Las Cruces council adopts rewritten animal ordinance with new spay/neuter and community-cat rules

The Las Cruces City Council on Monday approved Ordinance 3091, a repeal-and-replace of Chapter 7 (Animals) of the Las Cruces Municipal Code that updates care, enforcement, and population-control rules for companion animals and community cats.

City Attorney Brad Douglas told the council the rewrite ‘‘seeks to achieve a more comprehensive code that prevents animal suffering within the city, improves public health, welfare, and safety, and also addresses overpopulation concerns for those companion animals who are habitually found to be running at large or in violation of restraint requirements.’’

The ordinance creates a trigger for mandatory sterilization: ‘‘mandatory spay and neuter requirements for companion animals who are found to be in violation of restraint requirements 2 times or more in a year,’’ Douglas said, while also preserving enumerated exemptions such as for service animals and for animals where a veterinarian documents a medical contraindication.

The rewrite tightens tethering rules, limiting tethering to no more than one hour in a 24-hour period and making enforcement complaint-driven rather than a minute-by-minute patrol metric, Douglas said. The draft also expands prohibitions on abuse, neglect and dangerous-animal practices, clarifies municipal-court authority to designate dangerous or potentially dangerous dogs and sets handling and registration requirements for those animals.

Animal Control Supervisor Gino Jimenez described an amendment the department proposed and the council adopted during the hearing that affects community cat colonies: ‘‘If a community cat is impounded 3 or more times, it shall not be returned to the area where it was captured,’’ he said, explaining that frequent impoundment often indicates a cat showing signs of domestication and a higher chance of successful placement in a home.

Community advocates who spoke in favor of the ordinance said it formalizes practices that local groups and the Mesilla Valley Animal Services Center have been using to reduce shelter intake and unnecessary euthanasia. Animal-advocacy volunteer Jerry Wheelis said the city and county are already coordinating on parallel approaches and urged adoption. Advocate Dina Dargo pointed to pending state funding via House Bill 113 and asked the council to pass the ordinance so the city could access grants for spay/neuter, sheltering and education programs.

Council members raised enforcement and resource questions during debate. Councilor [name withheld when not stated] noted animal-control staffing has not increased since 2009 and said broader enforcement will require budgeted personnel, training and a plan for low-cost sterilization programs. Councilor Katrina Curran and others asked for early reporting on citations and court referrals so the council can evaluate whether the new rules are producing intended results without unduly criminalizing low-income owners.

The council approved the ordinance as amended by a unanimous vote. It also directed staff to provide follow-up reporting on enforcement volumes and to pursue available state grant opportunities to support low-cost spay/neuter services.

The ordinance becomes part of the municipal code; the council set permit fees and additional implementation details to be adopted later by resolution. Councilors and staff stressed the rewrite is intended to balance animal welfare, public safety and fairness to pet owners, while giving animal-control officers clearer authority to address repeated violations and animal fighting paraphernalia.

The city attorney and animal-control supervisor said they will continue outreach to community cat caretakers and to the county to align practices where feasible and return to the council if revisions are needed after implementation.