Animal Shelters in Los Alamos, NM

BTW, because I love our shelter and never stop talking about it, I'm proud to share that we help other shelters and rescues out just like they sometimes help us out. We're hoping to get 2 min-pins from Espanola within the next few weeks and we have some kittens in foster care from Los Lunas... You can follow us at facebook.com/lafos for updates.

I searched again and still cannot find the article I really liked on dogtime. Or maybe the one I really like was made up in my head in my old age . . . But, they had a whole 8 part series on the topic. http://dogtime.com/introduction-7-hard-learned-lessons-about-animal-shelters-euthanasia-and-the-no-kill-movement.html and this one: http://dogtime.com/shelter-confrontation-uncomfortable-questions-answers.html

The shelter up here is great and they have an adoption program and community outreach to be proud of. Watermelon Ranch is down in Rio Rancho and they do advertise themselves as a no kill shelter http://www.wmranch.org/the-ranch/about-wmr

"No kill" is kind of a loaded phrase. Depends on what you mean by it. Is euthanasia for medical reasons a "kill"? I do not believe the County has "no kill" in its ordinance, technically. The Los Alamos Friends of the Shelter group, however, works really hard to place pets and make them adoptable. Great group of volunteers. https://www.losalamosnm.us/police/Pages/AnimalControl.aspx

There was a great discussion of "no kill" on dogtime.com a while back. I think Nina Stively (formerly of Espanola Valley Humane Society) wrote a great article. Cannot seem to find it to provide a link to it . . .

OK, 1st off, thanks for asking! This is a commonly asked question and not one with a straight answer but as an animal control officer up here let me give the facts. (Many people have give you portions of this answer above, but this is my spiel when anybody asks. There are two commonly accepted definitions of "no kill" and nobody has really decided on which definition is which. The first definition is that the shelter will not kill for space EVER (or in extreme cases will not kill either for severe medical or behavioral issues, which is not humane in 99% of cases... Best Friends in Utah being a notable exception who does not euth for behavioral reasons). In this situation, a shelter will not take in any new animals until they have space. The second definition was made popular by Nathan Winograd, and it simply states that to be no-kill a shelter must place all healthy and treatable or manageable animals into a home rather than euthanize them. He estimates this to be somewhere in the 90%+ range of intakes. We are not no-kill under the first definition. We have 18 dog kennels and space for 18 cats, and to keep any more under our roof would be inhumane... they would not have enough space or social interaction to life a fulfilling life. If we were to reach above that number, there are lots of steps we take... reaching out to the community for foster homes (we workers and volunteers take them home too all the time), reaching out to local rescues, holding a huge adoption event either in the county or somewhere larger to increase adoptions, etc etc. If none of those actions got our numbers in the shelter back to a humane #, then yes, we would need to euthanize. LUCKILY we have an absolutely amazing and wonderful and helpful and (you get it, we can't say enough nice things about you) community who pulls through for us each and every single time we ask! So, we have not needed to euthanize for space in over FIFTEEN YEARS! We return most lost animals (75% of dogs, 50% of cats) back home, which helps a lot, then we adopt out or send to a reputable rescue about 98% of the animals that still need to be rehomed. Bottom line: You do not need to worry about the animals in our community who end up in our shelter, and if you know anybody who really has to find a new home for their animal and has exhausted all other efforts, or you've found a roaming dog and can't keep it, then we're a great resource. But we still need support to keep doing what we're doing, so if you know anybody looking for a new friend, please remind them there's a local shelter and they should check with us before they check other shelters. We love the other shelters in the area though, and they are great places to get animals too:) *End soapbox* Please feel free to ask me any other questions and we're always here to help at the shelter; 662-8179.

The Friends of the Shelter website (lafos.org) is kept up to date on available cats and dogs. If you see a lot of people in there, but not in uniforms they are volunteers and cannot let anyone in. Just need to be patient and know if the officers are not there, they are out on a call and will be back.

If you need to reach them in an emergency then you need to call the police station and they will get a hold of them for you. I had to do that with my little dog once. 662-8222

Also check with Jemez Valley Animal Amigos. We often need fosters, and can deliver animals to Los Alamos.:)