Her love of animals led to the job of a lifetime

[bigdoglover]

Sentinal/ Woodbridge, NJ

BY Jay Bodas

When she was a little girl, Woodbridge animal control officer Mercedes Lopez used to bring home cats and dogs, much to her mother's chagrin.

"I have worked with animals all of my life," Lopez said. "My mother used to yell at me because I was always rescuing little kitties and stray dogs who needed help. I think all animals deserve a chance."

Lopez is one of four members of the township animal control department. She has been there for five and a half years.

Her job as an animal control officer is to provide animal control services and protection for stray and abandoned animals and to protect the public from animals that could be dangerous, said township health officer Dennis Green.

Lopez found her calling after she previously volunteered with Perth Amboy's animal control office.

Her job puts her on the go constantly.

"Legally my hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but animal control is available 24-7," Lopez said. "After 6 p.m. we go on call, and we get called out during the summertime a lot. The winter is quiet, but the summer is very busy."

Last year township animal control handled over 800 animals, including wildlife. The department answered 825 emergency calls on evenings, weekends, and holidays alone, Green said.

"A recent weekend I had baby dogs, baby raccoons, baby muskrats, and a mother possum with 12 babies," she said. "We take the animals to rehabilitators, and they are then released into the woods again."

Lopez is absolutely dedicated to the well-being of the animals they find, Green said.

"She has truly got a big heart for the animals and she does everything she can for them," he said. "Mercedes goes above and beyond and is very good at what she does. She puts in more hours than I ask her to and she does it without blinking."

Lopez says that when she is out in the field, she would "take the bite" for anyone, if it was necessary.

"If you are in front of an aggressive animal and you are about to be attacked, then I take the bite," she said. "I would take the bite for anyone. We have heavy gloves and a pole, but the most important tool we have is our training, and we have to think. That means when you are in a situation you have one second to think what you are doing to do, so you have to think fast."

To keep up her skills, Lopez is currently enrolled in an animal cruelty investigator certification class to help her to identify possible cases of animal cruelty.

She even knows how to perform CPR on animals as part of her training in emergency management techniques.

"For example, four years ago, I once had a lady from Colonia who called me, and on arriving I found that their dog could not breathe," Lopez said. "We have a mask that we can use to give CPR mouth to mouth. I gave the dog CPR, and I rushed the dog to the vet, but the dog passed away."

Part of her work comes from instinct, she said.

"You have to have the heart for this job," said Lopez. "You have to know what to do, and you have to know at the moment. If you are dealing with an aggressive dog, you have to stay firm and not run, otherwise the dog will attack you. Actually, the dog will always attack you, but you have to stay firm and be fast."

Controversy is also sometimes part of the job.

For example, Lopez agrees that the current township animal shelter in Sewaren is not a permanent solution.

But she does everything she can to ensure the animals there are taken care of.

"The shelter is probably not one of the best, but the animals are kept there with care and love," Lopez said. "I go out there three or four times a day. I go first thing in the morning to make sure everyone has fresh water. I go at lunch time, and then again before the end of the day."

And sometimes they are left with no choice but to put an animal to sleep.

"Some people don't understand that part, but we try to save as many lives as we can," Lopez said. "We only put an animal down if it is absolutely necessary. I would say that out of all the animals we have found over the year, less than 5 percent have been put to sleep. Some people may not be comfortable with it. But if we have a vicious dog, we cannot give that dog to anyone because I don't want a little kid or anyone getting mauled by the animal. My first priority is the public." Lopez and her husband own four dogs and seven cats.

"One of my dogs, Mack, is a Rottweiler-mix shepherd," Lopez said. "We found him in the Dumpster when he was four weeks old, covered with fleas and ticks. It took me five hours to clean him. Now, he is 8 years old, and he is still with us."

In addition to her job with the township, Lopez has volunteered virtually every Saturday for the last five years at PetSmart on St. Georges Avenue, helping with pet adoptions.

"We have pet adoptions every Saturday and some Sundays to find homes for the animals," Lopez said. "In the last five-and-a-half years, I never missed one Saturday."

She wouldn't trade her job for anything.

"I love it," Lopez said. "I love working with the people I work with. I love animals, and I love my job."

Lopez grew up in El Salvador. She immigrated to the United States several decades ago, when she was in her twenties.

"My whole family moved together, as I already had kids," Lopez said. "I never went to school in this country, and I learned my English working with people. I just wanted to see other places, and I never regretted it."

She lives in Perth Amboy. She and her husband Edwin have two children, Erica, 27, and Carla, 24.