Red tape leaves dogs in the cold

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Officials say that a dog was spotted about a month ago, roaming around Sandia National Laboratory.

She has since given birth.

Now she and her pups are homeless and animal rescuers say they need help immediately.

A video of the mother dog was sent to the offices of Animal Humane New Mexico. It shows a dog living under a at the one of the buildings being fed by concerned employees.
 
The dog gave birth a couple in the last week in January and her little pups are stuck underneath the building.

"With the sub-zero weather, we don't know how many have survived," said Boni Galarneau, of Animal Humane New Mexico.

She had a plan to trap the dog.

"I brought the trap with me to work. It's my personal trap and they came by to pick it up and I showed them how to set it," said Galarneau.

But the plan was shut down. According to a Sandia spokesperson, on-location wildlife biologists are seeing to the animal's health until they're rescued.

Bernalillo County Animal Control says they went to the labs twice in one week, and after two failed attempts to lure the dogs out, they're planning to try again on February 6th, leaving the mother and her pups to go back in their hole for the weekend.

They say they couldn't just pry open the underneath of the building, because it's private property.

The City of Albuquerque's Animal Welfare caught wind of this and attempted their own rescue.

Since it's not in the city's jurisdiction, they only it made it to the front gate of the labs and were then turned away. Because of Sandia's high security, any appointment to get access to the dogs needs to be coordinated in advance.

"So the dog's been on base for a month and nobody's done anything until they tried to trap it. And then everybody got involved," said Galarneau.

Galarneau says now is the best time to round up the pups. They don't move very fast, and their teeth aren't sharp, yet. Also, the drop in temperatures doesn't make for a comfortable stay.

"Their eyes probably aren't even open. They're not moving very much so they're just in a clump," said Galarneau.