KITTY RESCUE: Saving kittens in the wild, or sometimes even pursuing them into a dumpster, is just one of many different jobs that Princeton Animal Control Officer Jim Ferry performs in a day’s work of caring for Princeton’s residents and its domestic and wild animals. (Photo courtesy of Jim Ferry)

By Donald Gilpin

Jim Ferry, Princeton animal control officer (PAC) since 2018, has been training for this job since he was a young boy growing up with his family in the Ozark Mountains in north central Arkansas, where he interacted closely with nature and wildlife almost every day.

His family lived in a wooded area at the end of a three-quarter-mile-long driveway. “Growing up in the Ozarks, I believed in being one with nature,” he said. “There is no animal control out in Arkansas, so if you had an issue with an animal on your property or nearby, you had to handle it by yourself.”

He described one of his first ventures into the world of animal control at the age of about 13. “We had two dogs at the time, and one morning they were very interested in the basement door, so I wondered what was down there and I went and investigated,” he said. A cat had gotten into the basement and given birth to a litter of kittens.

“Since my dogs were not exactly cat-friendly, I had to secure them, and then I called over to the veterinary group in town,” he continued. “They said, ‘See if you can get the cat and kittens into a box.’ We couldn’t keep them. My dogs would not allow that.”

Ferry borrowed his father’s welding gloves and easily caught the kittens, but the mother cat was a challenge. “She was still in the basement, so I had to corral her and get her into the cat carrier,” he said. “She put up a bit of a fight, but I eventually got momma cat and the babies over to the vet, and they transferred them to a shelter where they were adopted out. That was a memorable and interesting experience that I handled on my own.”

That was almost 30 years ago, and now, Ferry points out, the most common domestic animal complaint he gets in the PAC office is stray cats and kittens. Late spring to about this time of year is “kitten season” with the a very high possibility of kittens in the wild.

“When I do get a kitten call I pretty much go all out to make sure they are all captured,” he said. “They need to be weaned off their mom at about 5-7 weeks old, but the sooner you can capture them the better. They’re tricky to catch, but if you can get them all and get them into the shelter while they’re very young, they can be domesticated easily, get all their shots, get a vet checkup, and be adoptable. That’s super-important.”

Ferry went on to discuss some of the tricks of his trade. “I even have a box trick that’s worked well, and it’s straight from Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, with a string and a stick. I can lure them out from under a porch or whatever, and I can catch the entire litter of kittens in one drop. Then I don’t have to keep coming out to capture them one or two at a time.”

Sometimes, he noted, kittens will be hiding in a woodpile or in a dumpster. “And I go dumpster diving for them,” said Ferry. “I put on my knee-high boots and my gloves and go digging for them.”

Ferry has always had multiple animals around the house — dogs, cats, ferrets, hamsters, chickens, guinea hens, and more. “I’ve always understood the importance of pets and the companionship they provide,” he said. “In my opinion, a home is not a home without a dog or two.”

He has also been a hunter for many years. “Growing up in Arkansas, it’s something we did a lot,” he added. “Fishing as well, though animal control doesn’t really do anything with fish. But while you’re fishing you notice the wildlife around you.”

As the animal control officer for Princeton, Ferry helps to coordinate deer hunting. He noted two big concerns with the large deer population in Princeton: over browsing, which causes severe reduction in the growth of young trees; and car collisions.

Ferry said that the deer population and car collisions with deer have been significantly reduced in the past few years, and he noted that every deer that is harvested is transported to a butcher, processed, then donated to an organization called Hunters Helping the Hungry, which enables deer hunters to donate their animals to food banks in New Jersey.
Last year Princeton hunters donated over 4,000 pounds of venison to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Ferry said, noting, “None of the animals that we harvest are wasted.”

After graduating from high school in Arkansas in 2011, Ferry was looking for a change of scenery from his small town, and he decided to move back to New Jersey, where he had been born — in Trenton — and still had relatives.

In 2004 he started EMT (emergency medical technicians) training and began to work in emergency services and EMT firefighting. In 2007 he was hired by the Princeton Fire and Rescue Squad and at the same time earned his 911 dispatcher and police dispatcher certification. In 2014 he was hired by the Princeton Police Department as a 911 dispatcher.

When the position opened up in 2018, Ferry decided to make a transition to animal control, which is under the oversight of the Health Department. “I went through certification training, and I’ve been here ever since,” he said. “And, I’ve got to tell you, I really do enjoy it.”

