County Hopes Requiring Pet Registrations Curbs Overpopulation

Three years ago, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office started its own animal control unit to address the county’s pet population problem.

Overwhelmed, they hope a new plan for 2012 that will soon require county pets to be registered will help curb the issue.

ABC-7 spent the Tuesday afternoon riding along with an animal control officer who showed how big the problem is out in the county.

Before taking a job as one of the first animal control officers out in the county, Joe Casarin worked as a city animal control officer. When asked which was crazier, working for city animal control or working in the county, Casarin replied, “That’s an easy one. Working out here in the county is crazier.”

That’s because every few minutes, Casarin’s beeper goes off. By the afternoon, Casarin has already answered 10 pet problem calls out in the county and still has another dozen or so pending.

“It’s backed up all the time,” Casarin said. “Right now, I’m the only unit for the entire county, from Tornillo all the way to Westwind.”

Steve DeRaps lives on Simpson Street in East El Paso County, and he calls animal control up to eight times a year, as he did Tuesday about a stray puppy that wandered onto his property.

“Last year we called them and they said, ‘We just can’t take anymore. We can’t send anybody out,'” DeRaps said. “I believe (pet registration) would help.”

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Deputy Angelica Becerra said that could become a reality very soon out in the county.

“We’re hoping that will take effect hopefully sometime in March,” Becerra said.

Residents of Sparks, located out in the county, told ABC-7 they have a lot of problems with stray pets.

“When I walk to the park or walk to the bus, I see a lot of loose dogs,” said Sparks resident Joel Quijas. “Two dogs got picked up around our house a couple months ago. I think it’s pretty good now we’re going to have the dogs registered. We’ll know who are the owners of the dogs.”

For Casarin, who called the county’s pet population problem “like a plague,” the new county pet laws can’t come soon enough.

“They need it out here in the county,” he said. “It’s a must.”