LAS CRUCES - There were about 150 cats and 300 dogs at the county animal shelter Wednesday - a number comparable to most other times of the year, any year.

The difference is that 15 percent fewer of them will die, compared with other years.

"We are saving more lives," said Dr. Beth Vesco-Mock, 46, the director of the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley. "We are doing lots more affordable spays and neuters for the general public ... unfortunately, we have not been able to make an impact on the intake into the shelter."

A former shelter director in Decatur, Ga., who earned her degree in veterinary medicine from Ohio State University, Vesco-Mock has served as director of the city-county animal shelter since April 2008, when she promised to drastically cut the pet euthanasia rate within the span of five to seven years. Since then, the rate of animal euthanasia at the shelter has dropped from about 75 percent to a projected 59 percent at the end of 2010. In 2010, more animals were adopted than in previous years. More animals were returned to their owners. Other animals were transferred to other shelters out of county or state, though Vesco-Mock wants to increase that this year. And the infrastructure of the shelter itself will continue to be improved.

"We have a new infirmary for the animals now," she said. "This year, we're getting the HVAC system repaired. Then, we're starting on re-sealing different kennels ... Where we do our surgeries, we're now

Advertisement
licensed as a veterinary facility, which just happened this last year. We go under the same guidelines as local clinics. I think that's an accomplishment."

The problem is that Do-a Ana County's animal population is abnormally "enormous," Vesco-Mock says, and pet owners don't all understand the importance of being responsible - whether that means giving your dog heartworm medication every month or keeping his fur brushed.

"It's a huge problem," she said of the dogs dropped at the shelter, their fur so matted that staff can neither lift their legs nor tell their gender. "I see that more so than in anywhere else in the country I have worked."

It all goes back to education, she says.

Too many people think it's acceptable to let their dog or cats have litter after litter, their entire lives, and trust they can dump the offspring on the shelter, she said. (Part of her work in 2011 will be to align city and county animal ordinances, and she hopes to include punishment for owners who continue to do so.) And she hopes to reach every household in the community with a program called Alter Do-a Ana County, where she visits sixth-grade classrooms, but says what the county truly needs is enough volunteers to go door-to-door with that message.

"Once you own a pet, it is your responsibility to care for that pet for its natural life period, no if's and's or but's. That's it. And once that happens, the intake will go down," said Vesco-Mock. "They take in 21,000 animals in San Antonio (Texas), a city of 1.2 million. We're just over 200,000 (in Do-a Ana County) and our intake is 15,000. I mean, come on. It's tremendous. It's just tremendous."

Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462.

Dr. Beth Vesco-Mock

•Job: Director of the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley.

•Impact: Vesco-Mock will continue to work toward reducing the number of euthanized pets in Do-a Ana County.