Norfolk Massachusetts Animal Control and Shelter

06/12/2026

Thanks to some eagle eyed homeowners, they noticed this tiny munchkin had fallen into their window well. With this heat, it was paramount to get her out, get some fluids and formula on board to combat her obvious dehydration. She is off with the awesome folks at Return2Wild to get fixed up

06/08/2026

BOLO(be on the lookout). Brett's Farm Road area. This is Cookie Chicken Jr. and he has been missing from home for a few days. Please contact his owner at 617 894 3371 if spotted.

06/05/2026

FIREWORKS tonight in Norfolk:

Hello everyone,

Here is your friendly reminder that tonight there will be fireworks at the Freeman Kennedy School! Let's remember to set our animals up for success during this whether it's cats, dogs, livestock, etc.

For dogs and cats the best thing you can do is make them feel safe, secure and comfortable. Do they have a favorite bed, blanket, crate, room, etc? Make sure they have access to their favorites. Some good low pitch classical music will also have a calming affect for them and distract them auditorily. Keeping them in a secure room, behind a closed door without other escape means will also help in case they start panicking. And above all, make sure they have their ID's on in the event they do bolt and get lost. If your dog needs sedation hopefully you have already called your vet for that and you're ready to administer before the event. And in a last resort, if your pets cannot be calmed at home, sometimes taking them for a drive outside of earshot is the best solution (as long as they like the car- no sense in exchanging one negative stimulus for another).

Livestock can benefit from some of the above as well. Make sure they are well hydrated, go ahead and keep them in the barn tonight (or at least until after the show) if they are normally outside at night. Throw some classical music on for them as well. Extra forage to keep them munching and occupied is a bonus. We do not advise bringing Seabiscuit, Ferdinand or Wilber into your home or taking them for a drive.

Hopefully, everyone has a great time tonight for the fireworks. Please think twice about bringing your pets to the event. So much can go wrong, it's not worth the risk.

06/05/2026

BOLO (be on the look out) North/Diamond/Union/Marshall/Audubon areas:

This kitty went missing 8 months ago and we believe there were sighting of her in the above mentioned areas. Please know that her owner is actively looking for her so if you see a person in the woods calling for her cat, that is what she's up to.

Please check your yards, your cameras, etc. for sightings of her. If you see that she's hanging out in your yard please call her owner at 615 670 0372. Please do not actively go into the woods looking for this kitty as she will get spooked by strangers and we want the best chance of a reunion. Currently, the pattern seems to be that she's not in one spot but on the move. If we can get sightings narrowed to one area we can get traps deployed for her.

05/22/2026

Some great info from our friends at Millis/Medway Animal Control . If you find a baby bird here's a resource for you https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1B629LvmsG/

05/19/2026

On this hottest day of 2026, ACO Mallette and I went to the Norfolk Aggie to talk about Animal Control Officer careers and our interactions with wildlife on the job. It was a great group of young adults who were asking questions and engaging - even with the heat! Thank you for having us, we thoroughly enjoy discussing a lot about our jobs and our communities.

05/15/2026

Tah Dah!!! Yesterday afternoon Norfolk's #1 dog and his family came in for his pinning of his dog license. Congrats to Sky for winning this year's fundraiser at the town clerk's office!
We hope you enjoy the swag from our anonymous donor and the cookies from a local baker!
Thank you to all who donated towards this fundraiser. Thank you notes to all will be rolling out shortly from this office.
Wear that #1 dog license well Sky!

05/13/2026

One of those moments as a resident in town with horses, I can tell you without any hesitation, we have the best rescue team around. Norfolk,MA Fire Norfolk Firefighters Local 4134 Norfolk,MA Police Millis/Medway Animal Control.

This afternoon I heard over the radio that there was a horse entrapment in town. I ran from my office, not even waiting for the call to make it to my cell. This is every horse owner's worst possible scenario. Horses are so majestic, but literally are made so fragile. All the horse people out there know that if they can get hurt......... They will...

