XPost: soc.culture.indian, rec.pets.dogs.rescue, rec.pets.dogs.rescue   
   XPost: soc.culture.puerto-rico   
   From: er@politica.com   
      
   Unfortunately, they support statehood for Puerto Rico. Go Figure!   
      
   They are savages!   
      
   fruitella wrote:   
   > bunch of barbarians   
   >   
   > Pet massacre in Puerto Rico   
   >   
   > BARCELONETA, Puerto Rico - Elvia Tirado Polanco says she reluctantly   
   > handed over her black- and white-spotted mutt to animal control   
   > workers after they threatened that she would be evicted from her   
   > housing project for keeping a pet there.   
   >   
   > The workers promised to take the small dog named "Lucero" - or "Star"   
   > - to a shelter. Days later, however, Tirado was horrified to learn   
   > that dozens of pets seized this week in Barceloneta on Puerto Rico's   
   > north coast were instead thrown to their deaths from a bridge.   
   >   
   > "It was barbaric," said Tirado, 56, who wept Saturday as she described   
   > caring for the seven-year-old dog. "This has been a really hard blow   
   > for all of us."   
   >   
   > Several pet owners inside the Antonio Davila Freytes housing project,   
   > one of three raided by animal control workers Monday and Wednesday,   
   > said they had provided vaccinations and lavished care on the cats and   
   > dogs taken from their homes and killed with strays.   
   >   
   > The government circulated a letter inside housing projects this month   
   > warning that violators of a no-pet policy would be evicted. Mayor Sol   
   > Luis Fontanez said the town ordered the removal of the pets, but he   
   > blamed the massacre on a contractor hired to take the animals to a   
   > shelter.   
   >   
   > Fontanez said he would cancel the city's contract with Puerto Rico-   
   > based Animal Control Solutions and that city lawyers were considering   
   > a lawsuit.   
   >   
   > Company owner Julio Diaz said he went to the bridge when he heard of   
   > the allegations, but denied that the dead animals were the ones his   
   > company collected. He said he would present his records as proof to   
   > city authorities on Monday.   
   >   
   > "I have the dead dogs in my facility," he said Saturday. "I am a   
   > certified animal control officer. I have been doing this for nine   
   > years."   
   >   
   > Puerto Rico's housing department has opened an investigation into who   
   > is responsible for the deaths, said Doris Gaetan, of the department's   
   > office of community relations. She said regulations in the U.S.   
   > Caribbean territory allow pets in government-funded housing projects   
   > if they are small and do not pose a risk to others.   
   >   
   > "We do not support the way in which this was done," Gaetan said during   
   > a visit to hear the accounts of pet owners at one of the complexes.   
   >   
   > A local resident, Jose Manuel Rivera, used a backhoe to bury about 50   
   > animals Saturday in a mass grave near the bridge where they were   
   > dumped.   
   >   
   > He discovered the animals around dawn Tuesday after hearing barking   
   > and whimpers from animals who survived the 50-foot fall. He recovered   
   > six injured dogs, who were reunited with their owners after they saw   
   > their pets on a television news broadcast.   
   >   
   > "One had a broken spine, and about all of them had broken legs,"   
   > Rivera said.   
   >   
   > Many of the pets inside the housing project were strays that were   
   > adopted by residents after wandering into the low-income neighborhood.   
   > Owners said they feel they are now paying the price for the neglect of   
   > others on an island with no pet registration law and little spaying or   
   > neutering.   
   >   
   > "It is not our fault that they come here," said Carmen Valle, 56, who   
   > said workers seized two of her dogs. "We are humble people, but we   
   > have good hearts. Animals should be treated with decency."   
   >   
   > The scandal has led to problems for Hughesville, Md.-based Animal   
   > Control Solutions, a company which is not related to the Puerto Rican   
   > firm with the same name. Owner James White told The Associated Press   
   > he has received hundreds of threatening e-mail or phone messages since   
   > Friday from people upset about the Puerto Rico incident.   
   >   
   > Tirado said she had cared for Lucero for seven years as if the dog   
   > were her child, feeding her from the plastic table in her cramped   
   > living room and letting her sleep beside her at night.   
   >   
   > During the raids, she said workers surrounded the housing complex and   
   > prevented anyone from leaving with pets. But she said she wishes she   
   > had never let Lucero go.   
   >   
   > "I have been crying so much I can barely sleep," she said.   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)