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02/28/2023 08:07 AMEmily Higgins began working at Animal Control right after graduating from her alma mater, Daniel Hand High School, in Madison. She grew up on a farm in the town’s northern hamlet, which former department head Owen Little knew made Emily a good fit for contributing to the department’s operations.
“Owen knew me and knew that I grew up with every type of animal, and I could handle myself,” she says. “I grew up on a little farm. He knew that I was OK with animals. If he needed extra help here, he brought me in just to see if I could help out…and a job opened up, and I stayed!”
Now at 22 years old, Emily is the new head of Animal Control, succeeding Little’s 30-year legacy. She said it was her “go-for-it attitude” that the former head recognized in her as critical to the various responsibilities of leading the department. Whether those be complicated budgetary matters, dealing with paperwork, or doing a job whenever needed.
“I never turned anything down. I wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I don’t really want to do that,’ or there wasn’t anything [where] I was like, ‘Oh no, that’s gross,’ or I was nervous to do,” Emily says. “I was like, ‘OK, let’s go!’ I didn’t care if they called me in at 3 a.m. to do anything.”
Every day at Animal Control is a little bit different for Emily. Some days she will be on the road for hours and hours; others will be those 3 a.m. calls, while other days are less active and spent at the shelter. Those latter occasions may offer her and other department members time to “play with puppies and kittens all day,” but that would be a short-sighted perception. Like with their frequent partners, the East Haven police and fire departments, prepared emergency response and protection is a big part of being at Animal Control, rather than plentiful playtime with puppies.
“Maybe some days, that’s all we have to do, and they’re really nice days. But then there’s the days where we have to go out, and the same calls that all the cops get, dealing with drug houses, and really bad situations where there’s a chance you could get really hurt,” Emily says. “Anytime there’s anything [that’s] involved, we have to go. Being ready for anything, and having that attitude of, ‘I’ll still take a chance at it,’ really helps and is necessary here.”
While personal interactions with the animals at the shelter still play an important role for Emily and her colleagues (feeding and medicating the animals, keeping their spaces clean), the very name of the department becomes its mission at some point. “Animal control” may be returning a dog to its owner, quelling the threat of wildlife, or rescuing a surprising number of seagulls from rooftops. It speaks to the varied days at the department.
“It’s weird. You get all types of calls; you never know what the phone’s going to say when you pick it up,” she says.
Emily sees treating animals with respect and kindness as integral to her department. She knows cats and dogs have personalities like humans and that it’s important to be cognizant of that when attempting to communicate with a mistreated dog, for example, even when they initially appear mean.
“It’s understanding that they have so many emotions and they can’t speak like a normal person would, so how would they display it: by growling, not being happy, and running away scared,” she said.
Beyond animals, involvement with the East Haven community is another major component of being with Animal Control. The department will often connect with the community through fundraisers, assisting with veterinary bills, or bringing their sheltered dogs to excited students at East Haven High School. But Emily says the department is always striving to be transparent and shies away from informing the community why some difficult decisions for animals must be made. Animal Control is a no-kill shelter, but even in unfortunate circumstances when a very dangerous dog needs to be euthanized, opacity is not an option for Emily.
“We don’t try to hide that from anyone in town. We’re very open, and we want people to understand why we do it,” she says. “And I think that is different than a lot of other places.”
Emily has seen the East Haven community be very supportive of Animal Control, with thousands of donations to help people who suffered tragedies alongside their pets. A recent case was that of a man and his dog whose home burned down. A GoFundMe campaign accumulated over $40,000 from the town for both of them to find a new home and car.
“It’s great to see how involved the community is with each other and how much they care,” she said.
Looking to the future, Emily sees a bright future ahead for Animal Control with even more community support: attracting young volunteers, being more social media-savvy, and staying in touch with the town. She says it’s about “trying to modernize everything while keeping simple.”