Wildlife poses a threat

Thomas Healing

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 | midnight

Thomas Healing

This summer has been a weird one with respect to animal control. Last week I received an e-mail from Animal Control Officer Mary Jo Frazier regarding rattlesnake bites. Her e-mail included a short narrative and several graphic pictures of a 13-year old boy who suffered a rattlesnake bite at Yosemite National Park.

Even after recovery, the victim did not recover fully from the wound. Permanent scars, loss of muscle tissue and skin will plague that young boy for the rest of his life. It took 13 surgeries, $700,000 in helicopter flights, operations and more than 20 months of recovery, but he now has 90 percent of the use of his arm back.

Rattlers aren't just in Yosemite National Park. We have them here.

We also have badgers. Yes, badgers! On July 14, Frazier checked a trap in the area of Kings Place and was surprised to see a juvenile badger inside it. Frazier told me she was as surprised as anyone to see it in the trap, and initially the badger was quite aggressive. It calmed down, but she still refused to handle it. When she found a safe place to release it back out into the wild, she opened the trap and ran back to the safety of her truck until it wandered off.

We also have big horn sheep, which are actually quite dangerous if you get too close. The males can be very territorial when confronted during the rut, or mating season. Also, they are a protected species, which means you can be fined and arrested for harassing them. So please keep your distance. My intention is not to frighten anyone about the dangers of our badgers, rattlesnakes and big horn sheep; I simply want to raise the general public's awareness of the fact that they are here, they are not going anywhere, and they can be dangerous. Enjoy their wild beauty, but give them the respect they deserve and observe them from a safe distance.

July 21

Boulder City narcotics detectives and Officer Olson stop a subject leaving a house in a known drug area on Wyoming Street. Through the course of their investigation, officers discover that the subject is in possession of illegal narcotics and drug paraphernalia. Based on the information, detectives get a search warrant approved by Judge Miller and execute it upon the home. Inside they discover an undisclosed amount of narcotics and drug paraphernalia. However, no one was home at the time. A request for an arrest warrant was filed for the occupants of the home, and we are awaiting approval from the district attorney's office.

Weekly stats

Incident Reports — 33

Traffic Stops — 163

Citations Issued — 118

Adult Arrests — 16

Juvenile Arrests — 0

Animal Calls — 100

Boulder City Police Officer Thomas Healing can be reached at thealing@bcnv.org.