I’ve lived in Southern New Mexico for approximately ten years now. However, I’ve never heard of so many cases of alleged “animal hoarding.” In fact, until I moved here I didn’t even know it even existed. Why would someone want to keep more animals than they could possibly care for? The short answer is because people who animal hoard are mentally ill.

Here are the latest examples of animal abuse (and it IS animal abuse):

• 12/16/06: Animal control officers removed fourteen cats and the frozen carcasses of twenty-five more from a moble home in Las Cruces. The alleged animal hoarder living in the trailer, checked himself voluntarily nto a hospital for a mental evaluation. The ammonia level was so strong, because of the urine and feces, tht animal control officers had to wear masks. Inside a freezer, officers found the frozen carcasses of twenty-five cats, each accompanied with a metal cross.
• 05/12/07: A Las Cruces woman was charged with seventy-three counts of failing to provide proper care and maintenance and one count of violating her kennel license. An electrical fire in a van parked outside of her home killed seventy-three cats. Two weeks later, animal control officers executed a search warrant in her downtown office and found twenty-one more cats.
• 05/15/07: The director of the Dona Ana County Humane Society said that one hundred twenty-eight cats removed from a Las Cruces home had to be euthanized. Animal control officers found the one hundred twenty-nine cats, four horses, four dogs, and three rabbits on Tuesday. All the other animals are believed to be living and healthy. As for the humans that lived in the house, a seventy-two year old woman was admitted to the hospital for evaluation when the animals were taken, the alleged animal hoarder was arrested while trying to sneak a cat out the back door in a suitcase, and a fifteen year old boy was reportedly taken into protective custody. The woman’s was a community development coordinator for the town of Mesilla.
• 06/29/07: A Speech Language Pathologist at a Las Cruces middle school could be facing animal cruelty charges after a sheriff’s deputies and animal control officers found a total of one hundred twenty-five animals at his home just west of the city. Investigators removed fifty-nine cats, thirty-three dogs, twenty-six chickens, five ducks, two goats, and a rooster from the alleged animal hoarder’s home. One kitten died enroute to a shelter. The lead investigator opened the front door and then asked for a respirator before going any further.
• 08/23/08: Charges were pending Friday against a pair of New Mexico State University employees suspected of hoarding one hundred eighteen animals, mostly cats, at their Mesilla home. The NMSU directory lists the wife as the department head for library systems. The husband is in the agronomy and horticulture department. Deputies were called to the home Thursday afternoon on a report of a dead horse. Deputies reportedly discovered one hundred two cats, some of which were dead and stored in a freezer, along with five horses – two of which were dead – and an undetermined number of pot-bellied pigs, goats, pigeons and a peacock. The surviving animals were taken to the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley for evaluation. The horses were taken to Albuquerque where a necropsy was to be performed.

Source: http://www.pet-abuse.com

I have to admit I’m more than a “little concerned” that a city that hovers at a population approximating 90,000 individuals has so many cases of alleged animal hoarding. I know that these people are mentally ill, but I think that laws and fines need to be “a little stiffer” in regards to this problem. A message needs to be sent that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. Period.

Tags: abuse, animal hoarding, Las Cruces, mental illness, pets

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