FROM police watch houses in the Northern Territory to serving as a community ranger in Mount Gambier, Dale Millar has an abundance of experience keeping animals and people under control.
Moving to Mount Gambier in 2014 to be closer to his children, Mr Millar left the police force in the Northern Territory and secured the role as community ranger for the Grant District Council.
“I was excited because I have always liked working with animals and even in the police I dealt with crocodiles, snakes, you name it, so I’ve never really had any fear of them,” Mr Millar said.
“Despite that, I had no idea what to expect in the position of community ranger.”
As Mr Millar began finding his feet in the role, he quickly realised dealing with animals would present plenty of different challenges.
“In the District Council of Grant, I have 190,477 hectares that I have to look after, which includes 2500 registered dogs and I couldn’t even tell you how much stock there is around, so it is quite busy,” he said.
“I am on call all the time and I get phoned regularly at three or four in the morning for something like a dog attack or stock on the road.
“There are multiple different roles I have to play and I do run out of time getting things done sometimes.”
While Mr Millar has had to adjust to dealing with animals, he has been able to draw on his experiences working in the police force.
“In some ways it has been similar to my role as a police officer because you deal with the same sort of people at times,” Mr Millar said.
“For example, if I have to go and seize a dog, people aren’t going to be happy – it is the same if I am a police officer and have to go and arrest someone, they are not going to be happy about it.”
While unhappy dog owners have caused their own issues for Mr Millar, he has also had plenty of close calls trying to get dogs to cooperate.
“They are unpredictable animals and I have had times where I have had to get down on one knee and coerce a dog,” he said.
“I have also had dogs run at me and try to attack, which is extremely confronting sometimes.”
Despite a number of tricky situations, Mr Millar has avoided injury during his three years in the job.
“I haven’t been bitten yet, so I believe I have a good understanding of dogs,” he said.
“I think they tend to sense fear and I’ve never been scared of dogs.”
Mr Millar said his history of working with animals has reduced his fear of most species, but a few weeks ago he was faced with a much different beast.
“Don’t get me wrong, every situation I get into, there is always a little bit of fear, for example the elephant seal, I wasn’t not scared,” he said.
“It was actually quite intimidating when it growled and snarled at me with those big teeth.”
Ahead of approaching the creature in Port MacDonnell, Mr Millar had to do some quick “googling” to find more out about the animal.
“I looked it up on the internet to try and learn a bit about its temperament,” he said.
“Nothing sort of prepared me for it because I just wasn’t expecting it to be as big as it was, but all in all, it ended well and I’ve still got all my limbs.”
He also was not prepared for the short-term fame that would come with the incident.
“The Border Watch’s vision of me pushing the wheelie bin to try and move the seal ended up getting over 100,000 hits on social media,” Mr Millar said.
“I didn’t think it would get that much attention, but when I thought about it more, seals aren’t something you see every day, particularly in the township on someone’s doorstep.”
Mr Millar’s passion for animals goes beyond his working hours, which is evident when you witness the strong relationship between him and his highly trained Swiss Shepherd Ruby.
“I’ve got my own dog at the moment Ruby and she is actually a trained guard dog, so I do a lot of training with her,” Mr Millar said.
Ruby has achieved great feats of her own, assisting police and Mr Millar to find a stolen motorcycle in the pines.
“I was called by the police out of hours to help them find a stolen motorcycle that had been buried in the pines and I took Ruby down with me,” Mr Millar said.
“After a few runs through the pines, Ruby located the bike in under 30 minutes and it actually took us longer to lift it out of the ground than it did for her to find it.”
While dealing with different animals each day has been among the perks of the job, Mr Millar said he has also seen his fair share of criminal activity in the role of community ranger.
“I have had incidents where I have had to go pick up dogs that have been left at vacant properties and drugs have been located where I have had to get police involved,” Mr Millar said.
“Sometimes you get residents dumping rubbish on the side of the road and I have found bags of cannabis with hydroponic equipment.
“I have also had to assist police with warrants to contain dogs and those situations can get fairly heated, but it’s comforting with the police presence there.”
Despite the unsavoury encounters, Mr Millar has no intention of giving up his role as the region’s community ranger.
“You have days where you get sick of the same people you are dealing with, but that is like any job,” he said.
“I see myself doing it for a lot longer, because the environment is always changing and every day is different.”
