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Mallory Kinsman wasn’t long into her 7 a.m. shift before the San Jose Animal Services Officer spotted a black-and-white chihuahua roaming free on a neighborhood street, not far from where loose dogs got into the city zoo twice last month and killed miniature horses and a donkey.

She followed the little pooch to a nearby house, where owner Rita Guess innocently offered her pet Moo’s defense: “He walks himself.”

Kinsman spent a few minutes dutifully explaining why dogs cannot roam free — they could bite someone, attack other animals, be attacked themselves, cause traffic collisions.

“People think it’s OK to let their dogs roam loose, it’s pretty common,” Kinsman explained before heading off to Humane Society Silicon Valley to pick up a stray terrier mix found wandering Old Bayshore Highway. “You educate as much as you can and hope it sticks.”

Animal control officer Mallory Kinsman comforts a stray terrier mix found roaming the streets in Milpitas, Calif. Kinsman picked up the dog from the Silicon Vally Humane Society Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018 for transfer back to the Animal Care Center in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Animal control officer Mallory Kinsman watches a stray dog return to its home, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, in San Jose, Calif. Kinsman was able to follow the dog back home and was able to speak to its owner. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

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Animal control officer Mallory Kinsman comforts a stray terrier mix found roaming the streets in Milpitas, Calif. Kinsman picked up the dog from the Silicon Vally Humane Society Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, for transfer back to the Animal Care Center in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)



Animal control officer Mallory Kinsman begins her day, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Animal control officer Mallory Kinsman begins her day, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Animal control officer Mallory Kinsman investigates a yard with an unlicensed, tethered dog, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, in San Jose, Calif. Tethering dogs can be dangerous if the lead is not connected to a pulley system that prevents the animal from injuring itself. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)



Animal control officer Mallory Kinsman transfers a stray terrier mix back to the kennels at the Animal Care Center, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Animal control officer Mallory Kinsman, right, picks up a stray terrier mix, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, from the Silicon Valley Humane Society in Milpitas, Calif., where it had been turned in the day prior. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Animal control officer Mallory Kinsman picks up a stray terrier mix, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, at the Silicon Valley Humane Society in Milpitas, Calif., where it had been turned in the day prior. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)



Animal control officer Mallory Kinsman, right, picks up a stray terrier mix, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, from the Silicon Valley Humane Society in Milpitas, Calif., where it had been turned in the day prior. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

A stray dog is offered for adoption at the Animal Care Center Animal, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Contra Costa County Animal Services officer Alana Weissman, left, and Lt. Evan Eustis enter the houseboat of an animal cruelty suspect after sheriffs confiscated a sick puppy from him as the mother of the puppy peers out the door on Bethel Island, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. Lt Eustis was hoping to get the dog owner to sign ownership of the puppy over to the shelter so they could put the pup up for adoption. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)



Contra Costa County Animal Services officer Alana Weissman takes a loose husky off the hands of resident Sheila Fisher in Brentwood, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. Fisher called animal services about the loose husky that was terrifying her cat. She says the dog had killed her cats in the past and is constantly getting loose. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Contra Costa County Animal Services officer Alana Weissman puts a loose husky into her truck with the intention of returning her back to the owner in Brentwood, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. A neighborhood resident had called animal services about the loose husky that was terrifying her cat. She says the dog had killed her cats in the past and is constantly getting loose. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

An escaped husky gets put into the animal services truck after escaping his yard and terrifying the neighbor's cat in Brentwood, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)



Contra Costa County Animal Services officer Alana Weissman reports in to dispatch before going on a call in Brentwood, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Contra Costa County Animal Services officer Alana Weissman prepares to put a dead dog into her truck after coming across the dog in Brentwood, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Contra Costa County Animal Services officer Alana Weissman retrieves a dead dog off the side of the road in Brentwood, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)



Contra Costa County Animal Services officer Alana Weissman, right and Lt. Evan Eustis enter the houseboat of an animal cruelty suspect after sheriffs confiscated a sick puppy from him on Bethel Island, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. Lt Eustis was hoping to get the dog owner to sign ownership of the puppy over to the shelter so they could put the pup up for adoption. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

It’s a lesson that plays out about every day across the Bay Area as animal control officers from San Jose to San Ramon round up thousands of loose dogs a year. The consequences of stray dogs can be tragic.

