Aurich seeks return of service animal amid abuse case in Pahrump

Kimberly Aurich was back in a Pahrump courtroom on June 2 asking Judge Lane to let her regain custody of a service animal even as animal abuse and neglect allegations remain active. The hearing put Nye County in the middle of a difficult legal and public-safety question: how to weigh a person’s claimed disability-related need for an animal against the court’s duty to protect an animal that has been tied to a cruelty case.

The earlier court proceedings added to the stakes. In May, the matter was described as a civil hearing to determine whether animals should be returned to Aurich’s custody, and the case was framed around multiple allegations that had already drawn close attention in Pahrump. By late summer 2025, Aurich, the owner of Drag’n Ass Rescue and Sanctuary, had been arrested on 19 counts of animal abuse involving torture, abandonment, injury and starvation.

Court and law-enforcement accounts tied those charges to a sprawling animal-care dispute. Aurich told authorities she had buried a Great Dane on the property about three weeks earlier, saying it died of old age. She also said a donkey had died about a week before that, while the arrest report said the donkey’s cause of death was unknown. A later county account said the investigation ultimately involved 102 animals on the property, including dogs, horses, mules, burros, sheep and goats.

That larger history matters because the June 2 hearing was not simply about a piece of property. It raised the question of what evidence would justify returning custody while allegations are still being contested. Nevada’s cruelty-to-animals laws are set out in NRS Chapter 574, and federal ADA guidance says service animals generally must be allowed in areas where the public is permitted to go. Nevada law also allows restitution for veterinary bills and replacement costs involving a service animal after a conviction, underscoring how seriously the state treats harm to working animals.

The local agencies already involved in the Drag’n Ass case show how those competing interests play out in Nye County. Nye County Animal Services has responsibility for animal cruelty investigations, animal welfare enforcement, public health and safety, rabies control, quarantine and animals-at-large, while the sheriff’s office has handled the criminal side of the case. In a county where long-running animal disputes can stretch across multiple hearings, the outcome in Aurich’s case could help define how judges respond when a service-animal claim collides with allegations of neglect.