Unusual Pets Keep Animal Shelter on its Toes

Ramone was turned into the Baltimore County Animal Control & Shelter after his owner passed away. This is a common fate for many animals, but Ramone is no ordinary pet.

Animal control officers found the 10-foot-long boa constrictor in a large cage at his owner's home.

"We were unable to get the cage out of the house because it was so big, so we had to use a pole for Ramone to wrap himself around to get him out," said Linda Flavin, an animal control officer. "He was so big he barely fit in his cage at the shelter."

But Ramone's story does have a happy ending.

"He was adopted by the son of a woman who used to work at the shelter," Flavin said. 

The shelter, located at 13800 Manor Road in Baldwin, has rescued countless dogs and cats, but every few months it also sees its share of exotic creatures. 

"We've had unusual animals come in from time to time," said Charlotte Crenson-Murrow, chief of the animal control division. "Sometimes we get them because their owners have been evicted out of their homes, or someone calls in because they were seen in the area."

Other odd animals that have stayed at the shelter include a parrot found at a ballpark in Lutherville, a monkey running loose in the Cockeysville area, and a military macaw, a two-foot tall member of the parrot family, who was brought in after its owner was placed in a nursing home. The shelter has even seen peacocks, pot-bellied pigs, albino pythons and black-throated monitor lizards. 

Most recently, the shelter played host to a miniature pony, who came to it as a result of an eviction. 

"He was a plucky little stallion," Crenson-Murrow said. "He needed you to know that he's the boss."

The pony stayed at the shelter for more than a month, so the employees, who had grown attached to him, were sad when the excitable equine left for a farm in Howard County. 

"We do get attached, but we felt confident he was going to a good home," Crenson-Murrow said.

It's not uncommon for employees to form bonds with strange pets.

"About 25 years ago, we had a donkey—a cruelty case—come in," Flavin said. "The shelter workers really liked her, and liked to feed her carrots. The church across the street would ask to borrow her for their nativity scene. She stayed here until she died."

But not every animal is so easy to manage. 

"You have people who bring up alligators from the southern states and raise them in their bathtubs," Crenson-Murrow said. "It's illegal in Maryland to have them, but we still find them from time to time."

While the shelter does try to find families for the animals, alligators and other illegal pets, or those with specialized needs such as horses, are usually sent off to the zoo or a wildlife sanctuary. 

"Most animal shelters are meant for cats and dogs," said Caroline Robertson, director of development at the Days End Farm Horse Rescue. "At Days End, we can provide shelter for equines. We are equipped to give them day-to-day care."

Still, the animal shelter isn't totally unprepared for unusual guests.

"We never know when they are coming so we do have some specialized cages. We stockpile special foods," Crenson-Murrow said. 

But there are some occasions when expert help is needed just to capture an exotic animal.

In one case, an animal control officer was called out to a residence after an eviction. Upon entering, the officer heard an odd noise and found himself facing an angry desert rattle snake. He quickly excused himself and called in a herpetologist from the Carrie Murray Nature Center to handle the poisonous creature. 

Sometimes it's not the animals that are unusual, but the situation they're discovered in. 

"We got a call complaining about a chicken running around a boys' locker room," Crenson-Murrow said. "We've even found some living in a McDonald's parking lot."