Three kittens found in trash as animal shelters struggle to keep pace
Jul. 2—Animal welfare advocates worry three little kittens are the latest evidence that shelter and veterinary services in Northern New Mexico and beyond are being pushed to a breaking point.
Organizers at nonprofit shelter Española Humane are looking for people who can foster cats after a trash collector for North Central Solid Waste Authority found two approximately 8-week-old kittens in a trash bag in the back of his truck near the Santa Clara Apartments in Española.
The animals were taken to the shelter earlier this week. Immediately after the incident, another Española resident brought in a younger kitten with burned paws, also found in the trash. Shelter spokeswoman Mattie Allen said shelter staffers believe the kitten is from a separate incident.
Española Humane Executive Director Bridget Lindquist and officials at other shelters said they are seeing a rise in kittens and puppies, an increase in diseases such as parvovirus and a lack of available medical and transfer services. It's a combination, Lindquist said, that contributes to a sense of despair some pet owners feel.
"It's a difficult thing when people are feeling so desperate. It's across an entire community, and they don't have a humane option anymore," Lindquist said, referring to the case of the three kittens. "While that's a prosecutable offense, I think the bigger issue is more systemic."
Officials at Española Humane say they have had a surplus of adoptable pets all year. Shortly before the kittens came in, the shelter accepted five cats from the Pet Center in Las Vegas, N.M., which closed permanently Thursday.
The Pet Center, operated by the Animal Welfare Coalition of Northeastern New Mexico, shuttered after more than nine years in the community and transferred its roughly 45 remaining animals elsewhere after board members chose not to apply for a new contract with the city of Las Vegas.
"Despite our best efforts championing and supporting local leaders, bringing in resources, and providing community outreach, the resistance, and quite frankly, outright rejection to valuing humane animal welfare by community leaders, has proven to be too much," read a statement on the organization's website.
Marshall Poole, the board chairman for Animal Welfare Coalition, cited a lack of funding and a stipulation in the city's request for proposal that would allow the city to decide when shelter animals are euthanized as key factors in his organization's unanimous decision to close.
"They don't have any business deciding what animals get euthanized and when," Poole said, referring to the city. "Euthanizing of animals is very well controlled in New Mexico, and it's very clear the city doesn't have anyone certified to do that. We're worried they're going to start killing them inhumanely."
Poole also cited concerns about a lack of county animal control staffing — and said he believes the city wanted Animal Welfare Coalition of Northeastern New Mexico to step down from its shelter duties because organizers were vocal about issues. KOB-TV reported this week that just two of five animal control positions with the San Miguel County Sheriff's Office are filled.
Documents from Animal Welfare Coalition show the group reached out to Las Vegas City Manager Leo Maestas several times throughout 2022 via email and written mail, asking to discuss concerns around a lack of animal control and enforcement of animal ordinances, such as vaccine requirements. Poole said he hasn't received any responses.
"We do not know what the city is going to do," he said.
In the past year, the Pet Center took in more than 1,200 animals, Poole said. When fires threatened Las Vegas in April and May, shelter workers were forced to evacuate animals to the Santa Fe County Fairgrounds, where many were transferred to other local shelters.
Emails and phone calls to Las Vegas Mayor Louie Trujillo and Maestas about the shelter were not returned Friday.
San Miguel County Sheriff Chris Lopez, who oversees the county's animal control unit, did not return emails Friday. No one could be reached via phone at the sheriff's office.
The closure of the Las Vegas shelter is expected to have a ripple effect into other local communities. Since May, the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society has taken in 40 animals from the Las Vegas shelter, spokesman Murad Kirdar confirmed Friday, adding to an overcrowding problem the Santa Fe shelter has dealt with all year.
"With the loss of the Las Vegas shelter, until the city gets up to part with the new shelter, we're going to see an increase with our already over-capacity level," he said.
The Santa Fe shelter currently is housing about 300 animals, or 75 more than its capacity usually allows.
Kirdar said Santa Fe shelter also is seeing more kittens and puppies, possibly because of a decline in spaying and neutering associated with the pandemic — and more animals with behavioral issues who likely were adopted during the pandemic and later surrendered to shelters.
For the first time, the shelter will host a sale on adoptions on July 4 in an effort to clear more space. All adoptions will cost $4, Kirdar said. On Saturday and Sunday, all kitten adoptions will be two for the price of one while all puppy adoptions will be half-off.
"It's not just a Santa Fe thing, not just an Española [thing]," he said. "It's statewide, it's countrywide. I think a lot of it has to do with spaying and neutering."
