Yes Sireee Bob!  WARA did it again with another great conference!

Sombreros off to Dave White for putting together another top class training conference.

Check out the "Conference 2008" page soon for a new venue next year.

Congratulations to Chris Hoare 2007 WA Ranger of the Year

&

Town of Vincent Ranger Services 2007 Ranger Team of the Year

The next Rangerdaze due at the end of October will be the last until mid December.  We will be on holiday for 5 weeks back in Perth and hope to attend a WARA Committee Meeting and catch up with a lot of you.

Welcome to Issue 8 of Rangerdaze for 2007.

On the "Notice Board" we recently posted a message of condolence to the family and friends of the late Kevin Smith.  We have now received a short overview of Kevin's life in Local Government.

Kevin Winston Smith

In November 1972 Kevin left the WA Police Force and joined the Shire of Wanneroo as a Traffic Inspector.

However, he was later given the position of Chief Patrol Officer for Security & Fire Services.

He was joined by his former traffic officer and good friend, Terry Trewin, whose position was in charge of the administration.

Kevin had four (4) Patrol Officers under his control.

He was then given his own budget for vehicles, uniforms etc.

He even designed their own uniforms.

Kevin retired in 1997 after approximately 25 years service during which time in 1978 Kevin was very prominent in the formation of Municipal Law Enforcement Officers’ Association (now the WA Rangers Association).

He was elected the Inaugural Vice President of the Association and was very active for some years.  He was very helpful and readily available with advice for young and new rangers.  He was very greatly respected.

Kevin passed away 2 August 2007.

Feed Back

In the last issue of RD we asked for your feedback on how you like or dislike this newsletter.  Well here's a nice response from a guy in South Australia.

I joined up with acofunstop.com, run my Mr Mark Kumpf and he introduced me to the wonderful world of local government law enforcement (rangering).

From that day on I have visited wara's site everyday to check on the notice board or the next exciting edition of rangerdaze.   I live in SA and am currently working in local government and eventually want to become a manager of a ranger services unit for our small town. Keep up the good work.  WARA, not only for those from the west.

Rex Court

Interview with Mark Bettridge

Ranger – Town of Bassendean

The time has come for another Ranger interview! This time we sat down and had a chat to one of the Town of Bassendean Rangers, Mark Bettridge. Mark has been here and done that and has many a story he is more than willing to tell so we thought we’d grab some from him and share them with those that may not have met him yet! Although filtering (and editing!) some of his experiences in to something that approximates answers to the questions we were asking took some effort! So kick back and enjoy another offering of insight into a fellow Rangers world.

Mark has been a Ranger with the Town of Bassendean since April 2006 but before that he has had many other jobs including a Ranger position in the Shire of Bunbury. He has also worked at Royal Perth Hospital where he was an essential part of their Emergency Response Teams in the role of an Emergency Response Medical Technician, which makes him quite handy in First Aid situations! Mark has also received the ‘Bali Medal’ presented to all the medical staff who worked with the Bali Bombing victims. And just for something different he has also owned and run his own Menswear store, so the man has many skills!

When asked what made him pursue a career in Local Law Enforcement he states that being on the ‘sharp end’ of most of the severe trauma cases either in ICU or Emergency Departments he needed a change of scene to recharge and refocus his energies. Being a Ranger was a new direction to take and seemed like a good thing to try his hand at. Having always worked in the service industry in one form or another he didn’t think the leap would be too much to handle and he’s working out well in Bassendean so it doesn’t appear it was all that hard! He has chosen to work here because it was an extremely good opportunity and he enjoys the community atmosphere and friendliness that he has found in Bassendean. Also the timing was excellent so all signs pointed to applying for the available position!

Ok, so enough about him and now a little bit more about his job. Specifically to him, he deals with Fine Control (data management and entering and FER related issues), Parking Control (placement and management of signs, templates and zones), he is soon to take control of the upcoming Fire Season and he also has other Bassendean related portfolios. Standard daily fare for Mark at the Town of Bassendean includes daily patrols of the neighbourhood, dealing with any jobs that come up when he is the duty Ranger, continuing any on-going jobs he has and dealing with all the related paperwork. His favourite part of the job he says has to be meeting all the people and their dogs and getting to know the characters around town.

