Sandoval County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a house in Placitas on Monday, Feb. 26 where they found 47 dogs and five horses living on a property with a three-bedroom house. Almost all of the dogs rescued from the property appear to be Australian Shepherd breeds.
Sandoval County Manager Dwayne Johnson told the Signpost about the condition of the house and the animals found inside. He says that although investigating the Placitas residence was not the worst case of animal hoarding he has encountered in his career, “this one is pretty close.” Johnson says that officers arrived at the house to find “feces in some places in the [in the house] as high as your knee and about three-feet deep. The big issue was the state of the animals. Animals were malnourished, some of them were injured. There had been some fighting among the animals. There were just a whole lot of them that were not being fed or properly taken care of in any way, shape or form.”
Johnson said that 19 of the dogs were taken to Animal Humane in Española and the rest are being held by shelters in Aztec, Bernalillo and Sandoval counties. One deputy took in three of the dogs to foster at their home.
According to Johnson, finding care for these animals and relocating them in hoarding cases like these can be a tricky process. Ownership of these animals must be determined before they can be legally relocated because “they’re considered property in the state of New Mexico and you can’t just remove property without an order from the court. So in this particular case, the owners signed over all the animals to the county and once they’re vetted and determined that they can be adopted out, then they’ll be available for adoption.”
Johnson says that animal hoarding seems to be a growing problem in Sandoval County and that he sees more cases like this than he used to. SCSO did determine that one of the owners of the house has a medical condition they believe might have led to the deterioration of the home and the animals inside.
Potential adopters are encouraged to reach out to Sandoval County. Española Humane is also accepting donations of money, food, pee-pads, pens, etc. to help get the dogs the care that they need.
At this time no charges have been filed against the owners of the Placitas home.
M-45-MR-202400075 19 Charges Paul and Laurian Jaramillo 77 Aspen Road https://caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup/ Placitas Animal Rescue offered to take up to 25 of the animal and all the horses with No Response from Sandoval County
Why no charges?
Good to say no charges yet so that the Jaramillos are not named? In my understanding Mr. Paul Jaramillo was charged on Feb 20, 2024.