California: Sheriff's animal control officer rescues wildlife in Vacaville

CALIFORNIA -- Vacaville is home to both humans and wildlife. Sometimes these two worlds collide and the outcome isn’t so good for the wild animal.

Solano County Sheriff Animal Control Officer Elizabeth Bokum said these types of issues make up about 60 percent of the calls she responds to — be it a resident’s dog which has encountered a wild animal or some wildlife that has come into contact with a car.

Luckily, Vacaville residents are quick to alert the Sheriff’s Animal Control Office when they see animals in need, said Bokum.

“It’s so awesome how the citizens call in,” she said.

The sheriff’s office received calls Feb. 18, about a deer in distress. Bokum first spotted the deer in a Solano Irrigation District canal near Midway Road. She called SID to have them unlock a gate to the canal so she could access the canal.

When she finally got access to the canal, she drove alongside it until she spotted the deer in the water near Eubanks Drive, she said.

“I saw the tip of its nose and then it went under,” she said.

She grabbed it with her “catch pole” and lifted it out of the canal.

The SID worker who let her in helped her load it into her truck. She took it a couple miles away — so it wouldn’t get back in there again — and released it.

She watched as the deer began grooming itself and shaking the water out of its ears.

“You could tell it was going to be OK,” she said. The deer eventually got up and left on its own.

Tuesday, Bokum was called out on another wildlife call in Vacaville. This time someone called about an injured gray fox that had lingered for days in a resident’s yard near Pleasants Valley Road.

Bokum arrived at the house and found the 15-pound fox curled up by the pool.

It was lethargic, as if it had been hit by a car or possibly consumed something it wasn’t supposed to, said Bokum, a former veterinary technician.

“You (could) tell it wasn’t doing so well,” she said.

She and another officer were able to get the fox into a cage and take it to the Suisun Wildlife Center, where the ACOs typically take injured wildlife.

“They’re great people there,” said Bokum, who has been a Sheriff’s ACO for a year. The fox is reportedly recovering and will be released soon in the same general area where it was found, she said.

“We’re just happy that it’s able to recover,” she said.

(TheReporter.Com - ‎Feb 25, 2016‎)