New animal control ordinance favors ranchers

Despite City Attorney Jay Rubin’s and City Manager Gary Whitehead’s and Animal Control Officer Tyler Knull’s warnings that a phrase would make the stray animal portion of the ordinance unfair and difficult to enforce, the Truth or Consequences City Commission put it in the new animal control ordinance at the Jan. 16 meeting. 

The animal control ordinance will be “published,” that is, available on the city website or at the city clerk’s office for 30 more days, which will be its second “publication.” City staff have been working on the ordinance since July 2025. 

At earlier city commission meetings Mayor Pro Tem Amanda Forrister and City Commissioner Merry Jo Fahl (whose term expired at the end of the year and is no longer on the board) expressed dissatisfaction with the proposed livestock running-at-large portion of the ordinance. 

Fahl said outright that livestock owners shouldn’t be cited. “Remember where we are from,” she chided Knull. Fahl has often stated she comes from an old ranching family. She also complained that Knull had not answered any of her emailed questions to her satisfaction, and didn’t want to discuss the ordinance in public. She did, however, after Forrister urged her to air her views during the meeting. 

Chalk one up for transparency vs. backroom finagling to get the law you want. 

Fahl and Forrister said they wanted to hear what the state livestock board had to say about livestock running at large. 

Knull presented two drafts of the ordinance at the Jan. 16 meeting. One that treated livestock and dogs and cats running at large the same and one that favored livestock in a roundabout fashion by referencing neglect of fencing and necessary containment to be determined by the officer. Forrister rejected this second draft as too windy and confusing, preferring to change the sharper first draft by adding the phrase that the owner “willfully allowed” the livestock animal to roam into the city’s limits.  

Knull said he checked with the livestock board and it refused to give any opinion on livestock running at large within city limits since their jurisdiction is limited to unincorporated areas. If someone calls them about sighting a stray livestock animal within city limits, “they do not respond,” Knull said. 

Knull warned that putting in the term “willfully” will force the citing officer to prove the intent of the livestock owner, which is almost impossible. He also warned that any cat or dog owner cited for an animal running at large can claim unequal and unfair treatment if “willfully allowing” their pet to stray is not considered, making it “unenforceable.” Other cities’ ordinances do not make a distinction between livestock and pets running at large, he said. 

“I agree, because of what state statute says,” City Attorney Rubin said, pointing out that the “intentionality” of the owner would have to be proven. When Forrister continued to insist she wanted the term to remain, Rubin softened his stance. “I suppose the more times it happens shows it was willful.” 

Do judges have a record of past infractions and are they allowed to consider them, or must each infraction be dealt with separately? Wouldn’t intent have to be proven each time if it is in the ordinance? 

Whitehead urged the city commission to leave the term out, since the magistrate judge now presiding over city cases will determine if the city’s ordinance is consistent with state law. He also pointed out that the city “could have liability if a tourist hit a cow out of its fence.” 

Forrister said she didn’t want 4-H or county fair participants to feel any constraints and pointed out that the Rio Grande runs through the city. 

Supposedly Forrister was referring to the many local ranchers who have access to thousands of acres of federal land that borders the Rio Grande where cows roam free and unfenced. They appear to depend on the river for their livestock’s watering needs. I consistently see cows in T or C near the Rio Grande, especially in summer and winter when the river is low and they are starving for lack of range grass, which is sparse even in spring and fall. 

These stray cows I’ve seen over the last 20 years I’ve lived here don’t look anything like the cows at the county fair. They are smaller and far skinnier, have scarred coats and genetic defects, such as horns growing into the side of their heads. 

The other city commissioners voted in Forrister’s amendment with no discussion, passing it unanimously.  

The public may submit written comments on the ordinance to the city clerk and speak at the final public hearing, which will be held during a city commission meeting about a month from now.