Just a short update. First, there was a hearing in the quiet title suit. The suit is effectively dead for the present but the motion for a declaratory judgment that would prevent it from being refiled was denied. There is another motion to for it to be judged on the basis of the previous 2004 quiet title suit and the attorney for Golden River is insisting that it’s a different entity with no connection to the plaintiff in the previous suit in spite of her being listed as Golden River’s manager in it’s corporate filings. Golden River’s attorney insisted at the hearing that they had withdrawn the quiet title suit so that does confirm the non ownership of the land that the Taos Mesa Animal Sanctuary by the sanctuary’s founder.
Second, it is confirmed that the Taos County sheriff’s department is delivering stray animals to the Taos Mesa Animal Sanctuary on the land in the quiet title suit. This effectively makes our community the dumping ground for all the stray animals in the county. When county commissioner, Darlene Vigil, was contacted, she reported that only a few people had complained about the noise and the county had taken no action. This has inspired a collective letter to the county government from a number of residents who oppose it. If you live near the sanctuary and want to file a complaint with the county, here is the contact information.
The deputy who brings the animals to the sanctuary is Rita Cardenas. She can be emailed at rita.cardenas@taoscounty.org.
Darlene Vigil’s email is darlene.vigil@taoscountynm.gov.
If you contact them please be respectful and be specific on your location in relation to the TMAS sanctuary and the issues you have with it. I can hear the noise from the sanctuary clearly from around a mile and a half away so being anywhere in its immediate vicinity guarantees noise issues. There are also potential public safety issues as I’ve previously commented. Dogs have gotten free from the sanctuary in the past and there are local dogs and wild coyotes in the area that they will run into as well as the people in the area. From a comment I got on the website, there are people who live here who have been threatened by dog packs and who don’t feel comfortable living near a poorly fenced animal facility. There have been dog problems in our area in the past and there are some reports I’m seeing of a pack of dogs attacking other dogs in another part of Carson Estates over the past few weeks. Inadequate fencing and the probable lack of liability insurance on the part of the sanctuary are legitimate concerns. While the public safety issues are potential problems the noise issue is real and ongoing.
The opposition to the Taos Mesa Animal Shelter is not opposition to sheltering animals, it is opposition to placing a sheltering facility that is completely out of compliance with both state and county regulations in a community without the proper public notice to and the consent from the surrounding community. TMAS can’t be separated from its founder’s attempt to fraudulently claim abandoned property in the same community with a dubious quiet title suit. It obviously gives her a larger adverse possession claim than the acre or so around her house would allow. That house, as has been claimed, was built on a road which is a public easement that anyone has a right to use. It shows the same lack of consideration for others that putting the TMAS facility on abandoned property without informing and getting the consent of the surrounding community does.
One response to “Tres Orejas, a Dumping Ground for Taos County’s Stray Animals.”
I am sending county officials regular emails about the daily incessant barking that has disturbed our peace, weekday or weekend. I hope they respond. i encourage everyone to keep up the communication to our officials. Email, phone calls, we have a right to be heard and responded to.