Bridging Communities Through Kindness to Animals
Humane Communities: Community Partnerships
Community Partnerships provides in-depth, multifaceted, strategic approaches to help create solutions to animal welfare challenges unique to New Mexico communities. Community Partnerships has historically invested in Santa Fe, Mora, San Miguel, Guadalupe, and McKinley counties. Our current efforts concentrate on McKinley and Mora counties and involve animal transport, spay and neuter, core vaccinations, and subsidized veterinary care. As we continue to build momentum, our goal is to assist other communities in New Mexico in a practical, successful, and sustainable way.
Mora County
Mora County covers approximately 1,900 square miles in Northern New Mexico and has a population of approximately 4,000. It is one of the handful of counties in the state that does not have an animal shelter, exacerbating the problems regarding animal welfare. Through the generosity of a donor, APNM provides funds to the Las Vegas-San Miguel Veterinary Hospital in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Through this collaboration, we have been able to make an impact for animals in the area by subsidizing spay and neuter surgeries and vaccinations for dogs and cats in eleven designated zip codes in the area: Mora, Cleveland, Holman, Guadalupita, Ocate, Rainsville, Buena Vista, Sapello, Wagon Mound, Holman, Watrous.
McKinley County
In 2018, a donor named Valerie King from Gallup left APNM a generous bequest in the form of an endowment. The endowment is location and purpose-restricted and is meant to help care for companion animals in McKinley County. Thanks to Valerie King, APNM has the privilege of being a grantor to two organizations that are making a difference for animals in that county: McKinley County Humane Society and Bro and Tracy Animal Welfare.
Due to this funding, these organizations can provide spay and neuter services and transport for animals to increase the chances of adoption. Funding this critical transfer effort, in which the McKinley County Humane Society relocates thousands of adoptable dogs and cats each year to high-adoption shelters in Colorado, Arizona, Utah and other areas of New Mexico, enables the shelter to clear space and focus on spaying and neutering.
Statistics
Our partnership and collaboration with McKinley and Mora counties have resulted in thousands of animals assisted in Northern New Mexico. Since 2018, the Las Vegas-San Miguel Veterinary Hospital has completed over 1,300 spay and neuter surgeries, plus core vaccinations. In McKinley County, the McKinley County Humane Society has transported over 13,000 animals since 2018, resulting in more space for the shelter and an increase in adoptions. The Bro and Tracy Animal Welfare organization has assisted over 2,600 animals with spay and neuter services and transport since 2021.
APNM’s Humane Communities program provides multi-faceted, strategic approaches to help create solutions to animal welfare challenges unique to individual communities. These include:
Capacity Enhancement: Animal Shelter Assistance
We can help local shelters by providing leadership training and development, assessing needs and priorities, collaborating with local officials and agencies, helping to secure better funding for shelter operations, organizing low-cost spay/neuter clinics, and generating more public and private support for the shelter.
Carrying the Message: Community Outreach, Education & Mobilization
By harnessing the power of peer-to-peer and neighbor-to-neighbor connections, we can motivate collaboration and promote positive messages regarding animal welfare. We provide support to established animal care professionals already working in the community to help promote the program and educate community members.
Investing in the Future: Humane Education
Humane education creates meaningful, long-term, normative change by reaching children and youth, instilling in them a greater appreciation for kindness, responsibility, and respect for all living beings. The Animal Connection, APNM’s humane education program, has a profound influence on students who share these lessons with their families, friends, neighbors, and communities.
Providing Resources: Municipal & County Animal Services
Our training scholarships for humane law enforcement officers help them effectively and humanely address the many challenges they face on a daily basis.
Systemic Change: Humane Law & Policy
By performing a thorough assessment of local animal protection laws vis-à-vis current animal-related problems in the community, and with active participation by local residents, we can determine the need for facilitating upgrades to the city and/or county ordinance and move toward specific improvements.
