Edcouch dumping dogs in ditches

EDCOUCH — Nestled in a ditch less than two-tenths of a mile east of the city maintenance shop here rests a lumpy, gray, plastic garbage bag.

Inside it is the fly-ridden, decomposing carcass of what was a black, medium-sized dog.

Municipal workers here have been starving dogs to death and irresponsibly tossing their carcasses in ditches inside and around the city limits for months, as ordered by the city manager, according to former city worker Abel Escovedo and Mayor Jose Calin Guzman.

Along with other city maintenance workers, Escovedo said he was ordered by City Manager Ernesto Ayala Jr. to pick up stray dogs in town and keep them at the maintenance shop for a week.

“We’ve been dumping dogs,” he said. “(Workers) went at least 10 times in the last two months.”

After talking with The Monitor Wednesday afternoon, Guzman said he had heard from various city workers that “a lot of dead dogs” had been dumped outside the Edcouch city limits.

“That’s enough to fire that guy or have him quit,” Guzman said. “I’m so discontented by this.”

Escovedo said he was told by his supervisor that the dogs were dumped to avoid the costs of turning them over to area animal shelters.

“I said, ‘Isn’t (dumping dogs) against the law?’ but Ayala told me they didn’t have no money for the city to drop them off at the dog pound,” Escovedo said.

Dumping inside and out of the city limits

Guzman and Escovedo showed The Monitor four locations where they said city workers had dumped dogs in the past. The Monitor observed one animal carcass in a plastic bag in a ditch along a former railroad bed east of the city’s maintenance shop.

A brown, mixed-breed dog that appeared malnourished and had sores around its right eye could be seen roaming the area inside the fence surrounding the shop. A hand-painted, plywood, “No Dumping” sign was leaned up against the fence.

“They don’t feed him,” Escovedo said of the dog. “(The city) only buys a $1 bag of dog food to put in (stray dog) traps.”

After the animals died, or if they were still alive after the week in city custody, workers took the animals and dumped them — dead or alive — in ditches along roads north of town, the 37-year-old Escovedo said. Locations included Mile 17 North Road and Mile 19 North Road, as well as the abandoned railroad line behind the city’s maintenance shop, within Edcouch’s city limits.

Guzman and Escovedo’s animal cruelty allegations come after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality fined Edcouch $900 in April for illegally burying 278 scrap tires and 10 cubic yards of solid waste that included scrap wood, metal, pipes and a refrigerator, among other items.

Attempts to reach Ayala via telephone shortly before noon Friday at the Edcouch City Hall and in person at his Pharr home were unsuccessful.

City Secretary Jennifer Rodriguez said Ayala could not be contacted because he is on vacation and “doesn’t believe in cell phones,” but would return to work on Monday.

Escovedo said he was an Edcouch maintenance worker for two months until he was fired Thursday.

“I got in a big argument (with a supervisor over an unrelated matter) and they used that as a reason to fire me,” he said.

Escovedo believes, however, that he was fired for talking to The Monitor about the dog dumping, even though no story about the situation had been published. The Monitor spoke to another city worker who said he had knowledge about the dog dumping but did not want his identity revealed for fear of losing his job.

Escovedo said he would pursue legal action regarding the reason behind his dismissal.

Without a policy

Edcouch has not had a contract for transferring stray animals to the Palm Valley Animal Center — formerly known as the Upper Valley Humane Society — since October 2004, said Laural Powell, executive director of the center.

Located in Edinburg, Palm Valley has contracts for sheltering stray animals with 14 Hidalgo County municipalities, including McAllen and Pharr.

But Edcouch’s agreement expired nearly three years ago after it had trouble keeping up with the bills, Powell said. The city still owes the center more than $300 for animals that were transferred into the shelter’s custody during its contract, she said.

Cities have to pay $45 for each animal they transfer to the shelter, Powell said. That amount has risen from $19 in 2004, according to Monitor archives.

The cost “is our expense per animal, although an average for shelters around the state is $100,” Powell said.

The animal center takes in about 40,000 animals every year but has to euthanize 29,000 of them on average, many due to behavior or health reasons. The Edinburg municipal landfill accepts an average of 24 tons of dead animals each month from the Humane Society, according to Monitor archives.

“The thing is that none of us in the profession like putting animals to sleep, but we don't want them suffering either, and so that’s why we work to train our staff to do it in the most humane manner possible when it does have to be done,” Powell said.

Holding and improperly disposing of animals violates state health and animal cruelty laws, Powell said.

Under Texas animal cruelty laws, it is illegal for an individual to not provide food, care or shelter for an animal or unreasonably abandon it. Violating the law carries a maximum penalty of up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Improperly sheltering or euthanizing animals also is against state law.

Eduardo Olivarez, chief administrative officer for the Hidalgo County Health Department, said animal control begins with pet owners.

“They have got to properly neuter and spay their animals and need to control that within their own community,” he said.

County to offer help

Olivarez said he was unaware of the situation in Edcouch.

“For me, I’m sad to hear that,” he said. “We'll offer the best help we can to see what we can do to help straighten that out.”

Dumping animal carcasses alongside roads does not necessarily create any biological hazards, but that does not mean it’s not a problem, Olivarez said.

“It’s not that much of a biological hazard as much as it would attract unwanted animals or critters to it,” he said.

Olivarez said small communities such as Edcouch are responsible for day-to-day animal control and need to have animal control policies in place. He said the county government — which pays “hundreds of thousands of dollars” each year for animal control — can help with removal.

“It’s not our sole responsibility to do that,” he said. “There’s got to be a plan of action. The city has got to come up with a plan.”

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Jared Taylor covers Edinburg, the Delta region and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.