Homeless animal problem attributed to lack of sterilization / neutering services

LAS CRUCES – Have you noticed more cats and dogs roaming free?

Animal care experts say they have noted an increase in the number of homeless animals in the city and the surrounding desert and suggest the trend may be related to the animal shelter not accommodating as many pets. and fewer sterilization / sterilization services in the midst of the pandemic.

Clint Thacker, executive director of the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley, said they were only taking animals in extreme circumstances at the start of the pandemic. He said the annual number of pounds is usually around 10,000, but in 2020 they only had around 6,300.

“We stopped taking assignments from healthy homeowners up to a point,” Thacker said. “If somebody came up and said, ‘There’s nowhere we can take this, I’ll just throw it out,’ then yeah, we would definitely take the animal.”

Two free range dogs are spotted wandering in the desert near the Mesquite exit on Monday, July 12, 2021.

In other cases, he said owners had received information about rescues in the area and other available options.

Carla Baker of Cherished K-9 All Breed Rescue said that while she hasn’t seen an increase in owner abandonments in the past year, she has seen more animals roaming free.

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“Rather than surrender, my question is if they drop them,” Baker said in early July. “We just got a call for five puppies in the middle of the desert. So, I mean, it’s more than crazy over the last year of abandoned dogs of all breeds. “

The reason for the dropout is unclear – whether it is people with fewer funds during the pandemic, shelters limiting their intake, or many other reasons.

Las Crucen Veronica Hernandez encountered two dogs roaming free in the desert on July 12 near the Mesquite exit. She said she usually notices more animals lost from late June to July. Another area where she said she saw a group of around 10 dogs roaming free is Cesar Chavez Primary School.

Three years ago, Hernandez encountered a lost dog near the mountains of Doña Ana. She checked for a microchip and posted flyers, trying to find its owner, but no one ever showed up. Goofy is now part of his own family of pets.

Two free range dogs are spotted wandering in the desert near the Mesquite exit on Monday, July 12, 2021.

Baker said the problem with free-range animals in the region has long been due to the lack of affordable spaying and neutering services.

Sterilize action program in Las Cruces and Humanitarian Society of Doña Ana County help low-income community members pay for veterinary services, but people have to meet certain requirements. Another problem is the shortage of veterinarians in the area to perform sterilization and sterilization surgeries and the long waits for an appointment.

Julie Miller, chairman of the SNAP board, said owners could previously get an appointment with their animals within about four weeks. She said the wait time had doubled to around eight weeks.

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals cites sterilization as a way to help deal with the problem of homeless animals. Many of these animals end up being euthanized.

Other communities across the country have a higher demand for animals than there are animals available. Baker said she sends hard-to-place dogs and cats out of state every month so the animals have a better chance at adoption.

The kittens are resting after eating at ACTion Programs for Animals in Las Cruces on Wednesday July 7, 2021.

“We are really ignorant when it comes to the importance of sterilization / sterilization – ‘we’ meaning this community,” Baker said. “There is a lot of abuse in this area. There is a lot of child abuse, and child abuse and animal abuse go hand in hand. … This all needs to be sorted out, but I think let’s start by reducing our numbers by not allowing them to continue to populate.

Michel Meunier of ACTion Programs for Animals said she had not seen an increase in inbound calls earlier in the pandemic. She explained that they get most of their large dogs from the ASCMV, pulling the dogs that have been there the longest. But the refuge has reduced their overall consumption.

On the contrary, Meunier said people were showing more support for foster animals. The facility has started sleepover and dog-run programs where animals can be taken out of the shelter for a few hours or days for a trial run. She said more people were at home and interested in supporting the animals in this way.

“This has led to more adoptions because once people have the animals in their homes they fall in love with them, they will keep them,” Meunier said.

Mesilla Valley Animal Service Center expected to receive a new facility through general bonds approved by voters in 2018. Their current building, which will be next door, is intended to become a high capacity sterilization / sterilization center. The new project started in May 2021.

Sheba is expecting to play ACTion for Animals programs in Las Cruces on Wednesday, July 7, 2021.

Also, the City Council of Las Cruces recently approved a resolution to support a program to reduce the feral and ownerless stray cat population by trapping, vaccinating, sterilizing, micro-powering and tagging cats before they are released into their environment.

The goal of the TNR program would be to reduce the feral and ownerless cat population in Las Cruces in a humane way without the town shelter having to resort to immediate euthanasia.

Leah Romero is the trendy reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, [email protected] or @rromero_leah on Twitter.

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