Puerto Rico police: Contractor behind pet massacre

(AP Photo/Maritza Rodriguez, Animal Protectors Network)

A probe into the massacre of pet and stray cats and dogs taken from Puerto Rican housing projects and thrown off a bridge has found that an animal control company hired by local authorities was involved.

Police said today that several people from the town of Barceloneta identified their dogs from animals found dead or injured underneath a highway bridge.

A contractor, Animal Control Services, was hired to enforce a rule banning pets from the projects, but the company's owner, Julio Diaz, has denied that his workers got rid of the animals by hurling them off a bridge.

In the above photo, animal rights activist Leisha Swayne comforts Yoli, a pet dog left for dead under a bridge. Yoli suffered a broken spine, pelvis and other broken bones.

More details on the developing story after the jump.

--Paul Chavez

¶ Investigation into Puerto Rico pet massacre zeros in on Animal Control Solutions

¶ By LILLIAM IRIZARRY

¶ Associated Press Writer

¶ SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) _ An investigation into the mass killing of dogs and cats seized from Puerto Rican housing projects and thrown off a bridge has confirmed the involvement of an animal control company whose owner has denied any role in the massacre, police said Friday.

¶ Several people from the town of Barceloneta identified their dogs from among animals found dead or injured beneath the highway bridge, Sgt. Wilbert Miranda told The Associated Press.

¶ Miranda also said local veterinarians confirmed some of the animals were from the housing projects, where local authorities hired the contractor, Animal Control Services, to pick up dogs and cats to enforce a rule banning them from the projects.

¶ "Below the bridge they found animals .... that were taken in Barceloneta," Miranda said in a telephone interview.

¶ Julio Diaz, the owner of Animal Control Solutions, denied his workers disposed of the dogs and cats by hurling them off the bridge.

¶ The animal cruelty investigation is ongoing and no arrests been made, Miranda said. Asked if the evidence points to Animal Control Solutions, he said: "That's the way it is, I can assure you."

¶ Dozens of dead and wounded dogs and cats were found last week beneath the bridge a day after a mass round up of pets and strays at the housing complexes, prompting international outrage.

¶ Pet owners say they were told their dogs and cats were to be taken by the company _ which has animal control contracts throughout Puerto Rico _ to a shelter. Edwin Arroyo, a special assistant to the mayor of Barceloneta, also said the Animal Control Services was supposed to deliver them to shelters.

¶ But in an interview with reporters earlier this week, Diaz said the animals were taken to his offices in the San Juan area, killed and placed in refrigerators. He did not explain why the animals were euthanized so quickly.

¶ Miranda said he went to the offices of Animal Control Solutions on Thursday as part of his investigation, couldn't find Diaz and instead encountered "an unbearable stench."

¶ The company owner told AP late Thursday that after police visited, he removed the bodies of animals from the refrigerators and took them to a location he would not disclose to be cremated. Although animals seized at Barceloneta are the subject of a police investigation, Diaz told AP he got rid of the ones in his refrigerators because of the smell.

¶ Police have said those responsible could face cruelty charges that carry six-month to three-year prison terms.

Comments

[Natalia P]

They need to find the people that did this an punish them as hard as they can. Animal cruelty need to be punish stronger, just because many ignorant people said "oh they are just animals" does not mean that they do not have feelings. Pet owners, animal rights activist, and animal lovers, need to get together to Influence our law system to pass better laws with more powerful punishment to all those heath less people that hurt animals.

[joe]

Just throw Diaz off a bridge and be done with it.