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01/26/2022 07:30 AMHarry Plaut, of Old Lyme, is the chief control officer for the three towns.
“I have learned so much from Harry. He has been really helpful,” Matt says.
When Matt heard there was a job opening for an assistant control officer a year ago, he applied. He was not a stranger to the field. Tracy had run a no-kill animal shelter in North Carolina before the couple moved to Connecticut some 10 years ago.
“I’m used to being around dogs,” Matt says.
Dogs, however, were not the subjects of the most recent bulletin the department sent out. It was about coyotes, informing dog walkers that coyotes, reported in the area, may be more aggressive when protecting their young.
The notice advises that if approached by a coyote, do not run.
“That may trigger a prey hunting instinct,” Matt says.
Instead, the bulletin recommends calmly leaving the area.
To frighten a coyote, animal control advises, “shouting, waving arms, and acting aggressive.” Coyotes, Matt adds, do not usually attack but, as territorial animals, are reacting to perceived encroachment on their habitat.
Matt points out that coyotes prey on small animals.
“Don’t leave cats out; leaving small dogs is the same thing. Keep animals on leash when they are outside,” he says.
In general, Matt says, on wildlife behavior questions, the animal control officers defer to the experts in the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. He explains the local animal control office has issued its advice on coyotes because they interact with domestic animals.
Most often the issues Matt deals with include biting incidents, noise complaints, and even lost animals. A biting incident means the animal must be quarantined for 10 days. Depending on the incident, the animal control officer determines whether the quarantine will be in the home or at the shelter for Essex, Deep River, and Chester at the Essex Transfer Station. Matt notes that the preferred term is shelter, not pound, which has too many negative associations.
A rule of thumb when it comes to lost animals, according to Matt, is that if the animal is not found in the first few hours, the probability of finding it decreases markedly.
Animal Control does wellness checks if there are reports of an animal not being properly taken care of, and occasionally will try to place either a stray or an animal who has been given up by its owner. The animals are kept initially at the town shelter.
Still, Matt points out that animal control does not encourage giving up a pet unless the animal poses a danger. On the other hand, he wants people to know that the option does exist, rather than simply abandoning the animal or harming it. Social media notices have been helping in finding adoptive homes for animals.
Matt says that Essex Resident State Trooper Mark Roberts and a rescue group called Presents for Paws, which raises money for the renovation and improvement of shelters, ran a Christmas donation drive that resulted in the rescue of a pit bull named Tank. Tracy had fostered Tank from the shelter before his adoption by a local couple. Matt says that dog adoptions after fostering are more successful than ones directly from shelters.
According to Matt, the Animal Control Department always wants to emphasize the basics of animal ownership.
“We want to interact with people and educate them, focus on how important vaccination is and to have animals spayed or neutered and to have tags on,” he says.
Matt and Tracy both grew up in Connecticut, but met at college in Vermont. Matt was a criminal justice major, but when he moved to North Carolina he found a restaurant job. He says he needed something in a hurry to convince Tracy’s parents he was working.
An early mentor was a chef who cooked southern food, with an emphasis on Louisiana creole. Matt and the mentor opened a restaurant together in Chapel Hill. They didn’t last long as partners, but it was long enough so that Matt had mastered the creole recipes that are still a part of his repertoire today.
He has never gone to a formal culinary school.
“I learned through the school of hard knocks,” he says.
In 2000, he opened his own restaurant in Hillsborough, near Durham, North Carolina, which he ran for a decade before the couple decided to move back to New England.
Matt and Tracy bought the building that had once housed a local favorite, Aggie’s Village Restaurant in Ivoryton. Since the Blue Hound’s opening, they have expanded the restaurant to the second floor of the building. He says the eatery is not just a New Orleans restaurant and has a menu selection beyond southern dishes.
Their move, Matt says, was a big transition.
“But we love Ivoryton and love the people,” Matt says. “I’ve lived in many states and Connecticut is the most beautiful.”
As an animal control officer, Matt never knows how busy he will be. Sometimes there are three or four calls a week; sometimes none. He will never forget one situation where he was called about a flying squirrel that had gotten caught in a chimney. With a gloved hand, Matt was able to capture and release the animal.
“It was not easy,” he says. “That squirrel was quick; it moved fast and it was scared.”