This is Courage my dog who I adopted from a woman who rescued him from Animal Control in Roswell, NM. His name is Courage because he had to have courage in humans to be able to trust again, after having come from an abusive home, being found on the streets as a stray and then being thrown into a kennel in Animal Control. He has now found a forever home with me and my husband, but had the chance of us adopting him come eight months later, he would have been euthanized. On Thursday June 12, 2014 Mayor Dennis Kintigh of Roswell suspended all local rescue groups from being able to adopt any dogs from Animal Control and went further to not allow any rescue groups from the state of New Mexico to rescue any of the dogs in Roswell Animal Control. He has ordered this because on June 11, 2014, a young boy in Roswell was attacked by four pit bulls who escaped a local rescue. On June 13, 2014, 19 highly adoptable dogs including puppies of various breeds and mixes, were euthanized. Nine more dogs are scheduled to be euthanized on Monday. My husband and I live and work in El Paso, TX and would not have been able to travel to Roswell to adopt Courage out of Animal Control ourselves, before the date he was to be euthanized. We relied on a woman who rescues locally in Roswell to take Courage out of Animal Control and keep him until we could make arrangements to pick him up. Roswell Animal Control’s only open hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm. Adoption events are never sponsored by Roswell Animal Control and from personal experience and experience from volunteers, Roswell Animal Control is not accommodating to local rescue groups or prospective adopters. These animals’ only hope is the volunteers who rescue and maintain the Facebook page constantly updating it with the new dogs taken into Animal Control. We feel very sad for the boy who was attacked, but other dogs should not suffer because of these pit bulls’ actions, especially when they were not involved in any way. Please tell Mayor Kintigh and the Roswell City Council that local rescues are these dogs’ only hope and only because of them are dogs not euthanized by the dozens every day in the City of Roswell. Tell Mayor Kintigh and the City Council to allow rescue groups in Roswell and the state of New Mexico to continue their great work in rescuing these animals.