The heartwarming true story of the demanding and rewarding life of an animal control officer, wife and mother. Her passion to make a difference shines through during exciting animal rescues and funny situations to scary police raids and gang encounters. The story is told with warmth, humor and most of all compassion for mans best friend and the other animals and people that make up her world. Follow along as the author adopts and trains a wild mustang and a terrified Great Dane and deals with the trials and triumphs of of the job. Attempts to balance career and home life will leave you with a smile. Animal lovers of all kinds will enjoy this entertaining and joyful book.

“By investigating the . . . connection between the . . . shelter and the community . . . vastly expands . . . notions of intersectionality, democracy, and inclusivity.” —Leslie Irvine, American Journal of Sociology Monster is an adult pit bull, muscular and grey, who is impounded in a large animal shelter in Los Angeles. Like many other dogs at the shelter, Monster is associated with marginalized humans and assumed to embody certain behaviors because of his breed. And like approximately one million shelter animals each year, Monster will be killed. The Lives and Deaths of Shelter Animals takes us inside one of the country's highest-intake animal shelters. Katja M. Guenther witnesses the dramatic variance in the narratives assigned different animals, including Monster, which dictate their chances for survival. She argues that these inequalities are powerfully linked to human ideas about race, class, gender, ability, and species. Guenther deftly explores internal hierarchies, breed discrimination, and importantly, instances of resistance and agency. “Powerful and timely. . . . Katja M. Guenther unlocks the shelter door and eloquently explains this complicated and contested multispecies space, as she reflects on issues such as witnessing, vulnerability, advocacy, grievability, compassion, and animal resistance.” —Carol J. Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat “In this compassionate, incisive ethnography . . . Katja M. Guenther illuminates the entangled injustices that shape human relationships with other animals.” —Lori Gruen, author of Entangled Empathy “With the perfect balance of intimacy and analytical depth, the author reminds us of how messy things can get when caring and killing become one, or when the value of the animal companion's life is measured by the race, gender, and zip code of the owner.” —Bénédicte Boisseron, author of Afro-Dog

A story with the crackling excitement and visceral intensity of Underworld crossed with the political intrigue and monstrous family dynamics of The Sopranos. Brooklyn Animal Control is not your run-of-the-mill social services agency, and the officers assigned to it are not your average caseworkers... They are a breed apart. These street-hardened veterans negotiate a dangerous secret world in the heart of New York City, one inhabited by werewolves that roam the streets by night, and their human alter-egos who by day infest the hidden back rooms of the criminal elite. Which of their forms is more viscous is open to debate... but both are equally deadly!

Local governments in North Carolina take the lead in traditional animal services activities, ranging from rabies control to dangerous dogs to animal cruelty. Many local governments go beyond the minimum requirements of state law and offer comprehensive animal services programs as a general public service. This book is designed to provide an overview of the laws that apply in many of the key animal services areas. While it includes a significant amount of legal detail, the book is not intended to be a resource only for legal professionals. Rather, the goal is to provide information that is accessible and useful for all local government officials interested in and involved with animal services, as well as for the general public. Topics covered in the book include criminal and civil animal cruelty, dangerous dogs, rabies control, nuisance and at-large animals, animal shelters, service animals, exotic animals, the statewide spay/neuter program, and much more.