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New Mexico Cat Hoarding Case
Featured in A&E “Hoarders” Program
APNM’s coordinator for the Attorney General’s Animal Cruelty Task Force, Heather Ferguson, is among the team members sent in to clean up a cat hoarding location in Doña Ana County, captured for the A&E program series “Hoarders,” which will air on Monday, Sept. 7, 8:00 p.m. MT.
Jake/Shirley episode:
Monday, September 07 – 8 pm MT
Tuesday, September 08 – 12 midnight MT
Saturday, September 12 – 2 pm MT
Taken from A&E’s program description:
While most 21 olds see a world of possibility in front of them, Jake wakes up every morning despondent at the state of his life—a prisoner to his hoarding and OCD. Jake compulsively hoards garbage. Snack wrappers, empty bottles, and rotting food are strewn in every room of the two bedroom town home he shares with his alcoholic father. Jake fears that if things don't change soon he may take his own life.
New Mexico: Shirley has always been the kind of person who could never turn away a stray cat. But eventually she lost track of just how many cats she had. When her situation caught the attention of the local authorities, they discovered that every room of her home is cluttered and cat feces and urine soak the carpets and furniture. Now Shirley must cooperate and allow authorities to remove over 75 living and dead cats from her home or face criminal prosecution for animal cruelty.
Please watch the program, and let A&E know you appreciate air time for animal hoarding—one type of hoarding that has a devastating, direct impact on dozens of lives at a time. Go to the “Contact Us” link on A&E web site.
APNM frequently participates in boots-on-the-ground outreach to animals in immediate need of help. We are not reimbursed for the expenses we incur in this work, and your gesture of financial support for our work would be very welcome! Please consider a donation to APNM.
The animals and APNM thank you.
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State Police, Federal Agents Trained
in Animal Fighting Investigations
In August, more than 40 New Mexico State Police officers and federal agents were instructed in how to investigate illegal animal fighting operations, in a training coordinated by Animal Protection of New Mexico, The Humane Society of the United States and Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department.
While cockfighting is a petty misdemeanor on the first offense in New Mexico, many of the crimes frequently associated with cockfighting are felonies. Several recent New Mexico cases included narcotics trafficking, illegal firearms possession and illegal possession of “dangerous drugs” (under chapter 26 of the New Mexico Statutes Annotated). Investigations resulted in numerous felony charges leveled at those who are involved in cockfighting operations.
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HSUS Manager of Animal Fighting Issues, John Goodwin, was among the trainers of law enforcement officials on animal fighting investigations.
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[KOAT: Man Arrested After Cockfighting]
With the support of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety and the Department of Homeland Security, APNM set up specialized trainings for law enforcement, to help build solid cases for eradicating animal fighting and its affiliated criminal activity from our communities.
New Mexico state and federal agents now have the tools to even more vigorously enforce New Mexico’s and the United States’ criminal laws to the fullest extent, for the sake of humans and animals alike.
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NM Game Commission Meeting
Regarding Furbearers Promising
The New Mexico Game Commission (Commission) held one of its quarterly meetings on August 20 in Albuquerque. One of the topics was a discussion about whether to open up the Furbearer Rule, the rules that pertain to all animals that are trapped, which had not been opened since 2006.
Most of the public who spoke about trapping made comments supportive of the points made in the joint APNM/WildEarth Guardians/Sierra Club letter to the department, contained in a previous APNM e-alert.
Commissioner Kent Salazar moved to have the department form a furbearer working group with stakeholders and possibly members of the Commission to review and revamp the trapping rules for future opening of the rules. All four remaining commissioners voted in support. APNM, WildEarth Guardians, and Sierra Club have all requested that they be involved in the working group.
The commission, in another item, voted to make the rulemaking process more transparent by setting up comment period lengths and specifying how the public would be allowed to participate.
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