Despite having spent more than half his adult life tracking wayward livestock, abandoned pets and sick or injured varmints, retired Kane County Animal Control Warden Phil Zavitz, affectionately known as “Beast Master,” is the last to suggest he has seen it all.
Just when the county’s dog catcher and raccoon chaser thought he might have, he said, along came the next runaway lizard or displaced python, not to mention the unexpected meetings with critters ranging from tarantulas and wildcats to coyotes.
The job sometimes was as dangerous as it was interesting, Zavitz said. He was bitten by the love bug so deeply, however, that he refused to quit even after some close calls.
A few years ago, a stray dog ripped open his hand so severely, he said, that he spent five days in the hospital recovering from blood loss. And an injured Doberman pinscher once clamped down on his face so hard he nearly lost an eye.
Zavitz’s last day as warden was Jan. 2. The Kane County Board commended him this month for 13 years of “dedicated, knowledgeable and unselfish service.”
He has spent more than 25 years in the animal-control business.
