ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Officials in New Mexico's lakeside
town of Elephant Butte on Wednesday changed their leash law to let community
icon-turned-national media star Blue the dog continue roaming free, within the
confines of a wireless fence.
The vote ended a closely watched, months-long dispute
over whether the blue-eyed Australian heeler, who became a fixture in the town
after being abandoned more than a decade ago, should be subject to the town's
ordinance.
Blue's attorney and caretakers at the Butte General Store
& Marine initially sought an exemption for Blue, citing his popularity in
the community and friendly demeanor. After city officials refused, they reached
a compromise to include wireless fences as an acceptable restraint under the
law.
Blue has been hanging around the store for years. He has
refused numerous attempts at adoption, so community members have built him an
air-conditioned and heated dog house. Store visitors regularly donate cash for
his care.
Blue's fight over city demands that he be leashed or
confined made national headlines and earned him more than 3,700 Facebook
friends.
Janice Conner, who owns the general store with husband
Bob Owen, said it's been a long saga, but one that ended well for Blue, the
community and dog lovers around the world.
"In his name, people have donated money to people
with other dogs in need," she said in a telephone interview. "Dogs
have been adopted through his Facebook page. All around, it has been a real
positive thing."
At the local level, the ordinance change protects other
dog owners from being threatened with the potential loss of a dog, said
Albuquerque attorney Hilary Noskin, a lake property owner who took the case pro
bono. Under the new ordinance, pet owners must be given warnings before a dog
can be picked up by animal control, and any complaints about a dog must be
verified before pet owners are cited, she said.
Conner said Blue's troubles began after baseless
complaints about his free-wandering ways that followed a fatal pit bull attack
in Truth or Consequences, about two miles away.
Conner said Invisible Fence of New Mexico donated a fence
that gives Blue about an acre of territory to roam around the store.
"They did a lot of training with him, but it's going
to take a while," she said of the system that delivers a shock-like jolt
through a dog's collar when it crosses a defined perimeter. "He has gone
out one time, and he fought coming back through it."