While en route I called Millis/Medway Animal Control as they are my immediate right hand ACOs for livestock rescues. ACO Ward and ACO Mallette came running and willing to help.

Upon arrival we had a very frightened 9 month old filly named Athena. Her mom was comforting her the best she could as she was wedged in between two chain link fence sections and a concreted auto waterer. Mom was keeping her as calm as possible, while another ran to to the barn for sedation as there was going to be hydraulic tools running to extricate her.

Once Athena was slightly "chilled" on sedation, her eyes were covered, she had ropes under her stifles/haunches to hold her upright, the magic started from Norfolk,MA Fire. They cut the fence and pulled it away like it was butter.

Athena did struggle a bit during this, and threw a hoof into another section of chain link and got it wedged again between the links and the waterer. Norfolk Fire again, used the spreader tool (I do not know the correct terminology) and was able to get enough distance to free that hoof and we could softly lay her onto the ground.

After that Norfolk Fire was able to thread two fat fire hoses under elbow and stifle area and pull her away from all the cut edges that were still right under her. During that brief slide into an adjacent area that was flat and not head & shoulders downhill, Athena decided it was show time for her.

Athena scrambled, and was able to right herself without a lot of pressure from us. Athena was weightbearing on all fours, albeit sore.

Norfolk,MA Fire thank you. You all worked so amazingly well together in a very dangerous and emotional setting. Norfolk is lucky to have ALL of you in our little agriculturally friendly town.

Great extrication today. Everyone should be proud.

05/13/2026

Sometimes wildlife in their natural habitat act a little Jerry Springer-esque. Most of the time we do not see these interactions in public, but sometimes we do.

This post is for the residents down on Mirror Lake for educational purposes.

This morning two swans were having a "wing to bill" physical discussion in the middle of Mirror Lake Ave. Calls were made to police dispatch to break this unauthorized brawl up. I arrived to find one swan still in the roadway and I harassed him back into the water to alleviate the potential of him being hit by a motor vehicle.

Here's what I learned from the residents: That they were truly fighting. This happens at this time of year as it is swan breeding season. Males are incredibly territorial of their females, their water, their food sources, etc.

So why are we seeing this in the roadway? Most likely one swan pushed the other to the end of the pond and the fleeing swan had nowhere to go except up on land.

This is normal behavior for two males that may be in competition for resources. One will need to move along or they need to define a territory line. Mirror Lake is not that big, so I anticipate at some point the less dominant swan will "fly the coop" and find their own body of water.

So how did this "extra" swan get there? There's a multitude of ways. It could be last year's baby and he's challenging his dad and mom. It could be that someone placed a swan on Mirror Lake thinking there was enough room for coexistence. It could also be that a swan made a poor decision and flew in thinking his life would be smooth sailing.

Regardless of the circumstances, the swans will need to work it out. If they can't, then we'll reach out to MA Wildlife and environmental police to see what they would like to see happen for a resolution. Animal Control only gets involved in situations like this when there is an injured animal and we can get it to the appropriate resources.

And lets talk injuries: Today the swan I saw did have an injury. It was old and healed. He has a split on his webbing. It is fully healed, he has full functionality of his foot, and there is no need to intervene on that injury. He can walk, he can swim, he can do all he needs with that old injury.

Mirror Lake residents: It may get a bit "spicy" down there for a few weeks while battle lines are drawn. Please know that if at any time a swan is sick, injured, on land and is catchable, we are one phone call away and will do our best to get them to the appropriate & available resources.

05/03/2026

If you enjoy the beauty of Leland Wild Foundation , please know the Bobolinks are back and to follow their posted rules for dog restraint.

The BOBOLINKS are back!!

Please leash your dogs and be mindful of our new RED = GIVE SPACE initiative to prevent unwanted dog interactions.

*Entrance signage is going up now. New signage will be posted along trails in the coming week.