FAIRBANKS -- Animal Control officer Travis Trexler has captured stray dogs, reunited owners with lost pets, worked with dangerous animals and wrangled the occasional runaway pig.
Every day with the Fairbanks North Star Borough's Animal Control Division is different for the officer with a soft spot for dogs and a fear of snakes who became an animal control officer after watching one too many television ads against animal cruelty.
The sad music and slow-motion video of sad, neglected animals struck a nerve with the broad-shouldered, tattooed Illinois transplant, who had been around animals his whole life.
"It was a way of contributing to the animals and it really struck my eye as an interesting job to be in," he said. "It's just kind of my way as a contribution to the animals."
Trexler, now 39, spent most of his adult life jumping from career to career, mostly working in construction, before he saw an opening for an animal control officer in his Illinois home town. He didn't have any training other than plenty of childhood time spent on the farm, but he got the job.
That inexperience proved to demand a steeper learning curve than he thought. Dealing with animals wasn't too bad, but learning the complexities of law and dealing with people was difficult.
"Getting animals to come to me and catching them was the easy part," he said. "When I first started, man, I was totally lost. I had no idea what I was getting myself into."
At first, he wanted to get out and take care of people who are hoarding or neglecting animals, but it wasn't as easy as knocking down the door and taking a hungry dog into custody. But after six years on the job, he's learned what an animal control officer can and can't do.
"It took awhile to just kind of figure out that you're not going to change the world," he said. "You come into it with high expectations of what you want to do, but you can take it one person at a time."
Trexler moved to Fairbanks after four years on the job. The new home, which he says he loves for hunting, camping and taking wildlife pictures with his wife, has presented new challenges as an animal control officer, especially when the thermometer drops below freezing.
"Each individual time you go out, you're constantly thinking," he said, "and that's what keeps the job interesting."
Most of Trexler's days are spent dealing with stray dogs, shuttling dogs and cats to the vet, and the occasional dog bite, but there's always the chance for a surprise, he said.
Like the stray 250-pound hog that was delivered to the borough's animal shelter in the backseat of a car. Trexler, who was the weekend on-call officer, had to figure out how to persuade the hog to follow him. He couldn't put it on a leash, after all.
"That's not part of the training," he said, laughing. "But you've got to think on your feet constantly because you don't know what you're going to see."
With a bucket of grains found in the corner of a barn, he was able to lure the huge animal into a pen typically designed for dogs.
In his six years as an animal control officer, that quick-thinking has paid off for Trexler, who has caught buffalo, yaks, farm animals and plenty of dogs in all sorts of weather conditions.
But not every day is an exciting animal-filled adventure. Trexler sees the bad side of things, too.
"I had handled a case where the case was the dog was so malnourished that it went blind," he said, frowning. "To know that somebody could do that to a dog, it makes it hard to trust people."
Trexler finally smiled again when he recalls how well the dog recovered, how it learned to trust people and how it eventually found a loving home.
It's trying days like those that Trexler finds comfort in his dog, an Airedale terrier named Sarge.
"I go home and my dog, Sarge, he's pretty much like a kid to me," he said. "We play, we pet on him and hug on him. He's real close to me and one of the best friends we got."
Trexler says it's his connection with pets like Sarge, who become trusting friends and part of the family, that keeps him passionate about his job. Even if he can't stop all animal neglect, it's individual cases that makes it worth suiting up.
"If I can get one person to change the way they are with animals or help somebody find a companion or their best friend, that's a change," he said. "You just take it day by day and in your own way you're making a change in the world."
By MATT BUXTON
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner