Legislation
• Animal
hoarding. APNM completed draft language for a hoarding bill
to be introduced in the 2003 legislature. APNM’s
draft animal hoarding bill is posted as a model for hoarding legislation
on the Tufts University website (www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding.htm) , which serves as a comprehensive clearinghouse
on the complex psychological disorder of animal hoarding.
APNM developed and began implementing a legislative
campaign plan in preparation for the 2003 legislature.
• Cockfighting campaign. APNM worked
with individual cities and counties to ban the "sport"
locally, resulting in passage of a ban on animal fighting in Grant
and Sandoval counties, and in the city of Deming. These
county-level efforts helped build momentum and greater support
for the 2003 legislative effort for a statewide cockfighting ban.
The Las Cruces Sun-News, the El Paso Times, and the Santa Fe New
Mexican all published their own editorials in favor of a ban.
A powerful coalition consisting of law enforcement, veterinarians,
churches and domestic violence prevention groups have joined to
support a ban in the 2003 legislature.
• Other Legislative Agenda. APNM continued its work at the local and federal level
to organize support for improvements in local ordinances and federal
laws. APNM provided expert technical advise and documents
to Lincoln, Sandoval, Grant and Torrance counties and the city
of Deming, who were all revising their animal control ordinances.
In addition, APNM’s network of activists helped ensure the
passage of the federal Farm Bill, which included a ban on the
interstate transport of fighting roosters, thereby bolstering
local support for a cockfighting ban. At APNM’s request,
Congressman Udall signed on as a co-sponsor to the federal bill
outlawing horse slaughter. APNM also collaborated with other groups and rallied its members
to support progressive prairie dog legislation in Santa Fe.
• Statute book update. APNM
conducted exhaustive research to compile, publish and distribute
an update to its New Mexico Animal Law book. The update
included additional city and county ordinances (which are also
all available on APNM’s website), information on distinctions
among court systems, and an updated Resources section. This
book continues to be an invaluable tool to individuals and agencies
throughout New Mexico.
Campaigns for Change
• Alliance for New Mexico Wildlife.
Adequate funding for wildlife conservation is sorely lacking in
New Mexico. To address this, APNM broadened the existing
Alliance for New Mexico Wildlife it had spearheaded, so that a
more comprehensive approach to conservation funding could be pursued.
This approach is slated to include wildlife, land, water and cultural
and historic preservation. In conjunction with the Trust
for Public Land, APNM conducted a comprehensive public opinion
poll to determine if conservation funding would receive New Mexicans’
support. The poll confirmed that the public supported paying
for conservation funding, and as a result, APNM continued to conduct
research and work with other groups to develop a successful legislative
strategy for a funding measure.
• Animal control/law enforcement projects.
2002 marked the fourth year APNM provided comprehensive technical
assistance and educational materials to animal control and other
government agencies throughout New Mexico. APNM collaborated
with prosecutors, law enforcement, animal shelters, animal control
departments, livestock inspectors, rescue groups, national animal
groups and individuals on animal cruelty cases and animal rescue
cases. APNM consistently sends sentencing recommendations
to the Court on animal cruelty cases. APNM was at the forefront
of ensuring that substantial rewards were posted for information
leading to the prosecution of those committing heinous crimes
against animals. In an effort to further institutionalize
animal protection issues in government entities, APNM worked with
the New Mexico State Highway Department to establish procedures
for humanely addressing animal-related incidents within state
highway jurisdictions. APNM also gave presentations to risk
management staff across the state about the importance of humane
animal control in minimizing government risk and ensuring public
safety.
APNM began to research
ways of making animal control operations more effective by creating
a statewide entity responsible for establishing and implementing
statewide standards for: animal shelters; conducting cruelty investigations;
and an animal control officer certification program. Curricula
for training in these areas was also under development.
APNM was a leader
in ensuring that there is a long-term solution to improving the
Albuquerque Animal Services Division, by pushing for a comprehensive
quality improvement board to help implement quality management
at ASD. APNM staff will serve on this board of professionals
interested in implementing lasting changes at the troubled agency.
APNM continued its support work with various animal control agencies
by contracting for professional systems analysis work, incorporating
the concepts of Total Quality Management into animal services
operations.
APNM coordinated and promoted animal control/law
enforcement training in New Mexico, including humane euthanasia
training (two sessions in 12 months) and bite stick training.
APNM received a grant and administered scholarships for such animal
control and law enforcement training.
APNM began working with several New Mexico Indian
Nations to help them plan and implement effective animal control
services on Indian lands.
• APNM Foundation. APNM created the APNM Foundation whose sole purpose is to support
APNM and its mission. The APNM Foundation will provide the
long-term financial stability needed to ensure that APNM will
be able to continue to conduct its hard-hitting campaigns on behalf
of animals, as long as the work is needed.
