Contributed by Michael Maholchic, Milton Rotary Club.

She’s a lover of animals and a graduate from the Massachusetts Animal Control Academy, who is on call 24/7 to answer your questions about pets, livestock, or wild animals.

At the regular meeting of the Milton Rotary Club, those in attendance learned a guaranteed way to get rid of a skunk living under your porch.

Nancy Bersani, Milton’s Animal Control Officer, is charged by state law to “attend to all complaints or other matters pertaining to animals”. Any animal that lives outside must be inspected annually. She is associated with the Milton Police Department and while she has no powers of arrest, she can cite people for having their dog off leash. Animals also can be covered under a restraining order.

She is the person to go to if you encounter wild animals; in this past year she has rescued a coyote and returned it to its native habitat.

She monitors parks, responds to calls of animal abuse or neglect, dog-fighting, and animal bites, and arranges for medical care for abandoned animals. Her annual budget is a little over $80.000 for animal control, 18 hours for a kennel cleaner, all shelter utilities, maintenance , food and care for the animals.. The Milton Animal League is a key partner, supplying volunteers at the Animal Shelter, and chipping in $3,000 to $5,000 a month on veterinarian bills.

Milton’s Board of Health regulates the keeping of farm animals in town. If, for example, you are thinking of keeping fowl, her advice is to first make sure your neighbors are okay with it., and once you have them notify the Board of Health.

In response to a question about whether there should be a dog park in town, she said any such park would need to have monitoring, which we currently are not funding. “Cunningham Park is a great resource”, she said.

Officer Bersani works out of the Animal Shelter on Governor Stoughton Lane.

And the way to get rid of that skunk, according to Rotary President Dr. Frank Giuliani, is to put a radio under your porch and turn it on. Officer Bersani agreed it was one solution and said she has lots of information on how to deter wildlife. You can call her at (617) 698-0455.