The Town of Bassendean Rangers work a five-on/two-off, five-on/three-off fortnightly roster with two different shifts inside each working week. The operating hours for this team are 7am til 9pm seven days a week, everyday of the year except Good Friday and Christmas Day. Each week the Rangers work either three afternoon shifts (12pm til 9pm) followed by two day shifts (7am til 4pm) or two afternoon shifts followed by three day shifts in a rolling roster. The team consists of three full time Rangers and the Manager of Ranger Services, they also sometimes have Relief rangers come in to help out in busy periods and cover leave.

Although the Town of Bassendean has the Swan River as one of its borders the Rangers jurisdiction ends fifteen metres off the river bank. Any issues that arise in relation to the river are reported to the Swan River Trust and the Rangers quite often need to interact with this authority either in reporting incidents or providing information requested by the Trust in relation to on-going issues. Another partnership the Bassendean Rangers enjoy is with the local police at the Kiara Police Station. These two teams are quite often working closely together to resolve issues arising in the Town and are often in contact helping each other out at different times. Other organisations these rangers have been known to interact with are the Marine Division of the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, Homeswest, the Department of Land and the Environment and the Fauna Rehabilitation Foundation in Malaga. 

The other major working-relationship these guys have is with the RSPCA. The Town of Bassendean has an agreement in place along with two other metro councils to use their facilities in Malaga as their pound service. This means any stray dogs collected that are not claimed go into the RSPCA re-homing program and are adopted out, hope fully finding them wonderful new homes with caring families. This arrangement makes it much easier to care for and house strays until suitable owners can be found which alleviates some of the dog/pound-related pressure on the Rangers and they can focus on other issues.

When asked what the top five offences in Bassendean would be Mark suggests that at the top would have to be Parking, closely followed by dogs wandering, dogs off lead, unregistered dogs and Disused Materials/Vehicles. And mentions that it’s probably easier to rank the most common parking offences rather than groups of offences as those stats are easier to come by because of one of his portfolios being Parking Control!

It’s probably round about time to talk about Mark himself again and he tells me that working at Bassendean has actually aided him in one of his leisure time pursuits. Mark is an avid canoe enthusiast and has since working here discovered many parts of the River he likes to explore and also parts he looks forward to paddling along. He also enjoys Four-Wheel driving and has quite often taken his Jeep out and about and played in the mud this winter. The other place you are likely to find him is holed up in his computer room playing on his PC on any one of the myriad games that he has or surfing the net chatting to friends.

Mark believes that his past-times and hobbies help him in his role as a Ranger as they give him peace of mind and are a great form of relaxation for him. He is calmer for all his efforts and is much better able to deal with the curveballs life throws at you in this job. Perhaps we can all take a leaf out of his book and try to dedicate more of our free time to our own chosen means of stress-relief and in return have as much enthusiasm for and enjoyment of our jobs as he does!

Well, that’s it for another Ranger interview but stay tuned as we are hoping to get more of them out there for everyone to read and perhaps be part of. Enjoy the up-coming conference (it looks exciting!!) and perhaps we’ll see you there!

Stay Safe and Happy Rangering!

WARA Media Team

You Must Be Joking !

Subject: The Diet

An Irishman was terribly overweight, so his doctor put him on a diet.

"I want you to eat regularly for 2 days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for 2 weeks.

The next time I see you, you should have lost at least 5 pounds."

When the Irishman returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly 60 pounds !

"Why, that's amazing !" the doctor said, "Did you follow my instructions ?"

The Irishman nodded... "I'll tell you though, I t'aut I were going to drop dead dat tird day."

"From hunger, you mean ?"

"No, from bloody' skippin'.................

