For more than 10 years, Watermelon Mountain Ranch (WMR) has been finding homes for thousands of dogs and cats. The 10-acre facility north of Rio Rancho City Hall is the largest no-kill animal shelter in the state.

Lee and Sophia DiClemente, rather than live an easy and smooth retirement in New Mexico, choose to take care of animals. The couple noticed that thousands of animals were put to death in New Mexico each year and that many people were abandoning their animals.

The couple decided to do something to reduce that number and invested $500,000 of their own money into creating a sanctuary for animals that otherwise would be euthanized. Sophia estimated that nearly 3,000 animals per year would have been euthanized had the Ranch not rescued them. She has a long history of caring for animals that goes all the way back to her childhood in London, where her grandfather was a veterinarian.

Her husband Lee also has a special kinship with animals, saying that you can always count on a pet.

“A four-legged animal has never let me down,” Lee said. “They provide unconditional love and want to be my friend. Dogs and cats have personalities and feelings. I care for animals and they care for us.”

The two devote much time to the ranch, ensuring animals are being taken care of and that the operation is running smoothly. To do that requires money. That’s why Sophia works seven days a week and refuses to draw a salary. Some of her duties include going to animal shelters, writing grants and lobbying state legislators and county commissioners for money to help WMR.

The DiClementes have enlisted the help of hundreds of New Mexicans to volunteer at the shelter, as well as four veterinarians who regularly provide vaccinations, offer checkups and spay or neuter the pets. WMR also has seven paid staff members and is a registered 501c3 nonprofit organization.

All animals that come through the shelter are spayed or neutered, micro-chipped and vaccinated before being adopted out.

The Ranch has a canine cottage and a kennel that hold roughly 75 dogs and a cattery that holds roughly 60 cats. WMR also works with about 80 foster families to take care of pets.

The Ranch works hard to ensure that animals kept healthy. The animals get plenty of exercise, hugs, grooming and are checked out by a veterinarian regularly. In fact, not just any one can go to the Ranch to play with the dogs and cats. You must be approved and escorted by one of the staff or lead volunteers and then you must sanitize your hands before petting an animal. If you want to go from Fido to Fluffy or even Fido to another dog, you must sanitize your hands again. There are several convenient hand sanitizer dispensers all around the ranch.

Although the DiClementes want to find a good home for all the pets, they will not adopt an animal out to anyone.

“We want to make sure that the puppy, dog or cat will have a good and safe environment,” Sophia said. “We do background checks and home visits on pit bulls that are adopted, elderly animals and dogs with medical problems. We take care of these animals and want them to be loved and taken care of when they leave the Ranch.”

Animals that come into the Ranch are given the necessary shots and are spayed or neutered when of age.

The price varies to adopt an animal, but it usually runs around $100 to $150. An animal adopted from WMR, either at their Ranch or at one of the many adoption sites held throughout New Mexico, will have shots, be spayed or neutered and will come with five weeks of training classes.

With all that goes into the Ranch and the countless hours and dollars spent to find good homes for animals that otherwise might be dead, the DiClementes were shocked and appalled when they heard that a local veterinarian said their animals are kept in conditions that pose a health risk.

Dr. Patricia Feeser, who chairs the city’s animal welfare task force, said she did a three-year survey of her own practice’s medical records and it showed a higher incidence of roundworms, which are parasites that can in rare cases cause blindness in humans, in animals from Watermelon Ranch than from other sources in Rio Rancho.

At the task force’s most recent meeting, eight Ranch employees and over a dozen people from the public or who have adopted animals from the Ranch said the claims were unfounded. Present also was a veterinarian pathologist and an employee with a degree in zoology who refuted Feeser’s claims.

Dr. Robert Blake, a well-known and respected veterinarian with more than 40 years of experience, who volunteers for Watermelon Ranch, said that WMR de-worms all animals at intake and routinely quarantines new animals and treats them for parasites, multiple times as necessary. He also said that the animals’ living conditions are cleaned and disinfected several times a day. Blake was the head of the state’s veterinary board for several years.

He pointed out that animals may pick up worms after they have been adopted, but Watermelon has no control over that. Animals can become infected at public dog parks, in their neighborhood, or even from fecal matter.

While at Watermelon Mountain Ranch, the animals stay in concrete-lined kennels that have been sprayed with epoxy. Also, the animals exercise and run outside on a gravel surface that’s constantly cleaned. Blake said the animals are current on shots and medication and that the fecal tests Feeser based her study on are not always an accurate predictor of roundworm infestation in an animal. He recommends regular de-worming of all animals.