{"id":1951,"date":"2007-07-09T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-09T23:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/chavez-promotes-pet-programs-in-las-cruces\/"},"modified":"2007-07-09T17:03:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-09T23:03:00","slug":"chavez-promotes-pet-programs-in-las-cruces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/chavez-promotes-pet-programs-in-las-cruces\/","title":{"rendered":"Ch\u00e1vez promotes pet programs in Las Cruces"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> got a chance to promote changes his city has made in its attitude toward pets today in a presentation to the Las Cruces City Council<\/a>, which is considering a number of issues to deal with problems here. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Albuquerque has made a number of changes in recent years, including a mandatory spay and neuter program and the construction of several dog parks, that have lowered the city\u2019s euthianization numbers by 9 percent and earned it a ranking of the third most pet-friendly city in the nation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In the wake of a number of high-profile animal hoarding cases, Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> officials are considering how to deal with an out-of-control pet population and attitudes that lead to such problems.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Also presenting to the council was Heather Greenhood, Animal Protection Voters of New Mexico<\/a> legislative director, who said the Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> humane society takes in 40 animals each day and spends $715,000 each year euthanizing animals. Reducing its number of euthanized animals by 9 percent would save the city about $65,000 each year, she said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

How to do it? Ch\u00e1vez said population control is the core issue. He suggested what Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has done \u2013 mandatory spay and neuter programs, better registration and enforcement laws, microchipping of pets and stronger laws to discourage animal cruelty.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t be the No. 1 city if the pets in the city are being needlessly euthanized,\u201d Ch\u00e1vez said. \u201cThat is a commentary on who we are as human beings and who we are as New Mexicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s programs are primarily funded with taxpayer dollars. The city also recently approved a $5 million bond issue to build a new animal shelter.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> has considered building a dog park, but the proposal isn\u2019t without controversy, and councilors asked a lot of questions about how to make such parks logistically practical.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The local animal shelter<\/a> has also come under fire lately from citizen activists who have alleged numerous problems there, and a review by the Humane Society of the United States<\/a> did find some issues. Greenhood, who visited the Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> shelter today, said she was pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys are doing a tremendous job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Greenhood also said all Las Cruces-area legislators have promised more funding to help improve the shelter and provide other funding for pet-related issues.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez said it\u2019s important to cooperate with Do\u00f1a Ana County<\/a> to combat the problems. Four of five commissioners were present at the city council meeting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The meeting was productive for Las Cruces<\/st1:city> officials, but it was also a chance for Ch\u00e1vez, the likely 2010 gubernatorial candidate<\/a>, to get some exposure in a part of the state that has a lot of voters and doesn\u2019t know as much about his record in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The programs Ch\u00e1vez promoted are controversial. Las Cruces<\/st1:city> and Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> officials have a long road ahead to deal with what is, in this county, a very big problem.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s meeting of the council was a work session, so no action was taken. Councilors will decide in the future how to proceed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez got a chance to promote changes his city has made in its attitude toward pets today in a presentation to the Las Cruces City Council, which is considering a number of issues to deal with problems here. Albuquerque has made a number of changes in recent years, including a mandatory spay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}