Wild in the Streets

The long arm of the law, in his case, wields an animal snare. Jerrold Czech Jr., Philadelphia’s only wildlife conservation officer, prepares to take another critter into protective custody. (Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer)

Jerrold Czech is real police, keeping us safe from the animals, and more often visa versa.

Today's metro column springs from a ride-around with the city's sole Wildlife Conservation Officer.

He covers about 2 million people (including Delco these days) and deals with a lot of deer and the occasional peregrine falcon and bald eagle mama. He tells stories, dryly and well.

Didn't have time to get into the tarantulas and alligators that drug dealers like to keep under their window sills to discourage instrusions. Effective, he says. His peers in the other 135 state Game Commission Districts have lots of problems with giant animals. So does he, but it's different in the city.

In the heat of the summer, better call out a plumber ... the video that came to mind is "Wild in the Streets."

Posted by Daniel Rubin @ 7:43 AM Permalink | Post a comment

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About Metro Mashup

Metro columnist Karen Heller has been an Inquirer staff writer since 1986. She has won national, state and local awards for feature writing, investigative reporting and criticism, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. E-mail Karen here; read her columns here.

An award-winning columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Annette John-Hall’s twice weekly metro columns always illuminate. Her topics and storytelling challenge readers to reflect on their own perceptions, to turn off the auto response and forge a different kind of conversation. She has been nominated twice by the Inquirer for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. E-mail Annette here; read her columns here.

Kevin Riordan’s daily newspaper byline debuted in 1972, when he was a child prodigy. He got his first real newspaper job four years later, and joined the Inquirer in 2010. A native of western Massachusetts, he lives in Haddon Heights, NJ. E-mail Kevin here; read his columns here.

Since joining The Inquirer as a staff writer in 1988, Daniel Rubin has reported from 27 countries, but most of them were small. He's a metro columnist and has been the European Correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers. For two years he sat at home and wrote Blinq, the paper's first daily blog. Dan began newspaper work in Norfolk and Louisville, Ky., after getting his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern University. He has lived in all four commonwealths, most recently in Pennsylvania. He teaches urban journalism at the University of Pennsylvania. E-mail Daniel here; read his columns here.

Monica Yant Kinney joined the Inquirer as a suburban reporter in 1996, moved to the City Hall Bureau two years later and was named a metro columnist in 2001 at the age of 30. As a columnist, Kinney speaks to, and for, the curious and infuriated masses, writing often about gun violence, casinos, politics, pop culture and parenting. She logs so many miles reporting in the city, suburbs and South Jersey, she finally bought a Prius. E-mail Monica here; read her columns here.

Visit Blinq 1.0 here.

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