When you imagine an animal welfare officer, you picture someone who cares about four-legged friends, even when dealing with one that is putting humans in jeopardy.
Sgt. Raymond Candelaria epitomizes that definition, and that’s why he just earned the July One Albuquerque Award.
“Sgt. Candelaria didn’t do the minimum of dealing with the situation, he prioritized humane treatment of animals and that’s something we always want to do,” Mayor Tim Keller said when he gave out the award, as reported by KRQE.
Candelaria is an animal welfare officer who has worked with the community on such tasks as taking care of dogs that were barking to dogs that were attacking residents in an Albuquerque neighborhood.
In going above and beyond, “He bought dog houses so they wouldn’t have to be stuck outside in the rough weather, and toys so they could play, and also worked with the neighborhood to document the situation which is also very important to find the best resolution moving forward,” Keller said.
While responding to complaints of dogs barking constantly and getting out of their yard in September 2021, Candelaria visited the home and saw there were no dog houses or toys in the yard, so he turned to the Animal Welfare Department’s dog house program and provided shelter and toys in the hopes of keeping the pets busy and out of the weather.
“We set them up. I took some toys and educated the owners on barking,” Candelaria recalled. He reminded the owners that if a dog is barking, they should bring them inside because dogs generally bark for a reason.
In that situation, the owners were working a lot and were rarely home, leaving the dogs alone in the yard.
“The dogs, being dogs, needed attention,” he surmised.
In that particular case, the situation didn’t improve, despite Candelaria’s efforts. The dogs continued escaping and barking a lot. Last month, they attacked a person and Angel's Law was called upon. Angel’s Law is applied when the owners are asked to give up the dogs.
The owner surrendered the dogs after an administrative hearing, and now Animal Welfare is looking for homes for the dogs, so Candelaria thinks it can still end up better for the pets, which is his ultimate goal.
Candelaria downplayed the recognition.
“It’s not just myself, our officers go through this day in and day out,” he said in the news report. “When we drive up, we’re not there to take your dogs, that’s the last thing we want. We only do that under extreme circumstances and that’s either with the owner’s consent or court order. That myth that as soon as we pull up we’re taking the dogs, that doesn’t happen. We’re there because we love animals. We don’t want to see them hurt.”