New Mexico
New Mexico warns against giving baby poultry as Easter gifts – New Mexico Political Report
By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Department of Health is warning people against giving baby poultry as gifts on Easter Sunday this weekend because of chicks and ducklings’ links to salmonella risk.
Children who handle, snuggle or keep poultry inside homes face increased exposure to salmonella bacteria, which causes salmonellosis disease, DOH said in a news release on Tuesday morning.
“Even healthy-looking birds can shed salmonella, which can cause serious infection,” Sarah Shrum Davis, an epidemiologist with the bureau, said in a statement. “To prevent infection, children under 5 should not handle poultry. Make sure older children wash their hands after handling birds or their eggs. And do not kiss or snuggle live poultry.”
Davis told Source NM in an interview on Tuesday that salmonella normally resides in poultry’s gastrointestinal tract without making the birds sick, and when the birds poop, it is present in their feces.
Keeping poultry inside the home “highly increases” the risk of exposure to salmonella, she said.
“People can be concerned — baby chicks and ducklings are small — so maybe they keep them in the kitchen or somewhere warm where they’re safe from predators,” Davis said. “We advise against that.”
The same applies if someone spends time in a bird enclosure, even if they don’t touch the birds themselves, she said. Salmonella can live on surfaces for some period of time so if someone touches a surface where a bird has been, like their bedding, it is possible to be exposed.
“That’s why we recommend that people always wash their hands after they clean the coop, handle anything or touch anywhere the birds might have been,” Davis said. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Boses)
Symptoms of salmonellosis typically include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps, according to DOH, but more serious infections can spread from people’s intestines to the blood stream and throughout the body, which can be fatal if left untreated.
A higher risk of developing a serious infection and complications exists among infants, young children, older adults, transplant recipients, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
When Source NM asked the New Mexico Department of Agriculture about whether chicks and ducklings also carry any risk of spreading a strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) called H5N1, spokesperson Jenny Green told Source NM in an email that “the risk of salmonella is far greater than that of HPAI at this time.”
H5N1 was detected in a commercial chicken flock in Roosevelt County last April, and in a private backyard flock of chickens, ducks and geese in Bernalillo County in February.
Green wrote that as young people in 4-H and FFA programs participate this spring in “Chick Days” at farm supply retailers, NMDA and the New Mexico Livestock Board urge people to prevent the spread of both pathogens.
Green shared preventive measures including properly handling and cooking eggs, buying chicks from hatcheries approved by the National Poultry Improvement Plan, isolating new chicks for a month, wearing dedicated clothing and shoes when handling poultry, and reporting sick birds to the Livestock Board by calling 505-841-6161.
NMDA is also pointing people to best practices it published in March and from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in April.
For salmonella, DOH recommends preventive measures such as: thoroughly washing hands with soap and water after touching live baby poultry or anything in the area where they live and roam; not allowing live baby poultry inside homes or in kitchens and pantries or other areas where food or drink is prepared, served or stored; and consulting with a doctor if anyone experiences abdominal pain, fever or diarrhea.
As many as 130 cases of salmonellosis are reported in children each year in New Mexico, according to data compiled by the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Bureau at DOH.
In 2022, New Mexico had 465 total cases of salmonellosis among adults and children, according to the latest available DOH data.
DOH cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that salmonella causes about 1.35 million infections in the U.S. each year.
As of Feb. 24, CDC was investigating a salmonella outbreak among eight people, some of them children, linked to pet geckos in California, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Goldberg for questions: info@sourcenm.com.
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CHIMAYO, N.M. (KRQE) – A suspect is dead following a shooting involving the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office in Chimayo on Highway 76. Deputies are said to be okay. New Mexico State Police is investigating the shooting.
KRQE News 13 will provide updates as they become available.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — A leader in the New Mexico Republican Party was arrested Wednesday, accused of a deadly hit-and-run in Las Cruces.
Former Treasurer of the Republican Party in New Mexico, Kimberly Ann Skaggs, 54, was arrested Wednesday and charged with leaving the scene and tampering with evidence, jail records show.
Police documents show the charges stem from a deadly hit-and-run crash that happened Monday afternoon, which killed 40-year-old bicyclist, Andrew Brown.
Investigators believed Skaggs was involved after an investigation revealed that Skaggs allegedly was driving fast in the area, fled the scene after the crash and then tried to hide the vehicle from authorities.
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The investigation
According to police documents, a witness at the scene of the crash– 850 N. Fairacres Rd.– described seeing a dark blonde-haired woman flee in a black Cadillac Escalade SUV.
Afterwards, investigators said they saw on Flock cameras– A.I. powered license plate readers– a black Cadillac Escalade traveling near the site of the crash minutes before the incident.
