Animal control workers hurl pets off bridge in Puerto Rico

[SpiritWarrior]

Anyone see this on the news?

I hope these people get pushed off also. How could anyone do this is my question..? If it was even a single child the whole country would be up in arms.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Animal control workers seized dozens of dogs and cats from housing projects in the town of Barceloneta and hurled them from a bridge to their deaths, authorities and witnesses said Friday. Mayor Sol Luis Fontanez blamed a contractor hired to take the animals to a shelter.

"This is an irresponsible, inhumane and shameful act," he told The Associated Press.

Fontanez said the city hired Animal Control Solution to clear three housing projects of pets after warning residents about a no-pet policy. He said the city paid $60 for every animal recovered and another $100 for each trip to a shelter in the San Juan suburb of Carolina.

Raids were conducted on Monday and Wednesday, and residents told TV reporters they saw the animal control workers inject the animals. When they asked what they were giving them, they said they were told it was a sedative for the drive to the shelter.

"They came as if it were a drug raid," said Alma Febus, an animal welfare activist. "They took away dogs, cats and whatever animal they could find. Some pets were taken away in front of children."

But instead of being taken to a shelter, the pets and strays were thrown 50 feet from a bridge in the neighboring town of Vega Baja, according to Fontanez, witnesses and activists, apparently before dawn Tuesday.

"Many were already dead when they threw them, but others were alive," said Jose Manuel Rivera, who lives next to the bridge. "Some of the animals managed to climb to the highway even though they were all battered, but about 50 animals remained there, dead."

Rivera said he alerted officials, who spread lime over the animals' corpses to control the stench.

Animal Control Solution owner Julio Diaz said he went to the bridge when he heard of the allegations, but remains unconvinced that the dead animals are the same ones his company collected.

"We have never thrown animals off any place. We always take them to our local shelter and euthanize them," he said. "They can't prove that they are the same dogs that we picked up."

Fontanez said he would cancel the city's contract with Animal Control Solution and said city lawyers were considering a lawsuit.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a rule allowing locally owned and operated housing authorities to set pet rules, but it does not grant authority for a blanket ban or mass confiscation, said Brian Sullivan, an HUD spokesman in Washington.

Asked to comment on the reported pet massacre, Sullivan said: "This sickens me if true."

Animal rights activists have long criticized the treatment of pets in Puerto Rico, where there is no pet registration law and little spaying or neutering. Animal shelters are overwhelmed and must kill many of the dogs they receive, according to Victor Collazo, president of the island's Association of Medical Veterinarians.

One organization recruits volunteers to take dogs home with them on commercial flights, and sends between 1,500 and 2,000 dogs a year from Puerto Rico to American shelters.

At least 175 dogs have been rescued in the last couple of years from Yabucoa Beach, which activists nicknamed "Dead Dog Beach" because of the strays that roam the coast and are sometimes found dead of disease, starvation or gunshots. Similar rescue efforts have been undertaken in the Bahamas and elsewhere in the Caribbean


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071012/...o_pet_massacre

[Lord Michael]

And people wonder why I hate the human race.....

sick F*(@s!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Firestormalpha]

Really sad state of affairs in PR.

However I can't blame all of humanity for the problems caused by a few people. (or for that matter many people). The fact is people are responsible for their own actions. From the time you learn how to tell your parents NO, and refuse to obey them you are responsible for your actions and the resulting consequences.

[Lord Michael]

I love a few humans, but as a whole....well.... you can justify reasons for whatever you want, but we are some sick animals who happen to be at the top of the food chain.

[Bungleau]

That's sad and pathetic.... and something tells me there's more to the story.

[Ladyzekke]

That is just disgusting, horrifying. People that can do that to animals are the ones that need to be tossed over a bridge!

[Ziroc]

Shows who the animals are. Evil pricks. If I ever saw someone doing that, I'd stop the car, get my jack, and beat the living crap out of them...

What pisses me off is you can kill an animal and just get charged with 'animal cruelty'. Less than a year sometimes or NO jail time.

[SpiritWarrior]

It's usually a fine if at all. Yeah like I said if it was a single child everyone would be flippin out. I don't get what the difference is, life is life. If you've ever looked into the eyes of an animal you know without question it has a soul.

[Firestormalpha]

Unless of course you're one of those people who doesn't believe in souls.

[SpiritWarrior]

I don't think there's such a thing really, is there? It's like saying someone doesn't believe in the mind. Having a soul doesn't mean you need to believe in heaven, or religion at all if you so choose.