Too Many Puppies, Not Enough Homes

Abandoned and waiting for a home. The Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley is packed to the max with puppies.

Dr. Beth Vesco-Mock, director of the ASCMV, says this influx happens about every three months and is unacceptable.

“This continual reproduction of animals in both El Paso County and Dona Ana County has got to stop,” Vesco-Mock said.

It is overwhelming to see cages and cages of puppies, abandoned and unwanted. As they sit and wait for someone to take them home, shelter employees say, all they can do is hope that actually happens.

“It’s just very, very distressful whenever we are allowing our female dogs to become impregnated without a plan for the puppies,” Vesco-Mock said.

In just the last week-and-a-half, Vesco-Mock says 17 litters have crowded into the facility, for a total of more than 130 pups, some only a few weeks old.

The overload is stressful and beyond ridiculous, Vesco-Mock said.

Each lovable face has the opportunity to be adopted, but Vesco-Mock says the fate of most is unbearable.

“There was a row of dead kittens on the euthanasia table and it really made me sick,” Vesco-Mock said. “I was despondent the entire evening because that’s going to be rows of puppies here shortly laying on the euthanasia table.”

The ASCMV offers low-cost spay and neuter and Vesco-Mock says she cannot stress the importance of that enough.

You can save a life. For more information on adoptions, click on the “Hot Button” on the KVIA Homepage.