“Speak Up” host Jerry Rushing, left, watches as Vicksburg Animal Control Department Supervisor Eldridge Skinner demonstrates how a large animal cage is used. At right, TV 23 employee Jason Hubbard videos the public service program.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[7/18/03]Cages used by city workers to trap stray cats and dogs are safe and checked regularly, the supervisor of the Vicksburg Animal Shelter said Thursday, two weeks after a 2-year-old girl was found in one.

Eldridge Skinner, at City Hall Annex to demonstrate how the cages operate, said the metal devices are checked daily, including on weekends, for trapped animals that may also include raccoons.

The child, who lives at 3108 Oak St., with her mother, Motyka Gibson, 24, was found in the cage by neighbors who had been awakened in the early-morning hours of July 2 by the child’s cries.

The child, who was handed over to the Department of Human Services for about a day, was returned to her mother. She had not been injured in the incident that left her with mosquito and ant bites.

Although once was unfortunate, Skinner said the accident with the 2-year-old was the only time anything like that had happened.

“In this case, we were doing our job,” he said.

Skinner said no animals are hurt in the six large dog cages and nine small cat cages set daily throughout Vicksburg. The trap doors clamp shut after an animal goes inside to get food placed at the back of the cages. Trapped animals are taken to the shelter for five days and then taken to the Animal Rescue League in Jackson.

Skinner said people with animal problems should call the Vicksburg animal shelter from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. during the week. He said people should call the Vicksburg police or the city’s action line at 636-3411 for animal concerns after hours. Skinner said responses to calls take, on average, 10 minutes.

Skinner’s demonstration will appear on the city’s cable channel, TV 23, program “Speak Up.”

Jerry Rushing, the program’s host, said the city has received a few e-mails in support of the cages.

Vicksburg Mayor Laurence Leyens said he has gotten calls from people with safety concerns about the cages, but he said the traps are not dangerous.

“I’m getting calls saying how terrible it is that we’re using traps,” Leyens said. “I think people were envisioning bear traps,” Leyens said.

He said the trap that caught the toddler may have saved her life, keeping her from wandering farther from home or onto the street.