Animal Control officer named city employee of the year

Dan Fowler was left with $300 in his checking account when he took a job as Animal Control Officer with the City of Jacksboro. Many folks are glad he took the position.

Fowler was recently named Employee of the Year for the city, which surprised the unassuming Fowler, who has been in the city since 1980.

“They handed me the plaque and I was kind of like ‘who, me?’” Fowler said with a laugh. “I really felt like I was doing an average job but doing it the best I could.”

Fowler, a 1982 JHS grad, did oilfield work after school and then went to work for the Lindsey State Jail. It was his first work with dogs as he was a canine sergeant. Things didn’t work out at the jail.

“I never got to use the animal,” Fowler explained. “Stuff never came to fruition as far as the programs we were going to use the animal for.”

Fowler went back to work in the oilfields as an internal auditor where he was working two weeks on, two weeks off for years and was able to travel the world. He did that until February 2015 when he was part of the last round of layoffs at his company. 

He putout feelers for positions doing anything but the interview with Jacksboro in October was the first interview he had since being laid off. With funds becoming scarce, he was grateful for the position.

He had done some work with animals prior, raising hunting dogs in the 80s and 90s. During his tenure he has made a dent in the number of stray dogs running around town, bringing them to the shelter.

Some of them he has been able to reunite with the owners but others, despite having microchips, suffered from another problem.

“The number on the chip was no longer in service,” Fowler said. “You can only try so long before you’re forced to do something with the animal.”

Fowler is proud of the shelter’s 95-98 percent rate of keeping animals alive. A number of donations of food and other necessities have aided with that. Fowler said putting animals up for adoption on the shelter’s Facebook page has also helped. 

Fowler admits the 12 kennel facility could use some work. He is waiting for the weather to cooperate, so he can use a donation of paint to spruce the place up. He is also working on cutting down the amount of feral cats in the community, setting out traps and hopefully finding a new home for the animal.

Fowler said he enjoys the work but hears both sides of the story when it comes to animals.

“People tell me that I’m doing a good job and others say I’m not,” Fowler said. “You’re never going to keep everyone happy. I just do what they pay me to do.”

He admits he likes to "tend to my little area” out west of town on U.S. Highway 380. The shelter is open certain hours but since he lives fairly close to the facility, he is willing to come out and help an animal.

“We had a guy from Galveston who was visiting relatives from Graham,” Fowler said. “He had heard about a litter of puppies we had and came and took the whole bunch.”