Fourth celebrations take toll on area dogs “

Animal control officers, shelter workers cope with influx of strays It’s been a crazy day, but we hope we can find all the owners.”

Santa Fe city and county animal services officers and animal shelter workers were busy Tuesday night and early Wednesday rounding up and caring for more than 30 dogs that had been spooked by the blasts of Fourth of July celebrations and had run off from their homes. At least two were injured, officials said, including one that was so severely injured by a vehicle that it had be euthanized.

Johnny Martinez, manager of the city’s Animal Services Division, said his crew anticipated a busy night and arranged for more officers to be out on the streets. But it wasn’t enough.

“As soon as we finished our shift at 12:30 a.m., we got more calls about lost and stray dogs,” Martinez said. “The overnight officer was swamped.”

Dogs that are frightened by fireworks or other loud noises present a challenge for officers, Martinez said, and require more time to catch. “They are scared and won’t come to you when you call them,” he said.

The dogs also overwhelmed the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society at a time when the facility already had a high number of pets waiting for permanent homes. Workers had to quickly find space for the dozens of stray dogs brought in overnight, pairing animals in order to free up other kennels. There were a total of 160 dogs there Wednesday.

But Executive Director Jennifer Steketee said she was glad the runaway dogs were safe at the shelter and not loose in the community. A dog injured when it was hit by a vehicle near La Puebla gets treatment Wednesday at the Santa Fe animal shelter’s clinic. The dog is one of many lost, stray or injured animals that came into the shelter over the holiday. “Frightened, lost dogs are at risk of injury,” she said. “We’re happy that we can be there for them.”

About half of the animals that came into the shelter overnight were still waiting for their owners Wednesday afternoon, said Monica Gonzalez, the shelter’s director of admissions. Luckily, she said, most of the dogs were licensed or microchipped, and those owners had been contacted. But Gonzalez said some of the microchips led to dead ends because the dogs’ owners had failed to update their information.

“It’s been a crazy day,” she said, “but we hope we can find all the owners. People have been telling us that their dogs took off because of the fireworks.”

Martinez said the owner of the dog that had to be euthanized told him the fireworks were directly to blame for the dog bolting.

Another dog was brought to the shelter with injuries caused by a vehicle, although it’s uncertain if fireworks were a reason for the mishap.

The 3-year-old female heeler, which didn’t have a license tag or microchip, was picked up by Santa Fe County animal control officers Tuesday morning on N.M. 76 between La Puebla and Chimayó. She was taken to the Emergency Veterinary Clinic and then brought to the animal shelter for treatment. She was heavily sedated Wednesday and is awaiting surgery, said Laura Pfeifer, a shelter veterinarian.

She likely will lose her leg, Pfeifer said.

The shelter was busy Wednesday as people called and stopped in to ask about their lost animals and pick up strays that had been found. More than 20 lost-and-found reports were

filed, Gonzalez said.

The shelter uses a variety of ways to find owners. Staff members immediately post photos of a lost animal on the shelter’s website, and admissions counselors do what they can to find the owners, including posting messages on Facebook, looking in publications for lost animals and connecting reports of lost dogs with the owners of animals that have been found.

City and county regulations vary on the length of time an animal is at the shelter before it becomes available for adoption — generally three days if the pet has no tags or microchip, or five days if the animal has identification but the owner cannot be contacted.

Gonzalez urged people to license their pets and have them microchipped, both inexpensive ways to help make sure an animal is returned home safely.

Martinez agreed that tags and microchips are important tools to help connect lost dogs with their owners, though it takes more time to track down owners through microchips, and the chips aren’t much help if the information on them isn’t current.

Martinez also encouraged people not to leave their pets in vehicles, which has been a problem lately as temperatures in the area have soared. People forget that the temperature inside a vehicle can get dangerously hot, he said, even if windows are left open.