Causes: Animal Protection & Welfare, Animals

Mission: To foster humane animal treatment and challenge animal cruelty by working statewide to change stubborn systems that cause and allow cruelty. Pragmatic, effective services/programs create safer communities for all.

Programs: Public assistance, education and outreach - includes providing free statewide animal cruelty hotline consultation and problem-solving, delivering comprehensive classroom-based humane education curriculum called the animal connection(which helps fulfill many of the national common core educational standards all teachers strive to achieve with their students), providing adult education, managing the companion animal rescue effort (care) network that maintains a network of safe havens for the animals of domestic violence victims so vulnerable people and their animals can stay safe from abusive partners who use animals as leverage in violent relationships, providing financial assistance to individuals statewide for equine feed, gelding and veterinary assistance, providing financial assistance to individuals to spay and neuter their cats and dogs and for medical assistance for companion animals in the santa fe region, providing free resources on a wide variety of animal-related topics including comprehensive web-based information, public education seminars and outreach booths and distribution of printed materials and dissection alternatives for students.

animal advocacy campaigns (other than wildlife) - with an effort to improve public policies and practices related to the treatment of animals through legislative and non-legislative means. Activities include: offering rewards for information about cruelty cases to assist with enforcement of laws, tracking and evaluating prosecution of animal cruelty cases, providing comprehensive support for the state's animal shelters through consultation, direct assistance and identifying resources and fundraising, encouraging communities to restrict or eliminate dog chaining both for humane reasons and to keep communities safer, maintaining a resource database to help ensure resource capacity for keeping animals safe in natural and human- caused disasters, working to end the use of chimpanzees in research and securing permanent sanctuary for government-owned chimpanzees living in new mexico, and working to ensure all horses (in racing and other petition, domestic ownership for riding, and free-roaming) are treated humanely, that new mexico not be permitted to open a horse slaughter plant, and that robust equine safety net be maintained and expanded.

wildlife campaigns - working to change wildlife policies through legislation, research and investigations, polls, litigation, coexistence education, coalition-building, implementing humane strategies by establishing partnerships with agencies, and organizing interested members of the public to express opinion to governing agencies. Species receiving specific focus include mountain lions, coyotes, and beavers. Legislative efforts include a ban on killing contests and a ban on traps and poisons on public lands.