Los Lunas urges residents to report loose dogs after bite attacks

Mary Askew, the village’s code enforcement supervisor, said the office is dealing with a concerning number of dog-on-human and dog-on-dog attack calls. She said the danger is not only the attacks themselves, but the long window before them, when residents see the same animals loose again and again and do not call it in. One recent case made that risk concrete: about two weeks earlier, a woman reported a bite, but the attacking dogs were already gone when officers arrived, and the victim’s dog later died from its injuries.

Los Lunas animal control averages about two to four reported dog attack or bite calls each month, not counting incidents that never get reported. The division also gets roughly 10 to 12 running-at-large calls every month. Askew said the problem is villagewide, but it appears more concentrated in Carson Park and Huning Ranch, where population density likely increases the chances of people and roaming animals crossing paths.

The village’s code makes clear that animals may not run at large or be unleashed on streets, sidewalks, vacant lots, public property or private property. It also says an animal running at large is a nuisance and a menace to the public, and it defines a bite as any puncture or tear of the skin caused by an animal’s teeth. The Code Enforcement Division handles animal control, pet registrations, barking dogs and other animal-related nuisances, placing loose-dog complaints inside the village’s broader health and safety work.