Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 177, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1916 — Dog Catcher of Milwaukee Is a Humane Woman [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Dog Catcher of Milwaukee Is a Humane Woman

MILWAUKEE, WIS. —Miss Leonore Cawker, whose wealth is placed at $1,000,000, has received a raise in pay from the city. She is to get $1,200 next year for being the city’s dog catcher. Last year she received SSOO.

“The laborer is worth part of her hire,” is Miss Cawker’s version of the old proverb, and she added: “It costs me about $3,000 a year to do my work of catching and caring for the city’s homeless dogs and cats. I should receive some part of this amount from the city as evidence of appreciation. People don’t appreciate what they don’t pay for. If fhey get it at a bargain they appreciate it more. So I am giving my work as a bargain, and I

am happy In doing something forthe poor damb brutes which I-love.” For ten years Miss Cawker has been doing this work, more or less officially. Last year was her first as the city official dog catcher. Before that she cared for homeless pups and kittens unofficially, and when she was disgusted with the methods used by the city police in killing strays she announced in an advertisement, three years ago, that she would guarantee painless deaths to animals which must be disposed of. Now Miss Cawker’s work has been recognized officially as being valuable to the city. There had been no dog catcher for years, but a year ago she received an official commission. Out of her salary of SSOO she looked after the departmental affairs herself, hired three men and ran an automobile for collecting animals which were to be disposed of. She furnished part of her stables on the upper West side, in an aristocratic neighborhood, as a kennel, and there was an asphyxiating room, where animals sentenced to the last sleep might be put away without pain. *