Don't Kill The Dog Dept.
¿Doggicide
or Dogslaughter?
Horror by Don Jibaro Barbanegra
was wasn't going to say a doggone thing... oops, but the buzz is reaching my
mailbox in hordes of twenties. The slaughtering, assassination, bloodshed,
bumping off, carnage, execution, extermination, homicide, manslaughter,
massacre, dogslaughter, and just plain killing of dozens of dogs in Puerto Rico
has the whole world spinning, pun intended.
As it would have done anything, angry pet owners and protesters demonstrated
outside a town hall in a northern Puerto Rican city on Monday, as outrage grew
over the killing of dozens of animals seized from residents of housing projects.
The crowd tried unsuccessfully to meet with Barceloneta Mayor Sol Luis Fontanez,
who ordered last week's seizure of the cats and dogs that were apparently later
thrown from a 50-foot-high bridge. Some protesters yelled "doggicide."
Fontanez, who pledged to resign if his government is found responsible, blamed a
contractor hired to collect and euthanize the pets.
"My government acted according to the law," he told The Associated Press.
Did I hear right? Huh?
In this photo released by Animal Protectors Network,
animal rights activist Leisha Swayne comforts Yoli, a pet dog seized along with
dozens of others by animal control workers several days earlier and apparently
left for dead where she was thrown off a rural highway bridge in the San Juan
area, Friday, Oct. 12, 2007. The dog, among only a few to survive, suffered a
broken spine, pelvis, and other broken bones.
With the help of television news broadcasts, a few animals
rescued with broken bones and other injuries were reunited with their owners.
Dozens more were buried in a mass grave, just like the Auschwitz concentration
camp in 1940s Germany.
So, like I was saying... on Monday, the contractor denied responsibility and accused residents of the
housing projects of lying to get revenge for repeated raids to clear stray
animals.
"There are five people that went and saw their dogs there," said Julio Diaz,
owner of Animal Control solutions. "It's their version against mine, and at some
point they will have to prove it in court."
Fido here... sez he was not given a choice but was not
harmed.
Puerto Rican police chief Pedro Toledo said anyone found
responsible could face cruelty charges that carry six-month to three-year prison
terms for the blatant doggicide.
"Depending on the evidence, charges could be filed for each dead animal," he
said.
The city hired the Puerto Rico-based firm Animal Control Solutions to remove the
pets after taking over administration of Barceloneta's three housing projects on
Oct. 1. Deputy Mayor Lisandro Reyes said the city was responding to complaints
about barking dogs and other concerns, but they expected the animals would
be adopted or euthanized humanely.
"It's become a nightmare," Reyes said, adding that he wanted to see those
responsible for any pet massacre to be prosecuted by justice officials.
"We want them to take this to the ultimate consequences," he told AP.
Residents said that during the confiscation, animal control officers threatened
to evict those who did not comply with a no-pet policy.
Still,
Fontanez said the seizure was ordered in line with Puerto Rican regulations for
government-supported housing. Those rules, copies of which were distributed to
reporters by Barceloneta officials, say dogs and cats are among animals
prohibited in public housing projects on the island... implying that was enough
reason for the "dogslaughter".
"I won't go quietly" sez Shasha, a well-to-do mongrel.
But the housing projects also receive funding from the U.S. government, and the
Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington said it does not have
a no-pet policy and would not authorize a mass confiscation of animals. So
there.
Diaz said municipal workers conducted the raids and delivered the animals to his
employees for transportation to a shelter. But he denied they were the same dogs
and, oh yeah... cats thrown off the bridge.
He added that some of the bodies were badly decomposed and appeared to have been
dumped well before the raids.
Animal rights activists have long criticized the treatment of pets in Puerto
Rico, where there is a no-pet registration law and little spaying or neutering.
Animal shelters are overwhelmed and must kill many of the dogs they receive.
As one trying to avoid a black eye, the island's tourism company issued a
statement of condemnation, fearing that the incident could tarnish Puerto Rico's
reputation internationally. Yeah, right!
Peace and Prosperity,
Don Jíbaro
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"The wicked run when no one is chasing them,
but the honest are as brave as lions." —Book of Proverbs 28:1
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“Live in such a way that no one blames the rest of us
nor finds fault with our work.” --(2 Corinthians 6:3)
