Rescue group says sheriff's office wouldn't help save abandoned dogs; sheriff's office says they ruined any hopes of a criminal case

NEW MEXICO -- An Alamogordo animal rescue group says it saved dozens of dogs from an abandoned puppy mill. The group claims the local sheriff’s department wasn’t doing anything to help but the sheriff’s department says that’s just not true.

Animal Village NM says it doesn’t have a single empty kennel after rescuing what it claims are abused and neglected dogs over the past few weeks.

“We have removed 45 dogs and puppies, Old English Bulldogs from an illegal puppy mill in Las Cruces,” said Sunny Aris, director of the animal rescue.

The group says it was contacted by a former partner.


Aris says when they went to assess the condition of the dogs, what she found was horrifying.

“There was a dog lying in her own blood, obviously dying. There were dogs very badly wounded. There were goat bodies in various states of decomposition,” said Aris.

Aris says they took the dog lying in her own blood to the vet for surgery but that she died later that night and two other puppies have also died.

 

 

She told us that she reached out to the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s office for help but was turned away.

“She repeated and confirmed that no help was going to come so why would we wait,” said Aris.

The sheriff’s office has a different story.

“At that point we did dispatch our CID supervisor, when he arrived at the address on Starfly, there wasn’t anyone there at the time and all of the animals were taken,” said Kelly Jameson, Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman.

They say had Aris not removed the dogs from the property they may have been able to charge the owners.

“Without any evidence to proceed with an investigation, no investigation could have happened,” said Jameson.

(KRQE - Nov 4, 2015)