacher Suzanne Canole. “We’re a good team.”

But while Canole and Sport are good pals, they aren’t old pals. The yellow Lab puppy came into Canole’s life about a month ago as the fifth guide to take up the post at her side.

“We’ve bonded real well, too,” said Canole, who has been blind since birth. “I’ve been so impressed with Sport, the way he sticks with me and follows my directions. He’s still got a lot of puppy in him, which I really like.”

Canole brought Sport home from the campus of Guide Dogs for the Blind Inc. in Boring, Ore. The nonprofit group has trained more than 10,000 guide dogs since it began 60 years ago. Dogs are given to clients at no cost, which Canole praised as downright generous given that the group’s investment in each dog comes to around $50,000.

A few weeks ago, the two were preparing for the start of the new school year by taking a quick tour around the high school campus.

“As you can see, this is kind of complicated. There are a lot of obstacles on a high school campus. It’s not just all hallways and right angles like most workplaces.”

Canole teaches students who are visually impaired or blind. She works for the Southwest Regional Cooperative and teaches at five other schools, too, traveling to and fro in taxis or with Dial-A-Ride, a service she advocated and helped bring to Yuma.

When Sport had a bit of trouble remembering his way back to her office, Canole discerned her location by hearing the clank of the flagpole rope to her right and the whir of an air conditioning unit to her left.

“It’s my job to know where I’m going, not his. That’s a myth people have. He steers me around obstacles and keeps me from falling off curbs, but it’s not up to him where we go.”

Canole says she already has 100 percent faith in Sport’s navigational abilities, but not just because he’s a smart and protective pup. He’s also been trained very well. That training begins early on with basic obedience and continues in obstacle course training where dogs are taught to ignore everything from nearby cats and squeaky toys to cars driving around them in traffic tests.

That training likely came in handy on school’s first day, when Cibola’s sidewalks were filled with lots of kids. She said that young people and adults often break the cardinal rule of guide dogs by attempting to play with them or shouting “Here, puppy!”

“I will literally stop and try to get the kid’s attention so I can explain ‘Don’t do that. This is a working dog and you should show it respect.’ I’ll make them apologize to my dog, too.”

She refuses, however, to hang the traditional “I’m a working dog” placard around Sport’s neck.

“I think that’s a put-off to people and that goes against our job. It is our job as people in the people-with-disabilities community to educate people and change attitudes.”

At work or at home Sport stays close to Canole, never farther than the next room. The longest the two are apart is when he must be let outside. Sport even sleeps next to his mistress’ bed.

Sleeping next to Sport is another good friend of Canole’s: That’s Journey, the guide dog who retired last year because her arthritis was getting bad.

Guide dogs in general may not always be as anxious to retire as their human friends, possibly because they simply enjoy the work. That is Canole’s theory.

But the dog isn’t the only one with a job in this relationship. Canole stressed that her part of the bargain involves just as much loyalty and dedication.

“Oh, I rely on my dogs and I let them know it. They have to know that they are loved and wanted,” she said, smiling. “If Sport is going to work with me then it is my obligation to make sure he is well taken care of and has the best of everything. I have to make sure he gets his heartworm medicine every month and that he knows he’s the No. 1 dog!”