Guinea pig found dead at Animal Welfare Dept

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A city of Albuquerque department in charge of taking care of animals says it made a mistake.

Workers forgot an animal which was later found dead in a cage.

It happened back in June but since then, it sparked an internal investigation and changes to make sure it never happens again.

“What happened is it was in a cage, it was not seen, a mistake was made,” Jim Ludwick with the animal welfare department said.

Animal welfare officials say that mistake was the death of a guinea pig, found in a cage.

While the guinea pig was initially housed inside, somehow it was moved outside in the heat, mixed in with other empty cages.

Worker say they thought the guinea pig's cage was empty too.

“At some point it was underneath things on the bottom of the cage, it wasn't seen…the person didn't see it,” Ludwick said.

Welfare officials say that's just not good enough.

The department keeps record of every animal coming into and out of the facility, but somehow nobody noticed this animal was missing.

Welfare officials will not say how long it was outside, but say it was by chance that it was found.

“When someone went over to get the cages they discovered the guinea pig which had died,” Ludwick said.

A death, animal welfare says was an accident that will never happen again.

“This episode was investigated, we took action afterwards that we thought was important in relation of employees,” Ludwick said.

It's unclear if the animal died before it was placed outside or after.

According to animal welfare this was a first.

The department handles a total of about 25,000 animals every year.