In mid-2021, the Las Cruces City Council updated the Las Cruces Municipal Code to include the addition of a trap-neuter-return policy, aimed at controlling the city’s feral cat population.
That language included a requirement to develop an administrative program within 120 days of adopting the ordinance, to better manage trap-neuter-returns. But that deadline passed in December, leading the Las Cruces City Council to pass a unanimous resolution postponing the deadline to June.
Assistant City Manager Eric Enriquez says the project just needs more time.
“It's just that we ran out of time, and we were not able to get that plan up to city council and complete that date,” Enriquez said. “So, we asked for really a postponement or an extension of that time.”
Councilor Yvonne Flores expressed concern that the original deadline could not be met, questioning why program development stalled.
“We all know that the animal service center is definitely in dire need of more finances and more staff and space,” Flores said. “But it still seems to me that this should have been moving along. Something was done, some TNR has taken place, but not on a scale that we expected it to.”
Clint Thacker, the executive director of the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley, says even the current influx of feral cats has been overwhelming—largely due to a lack of on-site veterinary resources.
“When this ordinance was being done, we looked at the feral intake of the city,” Thacker said. “We looked at that number and we said yeah, we can absorb that into our numbers. And in reality, I don't know if it's just because it's a high intake year…but the intake has just skyrocketed…we've done over 500 city of Las Cruces cats.”
Thacker says the center has less than five contracted veterinarians—not enough to keep up with current demand. Each veterinarian is contracted for only a short amount of time each month, leaving waiting periods before cats can undergo surgery.
Due to the unexpected volume of cats, the center paused the public portion of the program in late 2021.
“We suspended the public portion and what that is, is people saying I have this TNR cat for TNR,” Thacker said. “It's a very small number. There's ways around that. They could just call animal control and say I need this cat picked up and then the city goes and picks it up and then we count that as intake.”
Assistant City Manager Eric Enriquez says he’s confident the appropriate policy can be put in place by the new deadline but remains uncertain if veterinary recruitment efforts will be successful.
“We’re all going to try to reach out to even the local vets and have a plea to see if we can create some kind of partnership to have them come in and do surgeries,” Enriquez said.
Councilor Johana Bencomo questioned why the council was hearing about the need for extra time only after the original deadline.
“I don't remember in August, anybody saying we have concerns with the timeline,” Bencomo said. “We have concerns that this timeline is too quick, and so I'm just curious where that communication lies, because now we're here and it's messy. But I’m just curious as to what happened.”
Thacker says confusion over the ordinance process and a desire to pass the new policy contributed to the lack of communication with council.
“We wanted to get passed,” Thacker said. “So, we weren't going to stand up and say hey, but let's look at this. And also, I think part of it is, on our part, was the ignorance of how this works.”
Now, key stakeholders are working to address both budget and staffing needs as well as the administrative aspects of the trap-neuter-return policy.
