CREATING CARING COMMUNITIES IN

NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO

SEPTEMBER 26, 2008, PROPOSAL TO MAYORS OF SPRINGER, MAXWELL, EAGLE NEST AND ANGEL FIRE, NEW MEXICO

The Village of Cimarron understands that the best animal control and animal shelter program is a caring community. Our communities can share with each other in building caring communities. If we pool our resources and share costs, the results will be a win-win situation for all of us.

Here are two areas where we can start to control our community animal control problems: [A] humane animal control and disease prevention through spay-neuter-shots mobile clinic programs; and [B] development and implementation of animal care skills and animal protection awareness through public education in our communities, starting in our schools.

Attachment 1 contains information about this resource-sharing and cost-sharing program. Attachment 2 contains a copy of a memorandum of understanding you may find useful. We are looking forward to working with you. I will be calling you in the next week or so to set up a time and place to hold an informal meeting. My number is 575-376-2232, if you wish to get in touch with me before then.

Sincerely,

Linda Pavletich, Mayor

Attachments: [2]

C: Cimarron council members

Mindy Cahill, Clerk Administrator

Norma Wiggins, Pres. CCN

Attachment 1

[A] Seasonal, Low-Cost, Spay-Neuter-Shots Mobile Clinic Program for Low-Income Families

We believe that the best animal control and animal shelter program is a caring community. This spay-neuter-shots program will help us build that community.

The Village of Cimarron’s strategic plan, completed this spring, pinpoints animal control issues as a top priority for the Village, and we believe that other communities, such as Springer, Maxwell, Eagle Nest and Angel Fire, share this common area of concern.

The Village of Cimarron supports the goals of sharing humane animal control initiatives, programs, projects and costs with other communities in our area. The most basic step toward animal population reduction and control is to make it as easy and as cheap as possible for poor families in our communities to access high-quality spay-neuter-shots program delivery for their cats and dogs through seasonal mobile clinics in their own neighborhoods.

The mobile clinic leased through the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society [SFAS&HS] makes easy accessibility a reality in Cimarron, and we believe that other small communities will benefit from sharing this resource with us.

The mobile clinic program is an excellent opportunity to request low-income families to register their dogs with the city, town or village, when they pick up their rabies tags and vaccination certificates at the mobile clinic.

Cat Care Network of Colorado and New Mexico is the 501[c] 3 animal welfare and protection organization that has raised the funding, organized and facilitated three mobile clinics that have spayed, neutered and vaccinated close to 200 cats and dogs from low-income families in Springer, Maxwell, Cimarron, Eagle Nest, Angel Fire and Raton:

July 26-27, 2008, mobile clinic: 52 cats and dogs.

Cimarron-Miami: 20

Springer-Maxwell: 15

Raton, Des Moines, Angel Fire, Eagle Nest: 17.

April 19-20, 2008, mobile clinic: 55 cats and dogs

Cimarron-Miami: 20

Springer-Maxwell: 10

Raton, Des Moines, Angel Fire, Eagle Nest: 25

August 18-19, 2007, mobile clinic: 70 cats and dogs.

Cimarron: 20

Springer: 18

Raton, Des Moines, Angel Fire, Eagle Nest: 32

Rates: dog spay [all weights]: $30; dog neuter [all weights]: $20; cat spay: $20; cat neuter: $10. Funding pays the cost-difference between what the low-income family pays and what the mobile clinic charges for service delivery.

Please note that the slight decline in numbers for the July 26-27 mobile clinic is due to the participation of two local veterinary clinics in the low-cost, spay-neuter-shots program for low-income families, starting in June 2008. Angel Fire Small Animal Hospital and Trinidad Animal Clinic are the two regular, year-round participating clinics, supplementing the seasonal, low-cost, mobile clinic program for low-income families.

Please also note that this proposal does not include Raton because the City already has an established, reduced-fee, spay-neuter program offered through Raton Humane Society and Raton Animal Hospital. The rates charged are typically higher than the mobile clinic. Low-income Raton families are invited to bring their cats and dogs to our mobile clinic, but we are not officially inviting Raton to participate at this time.

The collaborative program of cost- and resource-sharing is limited to communities with no veterinary care facilities or programs in place.

