Politics & Government

Montville's New Animal Control Officer Wants to Hear from You

Chris Martel Comes to Montville from the Groton Shelter, Where She Was Assistant ACO



Right off the bat, Chris Martel, Montville's new animal control officer, had to make some changes. A cat needed a home, and the Montville shelter just was not equipped for cats.

Martel came to Montville from her position as the assistant animal control officer in Groton. And Groton was able to donate two cat cages to Martel to use in the Montville shelter.

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At 29, Martel has been in animal control for less than a year. She has been working with animals for her whole life, though.

She grew up in Allenstown, N.H. Her parents got her her first sheep when she was 7. As a kid, she volunteered at the local Society for the Prevention of Cruely to Animals, and was a member of 4-H.

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For the past four-plus years, she managed an alpaca farm in Hampton. There were 130 alpacas on the farm, and three to seven employees. Martel did the record-keeping, ran the staff and cared for the animals.

"I pretty much did everything you could do without being a veterinarian," she says.

For six or eight months, she worked at the farm and worked in Groton, too. It was a lot of work, but manageable, she says. And it was a good way to get experience in animal control.

"I learned all the laws and statutes," she says, and that's a big part of the job. "As far as animal health and husbandry, I like to think I know what I'm doing."

In Montville, Martel is a department head, answering to Mayor Joe Jaskiewicz. She wears a badge and has an office in the police department. (An earlier version of this story had an incorrect police status for her).  She also finds herself an informal member of a regional animal control network, with ACOs from many towns reaching out to help her.

"All the ACOs in the region have been so helpful, so welcoming," she says. "I've got help coming from every direction."

Martel has plans for the shelter, and for herself as ACO. She wants to meet the community, and has already set up dates to visit local day-care centers and teach children how to be safe around animals.

She wants to visit the schools, meet kids and students, and educate them about taking care of their animals, and about the Montville shelter.

Martel says she had an excellent teacher in the Groton animal control officer, Donna Duso, a Montville resident. Duso taught her the job in Groton, and "has been incredibly helpful" with Martel's new position.

Martel is prepared for the tough parts of being Montville's ACO. Currently, the shelter is filled with ferrets, cats, guinea pigs and a dog. Martel found more than 40 animals recently in a Montville home, and took them from the home. Some of the animals are in Groton and in Ledyard. All are up for adoption; the case is under investigation.

In her first two weeks on the job in Groton, Martel had an animal-hoarding case involving more than 40 cats. That case is still under investigation, all these months later.

"It was very tough," Martel says. "I dealt with the owner and I felt bad for her."

Martel has had to euthanize animals.

"It's a fact of life," she says. "It's part of the job. Sometimes, it's what they need."

But, she says, "The good stories make up for the bad ones." Finding that perfect home, especially for a difficult animal, that makes every difficult moment worthwhile.

Two half-blind kittens came into the shelter in Groton, and Martel says she didn't know if they'd be adopted, with their disabilities.

A woman came in who'd seen the kittens on line and had fallen in love with them. It turns out that she had had a cat, now dead, who was blind in one eye, and had the same markings as the kittens.

"It couldn't have been more perfect," Martel says.

In her new job, she says, she has big shoes to fill. The former ACO, Jane Greenwood, had the position for 14 years. Greenwood made a lot of changes and did a lot of good.

In addition to getting into the schools, and reaching out to children, Martel plans to do some major fund-raising.

She wants to make people more aware of the shelter and what the animal control department can do.

"I want the community to use us for information," she says. "We have ways of helping people." Martel and her assistant ACOs can help low-income people get their animals spayed and neutered at clinics that happen throughout the state. She hopes to be able to offer vaccination clinics.

"I want people in the community to give me ideas," she says.

"The key to success is showing our value," Martel says. "We're here to educate, not just lock up their dogs and get their money."

An earlier version of this story had an incorrect status for Martel. She is not a police officer.


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