Construction Finally Starts!
The winds and the dust were blowing but that did not deter our staff and supporters from having a wonderful time at our Ground Breaking Ceremonies at the Ranch in 2006.

After a very long wait and arduous permitting process our ground breaking launched the start of phase one construction at the Ranch for our permanent facilities. Included in phase one of construction is a canine cottage which will hold 40 -50 canines, a cattery which will hold up to 40 felines and an administration building. Future construction will include additional cottages, catteries, a therapeutic riding center, non-denomin- ational chapel and humane education center.
Commissioner Jack Thomas was given the honors and ceremoniously plowed a shovel into the ground to kick off the festivities. Jack Thomas and Pattie Thomas are avid animal supporters who have made significant strides in our community for animal welfare. The Canine Cottage will be named after them in their honor.
Commissioner Jack Thomas and county officials generously contributed $100,000 to the construction of the Sandoval County canine cottage, which will house adoptable Sandoval County dogs. This contribution was part of a generous gift presented to Sandoval County by Intel.
We wish to thank all of those who made this day possible.

If you can donate building materials, please contact: Sophia DiClemente
sophiawmr@aol.com

-- Lee DiClemente, Vice President of the Board

Spay & Neuter Clinic Open At the Ranch
We are all aware of the rampant pet overpopulation in New Mexico, which attributes to over 90,000 dogs and cats unnecessarily being euthanized each year. We realized that options for low cost surgeries in our area were poor. Each week for the past several years staff and volunteers from Watermelon Mountain Ranch Animal Center drove our animals to the Espanola
Animal Shelter to have our animals spayed and neutered. As exhausting as the weekly trek was it was our only affordable option and we are grateful to the
EAS for assisting our animals. We also would like to thank Dr. Danny Levinson and Dr. Marcos Gutierrez for their support in providing all of our other surgeries and medical services for animals in need. Now we would like
to “pay it forward” in our community.
Thanks to donations provided by our supporters and through the efforts of our former veterinarians Dr. Schlesinger and Dr. Blake, as well as our current veterinarian Dr. Scudder, our clinic is now open. We aim to provide low cost services to other shelters and rescue groups in our area to help reduce pet over population.

The Best Friends Model
We visited the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, in Kanab, Utah, and were very impressed with what we saw. We think the Best Friends model, that of housing animals in "cottages" or "pods" would work well at Watermelon Mountain Ranch. Each cottage holds about 40 animals; each has its own fenced yard; each has a den mother, and each has its own kitchen. The more homelike setting offers significant advantages for the animals, and it's less expensive to build than a single, large shelter facility.

The photo on the left shows a "cottage" at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, in Utah. On the right is a Best Friends' cat cottage. We have incorporated some of the Best Friends' concepts at Watermelon Mountain Ranch. Click Photo to enlarge.

Programs in Development
As we continue to develop the Watermelon Mountain Ranch site, we'll be adding programs.
The programs listed below are currently in development.