Beyond "dogcatcher": Santa Cruz County's animal control officers have become lifelines for pets and people alike
- Carly Heltzel
- Aug 12
- 2 min read
Todd Stosuy, Santa Cruz County’s animal control field manager, ducked under a clothesline, then a badminton net strung between two trees, before walking up to a small clearing up the hill from Corralitos Creek where a single mattress lay on the ground. He had been here countless times before.
“Johnny!” Stosuy called out. “Are you home?”
A neighbor, who had just held her barking dog back so Stosuy could safely pass by, told him that Johnny Sanchez, the man Stosuy was looking for, had moved within the Watsonville encampment across the road from Safeway to a new location closer to the creek.
Stosuy found Sanchez at his new spot, lying against a propped-up mattress, barely moving. Colon cancer had taken a lot out of him. His tattoos faded into worn skin, and his thinning hair stuck out, framing a hardened, despondent face.
It had been a month since the county’s animal control office took Sanchez’s two remaining dogs away after his cancer rendered him unable to take care of even himself. Stosuy said Sanchez had been a good dog owner over the 20 years the two men had known each other, sometimes caring better for his dogs than himself. But after Stosuy found Sanchez lying face-down close to the road covered in his own feces, the situation became too urgent to ignore.
Daily visits to people like Sanchez reflect the evolving reality of animal control work in Santa Cruz County, where a team of just four officers does far more than round up strays — officers spend their days navigating a complex web of human relationships while enforcing animal welfare laws across five jurisdictions.
Animal control, they say, has evolved far beyond its “dog catcher” stereotype into a community service that often serves as a bridge between law enforcement and vulnerable populations, including homeless residents and low-income pet owners.
Lookout Santa Cruz
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