Real quick here, because my hope is this person is going to get out of jail soon and come back home before they lose their animals… and maybe face some more charges…
I get dispatched to call from a pet sitter who has been hired to feed a person's animals while they are traveling. His concern is, the animal owner was supposed to be home last week, and isn't, and isn't answering their cell phone. And the sitter has already paid for more dog food which has now run out, and he isn't sure how much longer the cat food, rabbit food, parrot food and fish food will hold out. Also, due to the above, the animal owner was reported "missing" to our local sheriff's department, and the landlord has also been unable to contact them and apparently the rent is overdue and there is now a 3-day notice to vacate tacked to the apartment's front door.
So I meet the pet sitter, go inside, and observe food, shelter, water for everybody, (2 dogs, 4 cats, a rabbit, a giant cockatoo like Berretta had, only this one talks some kind of gibberish like it has only been exposed to science fiction TV, which makes sense since there is a TV pointed at its cage with some weird science fiction show on permanent reruns) and some fish in a tank. I see that one of the dogs has some major eye problems and is presenting with pain, and see the empty bottles of eye drops associated with glaucoma treatment, and also that the rabbit looks like it has been living in a wire cage forever and has some type of mange, ocular discharge and a lot of wounds related to the shitty cage conditions it lives in.
I call sheriff's and they tell me I have to call homicide division, since they deal with missing persons.
"WTF? I am supposed to get ducks out of storm drains, and you want me to talk to homicide? "
"Their phone number is xxxxxxxx."
So I call homicide division.
"What can you tell me?"
"Nothing. This report is only a week old, we haven't done anything on it yet."
"I have to kill this person's dogs, cats, rabbit, bunny and fish, unless you can find them for me, or next of kin." (Exaggeration works.)
"I'll call you back."
My partner and I take the dog with the glaucoma and the rabbit with "ignored forever in cage" syndrome, and begin making plans to figure out what to do with the other dog and the bird and the cats and the fish.
Then I get a call back from homicide.
"Your person is alive."
"Awesome, that is good news."
"They are in custody (in a city out of state.)"
"How can I get in touch with them?"
"I can't tell you."
"Thanks."
I call the other city, and after talking to maybe 5 different folks who work for this city I get a hold of the right person.
"Do you have so and so?"
"Yes."
"Can I speak with them?"
"No."
"Will they be free to speak with me soon?"
"I doubt it."
"I will have to kill their animals if I can't find out when they will be back to their home (in my state.)"
"Hang on."
(No hold music, for all I know I have been hung up on.)
"They are getting arraigned in 2 days."
"Do they have a lawyer?"
"I don't know."
"How do I find out?"
"You can write them a letter." (I am given an address to the jail with a case number.)
Now I start to think about asking prying questions, which is an investigative technique I have learned from watching CSI-Miami and also NYPD Blue.
"What is their bond?"
"$50,000."
"What are they being charged with?"
"Prostitution."
"$50,000 for hooking?"
"And possession of an instrument of crime."
"What the fuck is that?"
"I don't fucking know."
"Okay, thanks for your help."
So as it stands now I will be feeding a dog, 4 cats, a bird and some fish until I can figure out how to get in touch with this person. The agency I work for is cool in that if there is a way we can get the animals back to the owner, and enforce proper care, we will. I just hope the instrument of crime isn't a deal breaker.
