The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
THE RESCUE MAN
Guinea pig stuck in snow among latest saves for animal control officer
CORNWALL — Under a pile of rocks in thick snow on Flat Rocks Road was a cold, little, brown guinea pig. It had made a burrow for itself and was most likely in it for several days, according to Cornwall animal control officer Brad Hedden.
Hedden has been an animal control officer in town for 25 years and has rescued about 400 animals from all kinds of circumstances. The guinea pig rescue, however, was probably the cruelest of all of them, said Brad’s wife Erin, who often assists him on the job.
According to Erin, a local couple had been out for a walk when they heard a noise. The woman thought it was a bird, but said the sound was very unusual.
The woman saw something move out of the corner of her eye and then saw the guinea pig, and texted Brad. The woman met Brad and Erin at the location, and brought carrots to try to lure the guinea pig out of its burrow.
“It was thin, we could feel its ribs,” Erin said. “Its front and back nails were very long.”
“Brad was able to get the guinea pig out of its self-discovered shelter and it is now warm, fed, and being cared for by our family. While we are happy that this sweetie was saved from certain death, we are angered that this poor pet landed in this situation,” Erin wrote on a Cornwall Facebook page.
The couple received no calls about a missing guinea pig — neither prior to the rescue or afterward.
While Brad mainly receives calls about dogs and cats, aside from the guinea pig, he has been notified about everything from skunks to raccoons to porcupines to snakes and owls.
Brad became interested in the job when he made his first animal rescue while working as a logger.
“I cut down a tree and there was this squirrel nest under it, with a squirrel that was a few weeks old. I brought it home and we bottle fed it until we got it back to health, and we released it again. I thought that was just kind of neat,” said Brad, who is also an electrical contractor.
When rabies was rampant more than 20 years ago, according to Erin, “it seemed like every call Brad got was about a rabid animal that would appear at people’s houses.”
“Rabid animals will foam at the mouth,” she said. “They’ll act very strangely and sometimes will get very aggressive. By the time wild animals show symptoms of rabies, euthanasia is the best option. It keeps the animal from suffering, but it also keeps that animal from spreading the rabies.
Several weeks ago, Brad was told about two dogs, both wearing collars, who were running on College Street.
“The nice thing about living in such a small town like this is you know everybody. You know who to contact in certain instances,” Erin said. “I ended up calling the town foreman who was in the vicinity of where these dogs were. He knew who the dogs belonged to, and he made sure that they were home.”
On another occasion, Brad got a call from hikers on the Blue (Mohawk) Trail.
“They saw something in a tree and they thought it was a monkey,” she said. “We went out and looked and looked, and we did not ever find a monkey.”
Snakes are Brad’s least favorite call, Erin said.
“He has little tongs that he uses,” she said. “He’ll pick them up and put them outside and they go on their way.”
Brad has been bitten by several dogs, and there was one occasion, he said, that will likely stay with him for a long time.
About six years ago, he got a call about a dalmatian mix that had been on the run. It was originally seen in Sheffield, Mass.
“I kept getting calls that he was running up and down Route 7 in Sharon,” Brad said.
For about two or three weeks, through Facebook and communication with other animal control officers, “We followed him and followed him and couldn’t find him,” Brad said.
The dog was seen in Canaan, Washington and Cornwall.
At one point, Brad found the dog at the top of Bunker Hill by the Mohawk State Forest, near the Goshen line.
It was in someone’s yard. “He called me to bring him a can of dog food, and he was able to open the can and have the dog eat the food off of his hand,” Erin said.
The dog had a piece of bailing twine around its neck. When Brad tried to take the leash to get control of the dog, it turned around and bit him on his forearm, and then took off running.
Brad ended up at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington for four and a half hours, getting 13 stitches.
The dog was next seen in New Fairfield.
“A woman opened her door and the dog ran into the house and hopped up on the couch like it lived there,” Erin said.
Brad had the dog brought to the Little Guild Animal Shelter in Cornwall, where it was adopted by a Torrington family
“I knew he wasn’t a mean dog,” Brad said. “He bit me because he was scared and he was stray.”
On another occasion, a set of 1-year-old yellow and black labs “were dumped in Cornwall by their owners as they left town,” Erin said. “They were moving down south and they opened their car door and let their dogs out.”
In total, including rescued animals, the Heddens have five dogs, three cats, two donkeys, a miniature horse, and 10 chickens.
Brad said whenever he hears about animals in need, he wants to help them — even if it means taking them into his own home.
“The guinea pig needed a place that was warm and we were the only place to take it,” he said. “I love animals and that’s why Erin and I are both driven to do it.”