Who was Minnie and Why is this such a big deal?
On Sunday night, March 29, 2026, Minnie went out to play like Charlie and Athena had done for 5 years before. But like Athena several months before, Minnie never made it home that late night, in the darkness between the night of the 29th and the early morning of the 30th.
I reached for her in the early morning, in her usual space curled up near the 2nd bed pillow. She was tiny, just over 5 pounds, with a short little tail that she flew proudly, high in the air. Minnie was tiny, but she was bold. She was happy. She was very warm and loving.
Sometime in the darkness between Sunday night and early Monday, Minnie encountered a pack of dogs my neighbor lets run loose nightly.
Four days later, on the night of April the 1st, a dog pack challenged me and Porsche returning home from our nightly walk. This was the third time in 4 days and things were escalating. They followed us to my yard and that behavior, that challenge, that pushing and pushing loudly barking was the Tipping Point. I returned with a light and followed them home.
There were more than 20, maybe more than 30 dogs in that enclosure on the side of the house at 121 Camunez, diagonally northeast from my home and about 500 feet away, separated by the EBID ditch.
What happened next is the topiic of a blog post.
From the events of April 2nd, I learned that the owner, Mr. Pablo Cardona Martinez had been on Doña Ana Animal Control’s radar for 6 years. He had been arraigned in Magistrate Court on February 16th on five counts, all relating to the behaviors that resulted in the loss of my companion animals. And: 50 hopeless dogs living in squalor, without medical care, without human connection, without many options at all.
I was angry, lost, feeling overwhelmed and I reached out to the Las Cruces community for help. And people responded. The story now is so much bigger than what might at first seem to be the simple loss of a beautiful, sweet silver grey tabby named Minnie.
The neighbor has requested a jury trial. There will be updates. There are 50 dogs that desperately need assistance. That is just too many for our local infrastructure. We aren’t “bad;” we’re tiny. We can’t handle 50 dogs in need with all our rescues working with the shelter. We need help from people with boots on the ground experience in dealing with cases like this.
The burning question is Who and How Many are ultimately responsible for my loss of Minnie? Six years is a long time to wait knowing the size of the problem. I will be filing an information request for all documents relating to this case from it’s inception. I want to know who did what, when, and when not. From the comments on social media, the problems with both Animal Control and especially the Sheriff’s Department are not limited to Camunez Road. And my own experience matches what others are saying: we are not believed; we are blamed while others are allowed to let their dogs run free; there are demands for “proof” that require us to have our fingers on Video at the precise moment when the trespassing dogs are there, visible and cooperating for the camera.
But seething under the stories is the sensation of gender bias, racial bias, especially with Sheriff’s deputies . On April 2nd, Deputy Nuñez strongly suggested that it was perfectly reasonable for Mr. Martinez to shoot me for trespassing. When two men, one presumably in authority, believe that guns are the first response to problem resolution, we know problem resolution is not top of their priority list. And we will talk more about this as time goes on.