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The license plates showed that the vehicle belonged to Skaggs and that, in September 2025, the Las Cruces Police Department had given her a citation for “racing on streets-exhibition driving.”
Investigators stated that a business on Picacho Ave. captured what they alleged was the same black Cadillac Escalade driving fast.
Then, the documents described how investigators tracked down the Escalade using OnStar’s live GPS tracking, discovering the SUV was at a property on the 5000 block of Northwind Road, which investigators said the Dona Ana County Assessors Office confirmed is a property owned by Skaggs.
On Tuesday, at around 6:41 p.m.– over 24 hours after the deadly hit-and-run– investigators executed a search warrant on the property and described finding the black Cadillac Escalade behind a home, under a red metal carport.
Investigators noted damage on the SUV consistent with the crash, highlighting that there was blood splatter near one of the front tires, markings on the front bumper consistent with hitting a bicycle and parts missing, which investigators said were the same parts found at the scene.
Dona Ana County jail records show Skaggs was booked on Wednesday afternoon and remains jailed without a bond.
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About Skaggs
On the official website of the Republican Party of New Mexico, Skaggs was listed as the treasurer before she was removed.
KFOX14/CBS4 has reached out to the Republican Party to learn more and are waiting for a comment regarding the arrest.
Also, according to election statistics, Skaggs ran for State Representative in District 36 in 2022 and 2024, losing both times to Democrat Nathan P. Small.
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SANTA FE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate whether any Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law when pills reached New Mexico streets.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said, “make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities.”
The governor also shared a timeline from 2022 to 2025 that she said shows when she asked federal officials for help with New Mexico’s fentanyl crisis and violent crime.
Lujan Grisham said the first request came on June 21, 2022, when she wrote to then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray and asked for 50 additional federal agents.
She said she wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland on Sept. 15, 2022, asking for more agents, resources and support for New Mexico law enforcement.
Lujan Grisham said she wrote Garland a second time on Aug. 8, 2023, with the same request.
What came next?
About a month later, Lujan Grisham said she sent Garland a third letter and said New Mexico needed more federal law enforcement to curb violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
She said her most recent request came on Sept. 4, 2025, when she wrote to former Attorney General Pam Bondi and again asked for additional agents and resources.
The governor’s statement says those requests span several years as she pressed the federal government for more help in New Mexico.
Full statement from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:
“I am appalled by reporting this week by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal that revealed federal authorities made a deliberate decision to let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills flood into New Mexico communities, despite knowing that fentanyl is so lethal the White House has designated it a weapon of mass destruction.
Let me say that again: the Drug Enforcement Administration watched as 74,000 fentanyl pills were delivered to a mobile home park in Albuquerque, and they did nothing. And that’s just one transaction. Shockingly, the federal government stood by while monitoring shipments, tallying exact pill counts, and watching as these deadly drugs hit the streets.
There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were. Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway. The result: hundreds of New Mexican parents burying their kids. Hundreds of New Mexican kids growing up without stable parents. All while the federal government stood by.
If the justification for letting these pills flood our communities was that it would somehow make New Mexico safer down the road through bigger eventual busts, the results say otherwise. New Mexico now leads the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year, despite deaths dropping nationwide.
Today, I wrote to Attorney General Raúl Torrez and asked him to investigate whether any federal agents broke state law when they allowed lethal drugs to remain on our streets, and to prosecute anyone responsible — regardless of whether they are a federal agent or not.
I have spent years working across two administrations — writing letters, traveling to Washington, meeting directly with President Joe Biden and his cabinet, pushing for accountability, asking for more federal agents to be deployed to New Mexico to help fight this crisis.
- On June 21, 2022, I wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray, imploring the FBI to assign no less than 50 additional agents to New Mexico to stem escalating drug trafficking and violent crime.
- On September 15, 2022, I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the Department of Justice provide additional federal agents, resources and support to New Mexico law enforcement. We asked the department to match the level of investigative, analytical, and technical resources the FBI had deployed in its Buffalo, NY surge.
- On August 8, 2023, I wrote again to Attorney General Garland, renewing my request that the DOJ expeditiously assign more federal agents to New Mexico.
- On September 7, 2023, I wrote to Attorney General Garland for a third time, reiterating my request once more federal law enforcement support to curb violent crime, drug and human trafficking.
- On September 4, 2025, I wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, once again requesting additional agents and resources.
I have declared the surge of drugs like fentanyl to be a public health emergency. I have deployed the National Guard to both Albuquerque and Española. While my administration was doing everything we could to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into our state, the federal government deliberately allowed it to flood in.
New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.
I plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs.”
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