New Mexico: Dolores Montano and Mary Wood charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty

NEW MEXICO -- Los Alamos animal control officials responding to a complaint removed nine cats and two dogs last week from an apartment on Alabama Avenue after they discovered the animals living in their own waste and with hardly any food and water.

The owners had recently been evicted.

Nine of the cats were discovered in an upstairs bedroom, but two cats ran out through an open window when officers approached them. A trap was later set for the cats officials were unable to catch.

Animal control was eventually able to round up five cats and four kittens at the scene. All but one of the animals recovered at the scene are in stable condition.
A dog recovered from the backyard of the residence, named “Pinky,” may have to be euthanized because he has a tumor on its left rear leg.

The owner of the two dogs, Mary Frances Wood, has not yet made a decision to let doctors operate on Pinky or euthanize the animal, according to the police report.

According to a witness at the scene, Pinky was seen at the Valley Veterinary Clinic on Oct. 11 but the owners didn’t act on the clinic’s recommendations, which was surgery or euthanasia.

“Neither of the two recommendations were performed or scheduled with this veterinary clinic,” Public Service Aide Alysha Lenderman said in her report.
Records indicated that the dog was not current on its rabies or vaccination records and was four years and three months overdue.

The other dog, named “Scum Bag,” was also vaccinated, examined, and was also given a recommendation to be spayed. Both dogs are still at the shelter.

All of the cats are said to be in stable condition, but none of them had any vaccination records and many were emaciated. All of them required immediate medical treatment, including vaccinations and tests for feline leukemia.

“‘Alabama 3’ has a hard time walking and is emaciated. Its ribs, spine, hips and extremities show severe signs of muscle loss and protrude from the skin. Eyes appear to be sunken, the cat has severe dental problems that are easily seen.

This was the only easily handled cat from this residence at this time,” Lenderman said in her report.

At least four of the cats recovered at the scene were kittens. Two of them were just a day old.

Lenderman reported damage to the bedroom’s subflooring due to moisture damage as well as a large amount of fecal matter under and around the bed.

Dolores Montano, the owner of the cats, asked Lenderman “For some of the cats back but not all of them and not the kittens,” Lenderman said. “I advised her that we would work through that when the time came.”

Montano received a summons for nine counts of cruelty to animals and six counts of vaccination of dogs and cats required. Wood received a summons for two counts of cruelty to animals and two counts of vaccination of dogs and cats required.

Montano and Wood are scheduled to be arraigned in Los Alamos Magistrate Court Nov. 7.

(Los Alamos Monitor - Oct 28, 2016)