Dear Members

The RSPCA has written to WARA recently to bring to our attention two animal welfare issues they would like us to be aware of, namely methods used to euthanize animals and microchip scanning of impounded dogs.

A report will go to the November Committee to determine WARA’s official position in relation to the above mentioned and it is anticipated that as leaders in the animal management industry WARA will support and uphold the below mentioned.

The issues of concern are – 

1. Method of euthanizing animals

RSPCA recognise that LGA’s regularly need to euthanize dogs and, to a lesser extent, cats.

The method of euthanasia RSPCA endorse is lethal injection carried out by a Veterinarian – which they understand is the method used by most LGA’s.

It has come to their attention that some LGA’s may be using firearms and drowning as the method of euthanasia; which they consider unacceptable.

 For euthanasia to be humane it must be instantaneous or the animal must be rendered insensitive to pain while death supervenes.

·        A single shot from a firearm, correctly placed can satisfy this humane euthanasia criteria but there is a high risk of it being done incorrectly with cats and dogs. The animal may only be wounded and multiple shots required. This method is therefore generally not appropriate in the RSPCA’s view - unless there is no other choice (e.g. a town with no Vet).  

·        Drowning is not acceptable because it is not instantaneous. To kill an animal by drowning would constitute an offence under the Animal Welfare Act in the RSPCA’s view. RSPCA recently issued a caution to a Ranger in a country council for killing a cat by immersing it in water in a wheelie bin while the cat was confined in a cage. The shire has undertaken to discontinue this practice.

                      Other reasons why shooting is unacceptable are  –     

                                     - risk of animal being stunned and left for dead

                                     - risk of animal being wounded and escaping

             - safety and distress to operator and public. 

Note - gassing with car exhaust as a method of euthanasia is also unacceptable but whilst this was occurring in a couple of pounds some years ago the RSPCA believe it is no longer happening.

2. Microchip Scanning

Microchipping of companion animals has long been promoted by Veterinarians and Animal Welfare Organisations as a preferred method of identification. As such, there are now a large number of cats and dogs whose owners have had them microchipped – at a significant cost.

Perhaps the main advantage of microchips is when a dog strays, and it is not wearing collar tags, the animal can still be identified by microchip scanning if/when it becomes impounded.

RSPCA are concerned however to hear, anecdotally, that many LGA pounds are not routinely scanning dogs for microchips when they are impounded.

As a result, dogs may be being euthanized unnecessarily and members of the public are doing the right thing, at their cost, by having their pet microchipped yet the main advantage in doing so is being lost.

RSPCA and WARA therefore recommend that all LGA pounds be equipped with (multi reader) microchip scanners and all impounded dogs be scanned on arrival.

Murdoch Uni Vet Clinic use a Pocket Reader EX microchip scanner and have had no problem with reading any chips.

References 

Euthanasia is defined as a ‘good death’ that occurs without pain or distress. The animal is rendered unconscious rapidly followed by cardiac or respiratory arrest and ultimate loss of brain function (Andrews et al 1993).                          

Drowning is not a means of euthanasia and is inhumane (AVMA report on euthanasia 2001). 

It is not the ‘pleasant experience’ some would have us believe. Drowning is a form of asphyxia (suffocation) in which death occurs due to hypoxia and cardiac arrest and subsequent brain death. Unconsciousness is unlikely to be rapid and can take several minutes or longer depending on circumstances. Drowning animals experience hypoxemia-induced discomfort and distress before CO2 narcosis occurs, if narcosis occurs at all (Ludders et al 1999).                                  

Such a death is likely to be slow, stressful and painful (Sinclair et al 2006).

Managing Stress and Avoiding Compassion Fatigue

As rangers we are law enforcement officers and many of us at one time or other suffer work related stress.  Working with the SES, Bushfire Service and other areas of the job does bring us into contact with situations that can cause emotional trauma.

The following information is about police work but can certainly apply to the job of a ranger.

