SWAMPSCOTT — While scrolling through photos of different animals he’s rescued Friday afternoon, Daniel Proulx stopped on a photo of a wounded hawk he saved in Needham, an hour away from his home in Marblehead, and shook his head.
“So many hawks and owls are getting weak from the rats they’re eating,” Proulx said, explaining that hawks and owls will eat rats that have ingested rat poison, which endangers the birds even more if they’re injured. “I will drop anything and everything for a hawk and owl call.”
Proulx is starting a nonprofit company called Dan’s Wildlife Rescue that would make him the animal control expert to call across Massachusetts. He starts his new venture after spending the past three years as the animal control officer in Swampscott; the town’s first full-time ACO officially left his position last week.
With his new gig, Proulx expects he will only become busier. But that’s the way this animal lover likes it.
“I give 100 percent of my life to work with animals,” Proulx said.
Before Proulx started a career in helping animals, he served in the U.S Army for five years. He was discharged due to an injury shortly before the terrorist attacks on 9/11. It wasn’t until six years ago, when he started working with rescued cats, that he felt he found his true calling.
Proulx was the part-time ACO during his first year with the town; when his job became a full-time position, he was on-call 24/7 for two years. While others may have felt overwhelmed, Proulx said he loved every second of his job with the town.
“When it comes to wildlife, the animals and the people calling can feel so helpless,” Proulx said. “I like that feeling of showing up and knowing I’m helping them out.”
The town has not filled the ACO position. Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said the first rounds of interviews have been completed and expects a new ACO will be chosen quickly. In the meantime, he said Swampscott is being serviced by animal control departments in Lynn and Salem.
Board of Health Chair Marianne Hartmann said she is sad to see Proulx go, but is happy that he is sharing his expertise with other communities.
“Everyone loved Dan so much,” Hartmann said. “He is going for other pursuits, which is great for him, but he will be missed.”
Katelyn Sahagian can be reached at [email protected].
