Las Cruces animal advocates request more funding to open old Animal Services Center amid animal neglect claims

LAS Cruces, New Mexico (KVIA) -- Officials held the monthly meeting of the Board of Directors of the Animal Services Center of Mesilla Valley on Thursday to discuss data collected from December 2023.

During that meeting, animal advocates were allowed to give public input.

A slew of issues were discussed, including the allegation that most animals under the Animal Services Center of Mesilla Valley are housed in the old center building.

Advocates in attendance questioned ASCMV’s old building's adequacy, claiming it is being understaffed, overpopulated, remains unsanitary, and is kept from the public's view.

"We went and we looked at animals and discovered we were only welcomed to see about a third of them", said Cheryl Hain an animal advocate. "We want to see our animals."

Hain claims she and others were turned away from visiting the old center because there wasn't adequate staff to clean it.

"Kind of a little bit of a problem because you're telling me you can't clean it enough for me to walk through it... but it's okay for the animals to live in it," questioned Hain.

Clint Thacker Executive Director of ASCMV says the old building was never intended for visitation but they are working to get enough volunteers to guide visitors through the old center.

"The reason why we don't want somebody just to walk through the old center is because that's where we house quarantine animals. That's where we house aggressive bite quarantine animals. This is where we house medical animals that have zoonotic diseases that people can get from dogs. So we don't want people walking through just anywhere," said Clint Thacker.

"A little over 200 animals are in a building that are inaccessible to us, to the community, to people going in, looking for a lost dog, looking for a dog to adopt", said Hain

This comes after an instance they feel of animal neglect. "Our animals appear to be suffering," said Hain.

Bo-peep entered the old center healthy and injury-free but five months later looks noticeably thinner and covered in scars.

"We were told. Bo-Peep slipped through the cracks. But we haven't seen the other couple hundred, so we don't know if that's relatively isolated or if it's a huge problem," said Hain.

"All of our animals at our center receive adequate food, water, shelter, and care. Okay. That and again, that's the minimum. Did Bo-Peep fall through the cracks? Absolutely, she did. It was a horrible situation that my staff did notice because there are on her notes," said Thacker.

Thacker says once more volunteers are available guided visitation could be given throughout the shelter but for now staffing meets the minimum requirement.

"Meeting the minimum isn't what we want. That's not what our animals deserve. That's not what our community deserves", said Hain.