Elephant Butte Requires Residents To Insure Aggressive Dogs

Some dog owners in Elephant Butte are now required to register and insure their dogs. A new ordinance enacted March 1 singles out the owners of pit bulls, Rottweilers, and German shepherds.

Owners must now provide their addresses, photos of their dogs, proof of vaccinations and proof of personal property liability worth $100,000.

“If you wanna have your pit bull, you have to have the personal responsibility and have homeowner’s insurance,” said Elephant Butte City Manager Alan Briley.

Briley said the law was created in light of the death of Margaret Salcedo in neighboring town Truth or Consequences last year.

Margaret was mauled to death by a pack of dogs who escaped from their yard. Her brother, Gary Salcedo, said the owners of the dogs who killed Margaret were not held accountable.

“The person responsible or who owns those dogs usually, as a rule, don’t have to pay anything,” Gary told ABC-7. “That just drags on court after court after court.”

Gary said Elephant Butte’s new ordinance has the right idea. He wishes his own town would follow suit.

“I do think that people should be financially responsible enough to take care of whatever that dog might do. Own the dog if you will, but be able to pay up if something goes wrong,” Gary said.

As part of the new ordinance, owners of the specified breeds must also purchase special red and yellow collars to identify their dogs as potentially dangerous. Briley says they chose to have people register their dogs rather than ban the breeds completely.

“According to the center for disease control, those three breeds of dogs are responsible for 75 percent of all dog-related deaths in the country,” Briley said.

Truth or Consequences amended its animal control ordinance a few months ago. Police Captain James Morgan said the additions didn’t really change the law, but they gave officers more power to enforce it.

“So far it’s worked pretty well,” Morgan said. “We are just trying to protect the community and still safeguard the rights of our citizens.”

The law now allows officers to seize a dangerous dog after it attacks until a judge decides whether or not it is vicious. If a dog is determined to be vicious, then it is up to the owner to make the decision to euthanize the dog or go through a rigorous registration process to keep the dog.

Morgan says he doesn’t see T-or-C creating a law like Elephant Butte’s because he feels it infringes on citizen’s rights by singling out certain dog breeds.

“Every animal has the potential of being dangerous. I don’t believe it’s the best way to deal with it,” Morgan said.

But Gary doesn’t feel the amendments were enough, especially in light of another dog attack last week. On March 18, an American bulldog was shot and killed after it attacked a police officer in the same neighborhood where Margaret was killed.

“I don’t feel the vicious dog law was enough because we’re still not capable in this city of protecting the average citizen from these dog attacks in the same area where my sister has been killed,” Gary said.