What is compassion fatigue? The Humane Society University has an excellent summary:

"Compassion fatigue -- or secondary traumatic stress disorder -- is the natural consequence of stress resulting from caring for

and helping traumatized or suffering people or animals (Figley 1993). This condition occurs when professionals who are exposed

to trauma experienced by those in their care become so overwhelmed that they themselves experience feelings of fear, pain, and

suffering. They may suffer from intrusive thoughts, nightmares, loss of energy, and perception of threats at home or at work."

Compassion fatigue can occur in humane advocacy professionals, especially those who must participate in euthanasia

of animals.

But you don't even have to handle animals or work everyday at a shelter to feel symptoms of compassion fatigue.

Animal advocates experience countless first- and second-hand accounts of animal abuse and neglect."

In less formal circles, stress is sometimes defined as "That confusion created when one's mind overrides the body's desire to

choke the living **** out of some ******* who desperately needs it."

All joking aside, avoiding compassion fatigue and burnout, and managing the stress that comes with the job are an important

part of staying sane in animal control and humane law enforcement.

Critical Incidents

In the past, most studies of stress in law enforcement focused exclusively on post-shooting trauma. Recently, however, the

research has expanded to encompass stress induced by other traumatic events, collectively known as critical incidents.

A critical incident is any event that has a stressful impact sufficient to overwhelm the usually effective coping skills of an

individual.

Critical incidents typically are sudden, powerful events that fall outside the range of ordinary human experiences.

Because they happen so abruptly, they can have a strong emotional impact, even on an experienced, well-trained officer.

In law enforcement, any situation in which an officer's expectations of personal infallibility suddenly become tempered by

imperfection and crude reality can be a critical incident.  Such events include a line-of-duty death or serious injury of a coworker,

a police suicide, an officer-involved shooting in a combat situation, a life-threatening assault on an officer, a death or serious

injury caused by an officer, an incident involving multiple deaths, a traumatic death of a child, a barricaded suspect/hostage

situation, a highly profiled media event (often in connection with another critical incident), or any other incident that appears

critical or questionable.

The definition of a critical incident must remain fluid because what affects one officer might not affect another. An officer who has

children, for example, might be affected by responding to the death of a child more than an officer who has no children.

In addition, the circumstances of an event, the personality of the officer, and the way the event is handled by the department,

the media, and the officer's family all affect the officer's reactions to an incident.

Post-traumatic stress is defined as "...the development of characteristic symptoms following a psychologically distressing event

that is outside the range of human experience."  Symptoms are characterized by intrusive recollections, excessive stress

arousal, withdrawal, numbing, and depression. The signs and symptoms must last more than 30 days for an individual to be

diagnosed with PTSD. An estimated 4 to 10 percent of individuals who experience a critical incident will develop a full-fledged

post-traumatic stress disorder.

Research also has shown that critical incident stress affects up to 87 percent of all emergency service workers at least once in

their careers.  In many cases, the stress from one incident can be compounded by two or more factors. For example, an officer

involved in an armed confrontation exchanges gunfire with a suspect. The officer is wounded, the suspect dies, and the

incident becomes a media event. The injury to the officer, the use of deadly force, and the media scrutiny--conceivably three

separate critical incidents--multiply the stressors on the officer.

Critical incident stress manifests itself physically, cognitively, and emotionally. The officer might experience some or all of these

reactions immediately, or perhaps not until after a delay. While in most instances the symptoms will subside in a matter of weeks,

a few of those affected by such stress will suffer permanent emotional trauma that will adversely affect their continued value to

the department and cause serious problems in their personal lives.

What are some incidents that could cause stress for a ranger?

1.  In the volunteer bushfire brigade and Sate Emergency Service, rangers have seen whole families lose their homes and

property, not to mention the loss of lives.

2.  Being first on scene at a bad road traffic accident.

3.  Having to tell pet owners that their beloved dog or cat has been killed or badly injured.

4.  Trying to do a difficult job only to find out some other law enforcement agency intends to prosecute you.

There are many things that can and do cause our rangers and their families stress.  Let's look after each other in these events! 