In November, loose pit bulls in Oakland attacked and badly injured a 54-year-old woman who was out with her own dog, as well as a 71-year-old man who tried to help her. The dogs’ owner later surrendered them and they were euthanized, said Eric Zuercher, assistant to the director at Oakland Animal Services.

In December, a pack of stray dogs in Modesto fatally mauled a 56-year-old woman. A year earlier near Pismo Beach, a pair of loose dogs attacked an elderly woman as she walked her small dog and killed a 64-year-old man who rushed to her aid.

Animal control agencies say it’s a constant challenge, with small staffs covering large areas, to teach owners the importance of properly securing their pets. San Jose Animal Care and Services has a total of 17 officers covering almost 230 square miles on San Jose, Milpitas, Cupertino, Saratoga and Los Gatos. Contra Costa County Animal Control Services has two dozen officers serving a county of 1.2 million and more than 800 square miles.

But Contra Costa County Animal Control Services spokesman Steve Burdo said getting the message to dog owners to properly secure their pets is “always a priority of ours.”

On San Jose’s Gainsville Avenue, where Kinsman saw the wandering chihuahua, Moo’s owner said she was unaware her little dog wasn’t supposed to roam free.

“Everybody kind of lets their dogs walk around,” Guess, 50, said, adding she didn’t understand why the same rules don’t apply to cats. “She told me I could get a fine, but at least she didn’t give me a ticket. My dog’s not harmful, he’s friendly. But I understand some people want to keep their lawns nice.”

Neighbors said that a couple weeks earlier, a group of four large brown dogs was roaming the neighborhood. Isela Solorzano, 18, recalled seeing them block passing cars and intimidate children. They haven’t been seen since, though it’s unclear whether the owner or animal control corralled them.

“I’m glad they’re gone,” Solorzano said.

Last year, San Jose Animal Care and Services took in 4,186 mostly stray dogs — almost a dozen a day. Oakland took in 2,249. Contra Costa County Animal Control Services took in 4,932 dogs last year. Most of those dogs taken are returned to their original owners or adopted out to new ones, but those with an attack history are almost always euthanized. The silver lining: most agencies report falling numbers of strays in recent years.

“Animal control officers go around all day long picking up loose dogs,” San Jose Animal Care and Services spokeswoman Julie St. Gregory said. “That’s the bulk of our business.”

Last month, loose dogs dug under fences at Happy Hollow Park and Zoo and killed four miniature horses and a donkey in two separate overnight attacks.

Maintenance crews found one dog, a Belgian malinois, inside a pen with the dead animals after the second attack. Animal control officers picked up another roaming in nearby Kelley Park with a broken tether around its neck. Both have since been euthanized.

Many assumed afterward that the loose dogs must have belonged to homeless people — Happy Hollow is near an area along Coyote Creek that once was the scene of the notorious “Jungle” encampment before the city cleared it out in December 2014. Now there are just a few piles of trash and a couple of tents whose inhabitants did not appear to have dogs.

But many residents in surrounding neighborhoods seem unaware of the city’s dog rules. A few blocks from Happy Hollow, Kinsman spotted a small dog improperly tethered outside a home, its leash tangled in a barbecue grill and bicycle. As Kinsman went to speak to the owner, neighbors offered their own complaints about the dog. Kinsman talked to the owner and explained that the proper way to secure a dog kept outdoors for long periods is with an overhead trolley line.

Officers like Kinsman bristle at the term “dog catcher,” which they feel implies they simply pick up dogs and euthanize them.

“There’s a lot more to it,” she said.

Related Articles Dog attacks renew Happy Hollow security, management questions

Zoo attack: Outrage grows over Happy Hollow’s failure to protect beloved animals from intruder dogs She already had more than a dozen calls waiting for her when she arrived that morning. A reported dog bite. A report about dogs being bred in inhumane conditions. A report of an owner not properly caring for an ill-looking dog. The stray dog picked up on Old Bayshore Highway that needed to be transported to the city Animal Care Center.

“All the officers who do this love animals,” Kinsman said. “We’re big with saving animals. We hope people will see that we’re actually out here to help everyone, including the animals.”