The cost to lease the SFAS&HS mobile clinic for the two-day minimum is $4,000. We propose that the two-day minimum be extended in spring 2009 and fall 2009 to include one day in Springer, one day in Cimarron and one day in Eagle Nest [$6,000 ($2,000X3)], and that we share the total cost of $12,000 for two, three-day clinics among our three communities [factoring in fees collected from previous clinic, total cost quoted will be less].

The final 2008 mobile clinic is October 25-26 in Cimarron. From our current talks with SFAS&HS, the mobile clinic will be leased in Cimarron on Saturday, October 25, and in Springer on Sunday, October 26, if Springer will agree to share the resource and cost.

Attachment 2 is a copy of the memorandum of understanding between the Village of Cimarron and Cat Care Network of Colorado and New Mexico, facilitating the allocation of $1,200 to make the two-day, July mobile clinic a reality. Cat Care Network raised the initial $2,800, for a total of $4,000. The funds were released to the non-profit organization which coordinates the low-cost, spay-neuter-shots program for low-income families in Colfax County. A similar document generated by other communities will facilitate a release of funds to the non-profit in charge of the one-day, low-cost, mobile clinic program.

Tentative 2009 schedule as follows:

Spring Mobile Clinic

Friday, April 17 Eagle Nest/Angel Fire combined clinic E.S./H.S. Gym

Saturday, April 18 Cimarron E.S. Gym

Sunday, April 19 Springer/Maxwell combined clinic H.S. Gym

Fall Mobile Clinic

Saturday, October 10 Eagle Nest/Angel Fire combined clinic same as above

Sunday, October 11 Cimarron

Monday, October 12 Springer/Maxwell combined holiday clinic

[B] Nuts and Bolts Public Education Program

We believe that the best animal control and animal shelter program is a caring community. This public education program will help us build that community.

A collaborative effort with the Cimarron School District, Animal Protection of New Mexico, Village of Cimarron, Cat Care Network and Colfax Pet Rescue is continuing with the development and implementation of animal care skills and animal protection awareness through educational programs in the Cimarron Municipal School District.

We are hoping you will join us, and that you will urge Springer and Maxwell schools, Moreno Valley High School, along with Luna Community College, to share a leading role with us in introducing public education programs in our various communities.

The goal of the public education program is to teach a new generation of community members – along with older residents -- how to care for their cats and dogs, how to avoid pet overpopulation, pet homelessness and pet abandonment. Through a series of informal presentations, forums and workshops, we will answer the question, “What is animal cruelty?” We will offer training and skills-based instruction to help kids and adults identify animal cruelty situations and establish humane alternatives to cruelty.

In our collaborative effort, we will be approaching local lumber and hardware stores in Colfax County, asking for their help and suggestions in accessing low-cost or free building materials for basic, fenced dog runs, cat and dog all-weather shelters and secure feeding stations for cats and dogs. We will ask for their volunteer support in helping us build good-quality, all-weather cat and dog structures and dog enclosures to help us solve the two, most common problems in our communities: dog-tethering and free-roaming, intact [breeding] dogs.

The program will offer hands-on training to:

[1] Teach public safety by warning dog owners about the danger to their own safety and the safety of their neighbors caused by tethering dogs for prolonged periods of time, and the dangers of allowing intact, unvaccinated dogs to free-roam;

[2] Teach public safety by stressing the importance of spaying, neutering and vaccinating cats and dogs to help eliminate the incidence of unwanted, unvaccinated, free-roaming cats and dogs in our communities;

[3] Teach nuts and bolts of building a secure and humane dog run;

[4] Demonstrate essential features of a humane dog run;

[5] Teach basics of building an all-weather cat or dog shelter;

[6] Access cheap or free building materials for animal structures and enclosures;

[7] Demonstrate best placement for cat and dog shelters;

[8] Teach basics of building a feeding station for cats and dogs to avoid attracting unwelcome wildlife intrusions;

Without efficient, cost-effective spay-neuter-shots mobile clinic programs in our own neighborhoods, this animal control goal is an impossible one for low-income residents, earning less than $25,000 a year.

Your cooperation and collaboration in helping to establish low-cost, spay-neuter-shots mobile clinic programs and public education programs in our communities is critical to solving our mutual animal control problems.

We hope you will join us in this win-win animal control program.

CALL CAT CARE NETWORK AT 575-445-8756 FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION