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March 5, 2004

Chaparral Woman Charged With Animal Neglect, Hoarding

By The Associated Press
   A Chaparral woman who kept dozens of dogs on her property has been charged with 119 misdemeanor counts of animal neglect and animal hoarding.
    Dona Ana County animal control officials say 38 starving, mangy dogs were removed from Patricia Strain's property and destroyed.
    Meanwhile, a district judge sent a 70-year-old San Juan County man for psychiatric evaluation in a similar case involving more than 50 dogs around a trailer in that northwestern New Mexico county. Some 30 dead dogs and 23 neglected and starving ones were discovered at the man's home Tuesday.
    Dona Ana County sheriff's Detective Mark Perea said Friday the animal neglect counts against Strain concern the care and maintenance of animals, while hoarding means keeping more animals than allowed. State law lets people keep only six animals, he said.
    Authorities went to her property Tuesday after complaints from neighbors about the smell. Investigators found 38 dogs, and sheriff's officials said they appeared to have been eating three dead dogs.
    The dogs all had mange and most had injuries from fighting, and none was adoptable, county public information officer Jess Williams has said.
    Strain lives at another Chaparral home, where authorities also found a large number of dogs, many of them injured and sick. Perea said authorities counted 20 dogs there.
    Strain is to meet animal control officers at a veterinary clinic Tuesday to turn over the animals, he said. He said she will be allowed to keep six, which will be spayed or neutered.
    Authorities removed 28 dogs from her home a year ago. Thirty-one dogs were taken from a home she had in Anthony five years ago.
    San Juan County authorities have not released the name of the man involved in the case there because no charges have been filed.
    During a court hearing Thursday, sheriff's Detective Marilyn Wyatt described the man as someone who loved animals but did not have the resources to care for them. The man told the judge he has a bad heart, a bad back and terrible eyesight.
    Wyatt said the man was living in unsanitary conditions, with mud and animal feces covering the floor.
    Authorities said animal control officers found 30 dead dogs in various stages of decomposition in old refrigerators and plastic containers. About two dozen bodies were wrapped in foil, cloth or paper. Wyatt said the man wanted to take the dead dogs to Texas to give them a proper burial.
    "I don't think he understood why they had died," she said. "I think he honestly thought he was taking care of the animals."
    Animal control also visited his home in June 2003 after a report of animal neglect and found an estimated 19 dogs.