• CARE Project.
The CARE program was completed in June 2002. An infrastructure
for “women in crisis” is in place in the Albuquerque
and Santa Fe areas that can help with housing the animals of those
domestic violence victims. A “How to Implement a Safe
Haven Program” document was completed, to aid other communities
in establishing similar programs. In addition, APNM,
through All Faiths Receiving Home, applied for and received the
first ever federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grant to
be used to pay for the costs of care for the animals of domestic
violence victims in rural New Mexico communities. This grant
was pursued in conjunction with the Stop Violence Against Women
and Children Coalition of Bernalillo County. APNM hopes
this grant and the associated program through a human services
agency will create an important precedent for domestic violence
programs across the country.
APNM continued working with the Animal Multidisciplinary
Task Force to address the need for: cross-reporting of animal
cruelty/human violence between social service and animal control
agencies; and facilitating awareness of the link between animal
cruelty and human violence in our court system.
• Circus Campaign. APNM continued
its campaign to encourage only non-animal circuses in New Mexico,
and in the meantime worked for better enforcement of laws regarding
the importation of exotic circus animals in to New Mexico.
APNM continued educating the public about the inherent cruelty
involved when animals are used in circuses, resulting in the city
of Albuquerque’s Convention Center staff inquiring how to
keep an animal circus from performing in the city.
• Cougar advocacy and education campaign.
APNM sued the New Mexico Game Commission for their arbitrary and
capricious regulations that resulted in cougar killing quotas
as much as three times higher than a state-sponsored cougar study
recommended. This lawsuit was the culmination of two years
of exhaustive research, Game Commission monitoring and development
of the case. Despite the solid arguments in the lawsuit,
the District Court ruled that the Commission was justified in
their actions, having taken adequate public input and held meetings
on the subject. This result demonstrates an urgent need
to amend the state’s wildlife statutes to mandate science-based
cougar policies. APNM’s cougar lawsuit was covered
in Scientific American, citing APNM’s efforts to
counter the unscientific management of the species.
APNM joined cougar advocates throughout the
West to design a cougar “clearinghouse” to assist
with cougar campaigns in multiple states.
• Coulston campaign. Four
years ago, APNM joined In Defense of Animals (IDA) in its ongoing
investigation of The Coulston Foundation (TCF), an Alamogordo
animal-testing laboratory. APNM worked at the state level
on IDA’s campaign, and in September 2002 the ailing TCF
closed its doors forever, selling its buildings and property to
the Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care (CCCC)-a Florida sanctuary-and
handing over 327 chimpanzees and monkeys to their care.
In addition, APNM asked the New Mexico Attorney
General (AG) to investigate TCF’s potential misspending
of chimpanzee endowment funds. The AG pursued a legal case
against the Coulston Foundation’s potential malfeasance
in squandering funds meant as a permanent trust for chimpanzees
in their care. The case is pending.
Due to the generosity of nearly 70 APNM donors,
APNM raised $21,805 that was given to the CCCC for the care of
the chimpanzees. This gift will be matched 100% by the Arcus
Foundation. APNM also organized volunteers and donations
of needed items for the chimps.
• Humane Euthanasia. Humane euthanasia
in public and private shelters eventually needs to be established
and mandated statewide, in order to ensure that surplus dogs and
cats at least can be guaranteed a humane death. In order
to achieve such legislation, APNM recognized that much work was
needed to understand the barriers to statewide implementation,
as well as the costs involved. APNM began work to implement
pilot programs in two communities (Carlsbad and Roswell) that
are volunteering to work with APNM to adopt a humane euthanasia
program. Success in these pilot programs will provide the
experience, knowledge and support needed to push for statewide
legislation, perhaps in 2005.
• 2002 Milagro Awards. APNM marked its third year recognizing champions for animals at
its 2002 Milagro Awards ceremony. There were an unprecedented
number of nominations this year, demonstrating that the awards
are becoming more well-known and coveted. APNM created a
new award in 2002, called the “Spirit of the Mission Award”,
bestowed on In Defense of Animals (IDA) for their tireless efforts
to close down the Coulston Foundation. APNM presented IDA
with a framed letter signed by Dr. Jane Goodall which praised
them for their efforts on behalf of chimpanzees.
• Miscellaneous. APNM drafted comments
for grant guidelines at University of New Mexico to continue to
exclude vivisection upon request. APNM continued to support
student activist groups, including a Santa Fe high school campaign
to allow students to refuse to dissect. APNM also coordinated
and conducted community outreach, educating the public by hosting
regular public meetings featuring guest speakers in Santa Fe.