Recent Committee Meeting

For those who missed them.  Here are some photos of the WARA Committee Meeting in Albany earlier this year.

rangerdazewarangers

YOUR AGE  BY EATING OUT

Don't tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway-but your waiter may know!

YOUR AGE BY DINER & RESTAURANT MATH

This is pretty neat but go get a calculator before you start.

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!

It takes less than a minute.  Work this out as you read .
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!
This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to go out to eat. (more than once but less than 10).

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold).

3. Add 5.

4. Multiply it by 50.

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1757 .....If you haven't, add 1756.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number.

The first digit of this was your original number (I.e., how many times you want to go out to restaurants in a week.)

The next two numbers are  YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2007) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS

Win A WARA Polo Shirt Competition

You will find the answers in issues 1 - 7 of Rangerdaze

Question 1 from issue 1:

There is a photo of a Ranger’s house, what’s the fence made of?

 Question 2 from issue 2:

There is a copy of a letter written to whom, from whom?

Question 3 from issue 3:

 WARA welcomed a new Honorary Member, who is it?

Question 4 from issue 4: 

There are some photos taken from a Box Brownie Camera, what are the photos of & where was the camera found?

Question 5 from issue 5:

Dog attacks raise issues for lawmakers, is the headline from what?

Question 6 from issue 6:

There was a tribute to whom?

Question 7 from issue 7:

From the list of Banned or Restricted Dogs in the USA, what breed is listed at number 63.

Competition closes 31^st October 2007

 All correct entries go into the draw to win a WARA Polo Shirt

Send entries to competitions@warangers.asn.au

Interesting Picture >

Sent in by a Rangerdaze reader.

Some people will do nearly anything for a good photo !

 Hi I'm Tazzy

Here's a story someone sent to Rangerdaze about an elephant..

Elephant

Sometimes these 'heart warming' stories are a bit too sappy for me, However, this one is truly interesting...

In 1986, Mikele Mebembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University.
On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Mikele approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.
As carefully and as gently as he could, Mikele worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.
Mikele stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled / stomped to death.
Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.
Mikele never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Mikele was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mikele and his son Tapu were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Mikele, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mikele couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. Mikele summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mikele's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

You Must Be Joking!

A ranger's wife was wanting a fast new car.

She gives our WARA member a hint at what she might want by saying only, "I want something that goes from 0 to 100 in 2 seconds and preferably in light blue".

Go to the bottom of this page to see what our ranger friend bought her.

Rangers please note, Alltype specialise in Local Govt work, rodents, roaches, spiders & feral birds.

Over 25 years experience, Wayne French offers an excellent, honest pest management service using only quality products!

All domestic & commercial work.

Call Wayne on Tel: 9302 3936 or Mob: 0414 242075

or Email

Wayne@Alltype

Visit Alltype's all new Website.

Address:  1-3 Chapel Road, Moorabbin,  VICTORIA  3189

Postal:  PO Box 591  Moorabbin,  VICTORIA  3189

Phone: (03) 9532 6069   Fax: 9555 7829 or e-mail.

On The Move

Person

K9 Collars

MAJOR SPONSOR

K9 Collars are a major sponsor of the WA Rangers Association and especially of the WA Ranger of the Year Award.  To obtain further information on K9 Collars Western Australia. 

Mr Colin Seal  Ph: (08) 9276 4937 or 1300 306 707  Fax: (08) 9375 6500  Mob:  0421 213 007.

K9 Collars

West Australian based.

Bark Busters are another quality company WA Rangers Association are proud to be associated with and a very kind sponsor of WARA Conferences.  Thanks Bark Busters, we appreciate your support.

Cliff Guelfi  BARK BUSTERS  Free Call: 1800 067 710

Some hangovers last a lifetime.

Don't drink and drive.

Ranger's gift to his wife.

0 to 100 in 2 seconds in light blue !!!

rangerdazewarangers