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GENEVA Most of the duties performed by Kane County Animal Control don't attract the level of media attention it got this month when Administrator Robert Sauceda led the efforts to move about 100 animals from an impounded petting zoo.

The event spurred an outpouring of support that included dozens of volunteers and donations of various supplies, resources and money.

County Board member T.R. Smith, R-Maple Park, said last week he liked that Animal Control set the precedent that it will help all animals and not just cats and dogs, like it had in the past.

This, he said, has "really shown the public what we can do."

Sauceda agreed that the situation with the petting zoo animals demonstrated what his department is capable of and what its goal and mission is going forward.

"This was a turning point for us," Sauceda said.

Since joining Animal Control last year he started as billing manager before the County Board named him interim administrator in November Sauceda has maintained the department's main role of preventing rabies while finding more ways to involve the community with his agency and better promote what it does.

"People think we're just animal control," he said.

Sauceda said he is seeking County Board approval to change the department's name to Kane County Animal Care and Control to better reflect its responsibilities, which include running a shelter for animals up for adoption.

Cats and dogs are mainstays at the shelter, but Animal Control also gets other species, including goats, bunnies, snakes and turtles, Sauceda said. In February, he said, police notified Animal Control of a potbelly pig that was dropped off at a meat packing plant. She was rescued last week by a farm in southern Illinois, Sauceda said.

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Sauceda: It's more than Animal Control