In addition to his whole life spent with domestic and wild animals, Ferry noted that his work in emergency services provided him with skills and knowledge that have served him well in his current work. “I’ve been trained to help people get out of situations, whether they have to be cut out of a car after a car crash or they fall down into a confined space,” he said. “I’ve been trained to safely and effectively remove victims from certain situations, and the skills that I’ve learned have rolled over nicely into the animal control profession, [such as] whenever an animal is stuck in a fence or stuck in a soccer goal net — we have a lot of soccer goals here in Princeton, and we get geese or owls or even deer stuck in them.”

One of his most memorable calls concerning an animal entrapment was at the driving range at Springdale Golf Course where a great horned owl was trapped about 60 feet in the air in the huge net. “I got there and I looked, and I saw his leg was tangled, and his talon was caught in the net. The owl was alive and hanging upside down.”

Ferry called on his friends in the Fire Department, who brought over the ladder truck, and he was able to climb up, release the animal, put it in a cage, lower it down, and transport it to Mercer County Wildlife Center for rehab.

“That’s one of my favorites,” Ferry said. “Owls are amazing creatures. That was pretty neat to be able to put my hands on that animal and get it out of a terrible situation.”

One of the most important facets of Ferry’s job is monitoring the threat of rabies. “I get anywhere from three to seven rabid animals a year, mostly raccoons and an occasional groundhog or skunk or bat,” he said. He has also dealt with one rabid fox in the past five years. Typical duty hours for Ferry are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, but he is on call 24/7, 365 days of the year in case of an emergency.

If there’s any possibility of rabies exposure, like a sick raccoon in someone’s backyard where the family dog might have come into contact, a police officer would probably be sent out to observe the scene if it’s after normal work hours, and then Ferry would be called in to collect the animal for testing and to give guidance to the residents about their dog and whether or not rabies shots are needed.

At this time of year, bats in the house is one of the most frequent calls Ferry responds to. Other common calls might involve sick or injured wildlife and nuisance calls like a dispute between neighbors over a dog that gets loose. Dog bites and other animal bites are also cause for Ferry to respond, investigate, and determine a course of action.

Possible measures could include a 10-day quarantine of the dog for rabies observation and making sure the dog is up-to-date on shots. Ferry occasionally will issue a dog-at-large ticket, usually after a warning, and usually for a dog that repeatedly gets out and runs in traffic.

The new dog park in Princeton is “fantastic,” Ferry says, and provides a space for high-energy dogs that need a place to run. “We now have an area available for dogs to run freely,” he added. “I’m pretty excited about that. There’s no excuse now for letting your dog run loose anywhere else in town.”

Princeton does have a menacing-dog ordinance designed for dangerous dogs that have bitten multiple people, but Ferry said that he seldom has to issue a summons of that sort. With problematic dogs, he will usually take remedial action such as court-ordered muzzles or behavioral training with a reputable dog trainer with regular progress reports reported back to animal control.

Ferry pointed out that one of the best parts of the animal control job is reuniting a lost pet with its owner. He spoke about a call he received about a small dog on the loose, and when he drove out he found it wandering in the street. “I picked up this cute little white dog,” he said. “It was scared and shaking — clearly a pet.”

The dog had no collar, but before heading to the shelter, Ferry decided to drive around the neighborhood and see if he could find anyone out looking for a dog. “Usually you can tell by their body language,” he said. “They have a frantic walk, and they’re looking around constantly, not just walking for exercise. They’re looking for something.”

Ferry pulled up next to a mother and daughter who had that body language and were walking not far from where he’d picked up the dog. “The little girl must have been 10 or 11 years old,” he continued. “I opened the door to get out, and she looked at me and before I could even say anything, she broke into tears. ‘Did you find my dog?’ she said. ‘Do you have a little white dog?’”

Ferry described the scene. “She was so emotional and relieved and happy,” he recalled. “I popped open my back door where the dog was sitting. It was a cool moment. That was a great feeling. A dog that small is very susceptible to wildlife and traffic. It’s super simple and part of my job, but sometimes the gratification you get from residents makes it all worthwhile for sure.”

On the other hand, Ferry noted that the hardest part of his job is “the realization that many animals don’t make it.” He related how “a lot of times when I go out for an injured animal I do everything I can to free them from the situation they’re in and safely get them over to the wildlife center, but unfortunately the success rate of survival is not great. Sometimes that’s pretty hard, especially when you put a lot of effort and time and energy into the rescue of an animal and it doesn’t make it. The animals that make it are great success stories, but there are also many that don’t.”
Ferry, who lives in Hopewell with his wife and daughter, who turns 3 next week, stressed “the power of mother nature.” He noted, “We try to live in harmony, and I try to do the best I can to be the middleman between residents and nature and wildlife.”

For all animal concerns, call animal control at (609) 924-2728 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. After hours, call the police dispatch at (609) 921-2100, and they will notify Ferry.