Local group finds homes for stray pets

A local animal placement group is working to find homes and new owners for animals in Quay County and beyond.

“We have placed dogs, cats and even horses in and out of the county,” said Christina Fleming, Tucumcari Animal Rescue coordinator. “We give animals like dogs that are scheduled for destruction a fighting chance at life.”

There are some wonderful animals that are just looking for a good home, Fleming said. She said the group is trying to prevent the destruction of these animals. Many times the animals have done nothing wrong, they were just not being taken care of or were picked up by animal control and not claimed by their owner.

Fleming said the group has been applying for non-profit status.  She said there have been some road blocks but the city of Tucumcari has helped out a great deal.

“Bobbye Rose (city manager) and Roger Hatcher (police chief) have been wonderful,” Fleming said. “They have done so much for us. We would not be here without their help.”

The city’s goal is to provide a no-kill shelter, Rose said. She said working with the group has given them a chance to develop an adoption procedure. Now an animal can be taken out of the city’s kennel and placed with an adoptive family.

“It think it is going to be a win-win situation,” Rose said “We appreciate all of the help we have received from the group.”

Fleming said the way it works is a person can pick up the adoption forms at city hall, they can list the breed, sex and type of animal they are wanting to adopt.

“We have a great paper trail for each animal,” Fleming said. “Right now we are providing the shots for the animals. We have also worked a deal with our local veterinarians. They are offering  spaying (or neutering) and checkup with shots for $100 when a person adopts an animal.”

One of the hardest parts of their mission has been getting the word out to the public, Fleming said.

However on  Oct. 14 their efforts were made a little easier when they started being listed on Petfinder.com.

Fleming said Petfinder.com lists a large database of animals available for adoption.  

The site has more than 321,000 homeless pets listed.

Tucumcari can be viewed on Petfinder.com at http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/NM144.html

“This is going to help us out so much,” Fleming said. “They have a database of pets where a person can enter search criteria for the kind of pet he or she wants.”

Fleming said the searches are narrowed down by ZIP codes, which will help with finding a pet in Quay County.

The adoptions are still handled by the animal placement group where the pet is housed, and each group has its own policies, Fleming said.