Sep17
It IS in the Water…
Apparently it IS in the water. Las Cruces has still another case of animal hoarding. Totally disgusting!
LAS CRUCES — Officers were at the scene of yet another case of suspected animal hoarding Tuesday, a recurring trend in Doña Ana County, which has seen a steady stream of such cases in the last two years.
Less than a week after an East Mesa home with almost 500 animals on the property was raided, officers were at a home south of Las Cruces where 38 dogs — all but one of them pit bulls — and approximately 30 cats were found, Curtis Childress, the county’s animal control supervisor, said.
The mobile home in the 300 block of Vine Avenue sits on four acres of land and had weeds overgrown to the point that they obscured the dogs and made it difficult for officers to retrieve the animals.
“Some of them look pretty good. Some of them don’t look so good,” Childress said of the animals. County ordinance allows for up to six domestic animals without permit.
Officers also found graves where more dogs were believed to be buried.
Childress and county records identified the owner of the home as Xxxxxx Xxxxxx, who, according to Childress, used to breed pit bulls but now says she hasn’t in some time. Xxxxxx did not emerge from the home while the media was outside. A telephone listing for the home was no longer in service.
The animals were taken to the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley, where their health and adoptability were to be evaluated.
Childress said the shelter is not equipped to handle as many pit bulls as were found, but animal rescue organizations have been asked to assist with finding homes for the animals.
“It’s not so much the breed. What’s important here is the demeanor of the dog and the breeding of the dog and what they were raised for is what’s going to determine the adoptability of these animals,” Heather Ferguson, legislative director for Animal Protection of New Mexico, said.
Ferguson said the dogs would be sheltered mostly in New Mexico and Arizona.
Childress described the pit bulls — a breed stigmatized for their used in dog fighting — as mostly good-tempered but a little frazzled because of all the county personnel on the property.
There were no initial indications that the dogs were used for fighting, but that is something investigators will look into, along with the possibility of animal cruelty charges.
Investigators first learned of the latest case a week ago when a ditch rider was near the property, saw the animals and alerted authorities.
Officers were unable to respond to the latest case until this week because resources were tied up with the East Mesa case.
Charges in the East Mesa case are pending.
The latest case is the third in the county since August and is part of at least seven cases since the summer of 2007.
Source: Las Cruces Sun-News
That’s really sad. I’m sorry the water is tainted down there, although sometimes I think there’s been some tainting up here too. Did you see the report in Valencia County about the emaciated horse wondering the mesa back in August too?
Sad…sad…sad…..