Cape Girardeau's nuisance abatement team down to one

As part of his job, Ben Rhymer has trapped raccoons and netted tropical parrots. One of his more memorable calls came when a woman reported hitting a mountain lion with her car near Cape County Park.

"When I got there, it was clearly a coyote," Rhymer said. "But she was convinced it was a mountain lion and told us the city ought to hire people who could tell the difference."

Being a nuisance abatement officer with the Cape Girardeau Police Department requires an understanding of state and municipal laws and a hefty knowledge of animal behaviors, illnesses and breeds.

In a city this size, it's hardly a one-man job. But right now, every complaint about a stray dog, every call about a yard filled with junked cars or discarded furniture and every tip about an abused pet will make its way to the 25-year-old Rhymer, the city's sole remaining nuisance abatement officer.

Officers responded to 7,155 nuisance abatement complaints last year -- over half of which were animal related. But presently, the abatement team is short-staffed.

"We have plenty of things to do," Rhymer said. "That's never really been a problem."

Animal responses can mean corralling loose pets, investigating neglected or abused animals, collecting wild animals inside the city and cleaning up "road kill." Rhymer can impound domestic, wild, stray, injured or unwanted animals, including reptiles and birds.

"Usually, there are several calls holding when I start my shift," he said. "Then I take them and run them down, in addition to taking calls that are radioed in."

He enforces leash and rabies control laws, investigates reports of animal bites, and when necessary, performs humane euthanasia. Before euthanizing an ailing animal, he has it examined at a clinic. The decision is never easy, he said.

Rhymer also investigates zoning complaints, trash violations and unlicensed vehicles. In any given day, he may issue a dozen warnings or a handful of summonses. He testifies in municipal court as needed. And at the end of a shift, Rhymer enters his daily activities into the department's record system.

"There's a lot more to this job that what most people see," he said. "There's a lot more time-consuming things."

10 more weeks

The workload will remain overwhelming until Rhymer finishes training a new co-worker, Jeff Poole, over the next 10 weeks and until a new abatement supervisor is picked to replace Aaron Baughn, who resigned this month to take a position in the St. Louis area.

Fortunately, winter isn't a growing season and weed complaints are rare. Rhymer has managed to stay current on the daily reports and is concentrating on other kinds of complaints.

"I'm just trying to hit on the major things until we get restaffed again," he said. "Then we can start getting the minor things, as well."

Officers issued 210 summonses for animal, trash, weed and zoning violations in both 2002 and 2003. However, they responded to nearly 25 percent more calls. Rhymer said the increase was because three team members worked together up through October, as opposed to two in 2002.

The increased activity may have influenced more residents to cooperate with officers after being contacted, because written warnings decreased from 2,668 to 2,101 in that same period.

It tends to be the same 10 percent of offenders earning the citations, Lt. Mark Majoros, commander of special operations, said. He complimented the abatement team on their 2003 totals.

"They did one heck of a job, this year," he said.

The department is budgeted for three abatement team members. Majoros didn't know when a new supervisor will be named. Rhymer has applied, though the spot may be filled by another applicant, he said.

The Scott City native has worked for Cape Girardeau for a 16 months. He took the job because he thought it would be interesting and out of love for animals. He has a pet chocolate Labrador retriever at home.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160