‘It’s been a very interesting career’: Lynn animal control officer looks back

LYNN – Lynn Animal Control Officer Kevin Farnsworth has seen it all over the course of his 25-year career.From the pursuit of a wily monkey to the capture of a 350-pound pig roaming the city streets, Farnsworth has managed to keep a smile on his face over the years, despite having been bitten by angry pooches and chased by rabid raccoons.”It’s been a very interesting career,” he quipped. “It makes me do things that I didn’t think I could ever do and that’s the fun of it. It’s kept me young.”The 57-year-old one-man-band officer starts his days around 7 a.m. and is busy until his shift ends at 3 p.m. But since he is the only animal control officer in a city of 90,000 residents, he is on call 24 hours a day.”We used to have four officers in the heydays, but then in the 90s, it went downhill and we dropped to three officers, then two,” he said. “And now it’s just me (with the help of an after hours Nahant dog officer). I do what I can, but it gets to a point where it’s about public safety. The city has to step up.”While explaining his oftentimes chaotic daily routine, Farnsworth’s pager beeped twice, once about a raccoon hiding out at a home on Hamilton Avenue and the other about an abandoned chicken found in a cage on Linden Street.”We get all sorts of calls,” he said while shaking his head. “I once had to pull slaughtered goats out of a basement apartment, chased a small monkey for days that escaped from its handicapped owner and caught a 350-pound pig that a man brought over to his house for his daughter’s birthday so she could take a picture with it. That pig ran around the city for four days until we caught it.”One of the craziest calls Farnsworth ever responded to was that of an 8-foot Boa constrictor that wriggled its way out of a pillow case and squirmed its way on to the street after its owner crashed his car while drunk.”And I am not a snake person,” he laughed.Still, Farnsworth said he is an animal lover in his own right and has come across countless heartbreaking situations over the years. One call in particular stands out. On a cold winter morning several years ago, Farnsworth responded to a report of a dog chained to a tree in the Highlands. When he arrived, he found a tiny Chihuahua sitting next to a dog bed and bag of food.”It looked up at me like I had just saved its life and I said, you’re coming home with me,” he said. “I named him Shredder. He’s been one of the best dogs I’ve ever had.”Another story, one without a happy ending, has also been seared into his mind. In late January, a call came through of three pitbulls tied up outside of a home on Albany Street. Two of the three dogs had frozen to death, while the third clung to life.”I called the MSPCA and a criminal complaint was filed,” he said. “I’ve tried to work with people and explain to them nicely that owning an animal is a responsibility, but people just don’t get it.”Pitbull attacks have also plagued the city over the years, according to Farnsworth, but mainly because of the way their owners raise the animals.”Some people love them and take care of them, but others use Pitbulls as a weapon to challenge people and be a big shot,” he said. “It’s a never ending battle around here.”