Edcouch leaders address dog abuse allegations at meeting

EDCOUCH — Residents jammed City Hall here Tuesday evening as they demanded answers from officials about animal abuse allegations.

City Manager Ernesto Ayala Jr. defended his orders for city workers to transport stray dogs captured in the city to remote areas of Hidalgo County, but maintained that he did nothing wrong.

“The order is: If you trap a dog, take him somewhere else,” Ayala said.

Allegations of improper animal control and cruelty by Edcouch municipal workers first surfaced last week after Mayor Jose Calin Guzman and former city worker Abel Escovedo showed The Monitor locations where they said employees had dumped stray dogs, including a dog’s corpse located east of the city’s maintenance shop.

During the meeting, Escovedo recounted how he and Public Works Director Nat Granado transported dogs outside the city.

“Nat, my supervisor, said we were going to dump (the dog),” Escovedo said. “I said, ‘Is that against the law?’ He said, ‘Yeah, but they’re city (manager’s) orders.”

Ayala said he ordered workers to bury dead dogs on city property, but Escovedo denied his claim.

“We didn’t bury any dogs, they were just dumped,” Escovedo said.

Several residents said animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been circulating flyers around town alleging Granado “is responsible for the processing and caring of stray animals (with or without tags).”

Granado denied any wrongdoing on his behalf, saying he only did what Ayala instructed him to do.

“I am just following orders, you know,” Granado said.

Public Works employee David Palomin backed up Granado, saying that Escovedo, Granado and himself only did as they were told by Ayala.

“Mr. Ayala, he is the one who tells Nat what to do,” Palomin said. “We all three went together.”

Palomin said he has worked for the city for three months, in which time he has gone “five or six times” to transport dead and alive dogs outside the city limits.

Guzman said he would appoint a committee to investigate the animal abuse allegations but did not say when it would be formed.

City Commissioner Guadalupe Garcia said dogs in the city should be the responsibility of their owners.

“If I have a dog, I am going to go after it,” she said. “I am not going to depend on City Hall.”

As the meeting adjourned, Ayala made a rapid departure from the council’s chamber.

In the parking lot behind City Hall, he said despite the negative publicity surrounding the matter, the city just does not have adequate funds for animal control.

“They feel like I’m the worst man in the world, but we don’t have the money to do that,” he said. “I stand by my decisions.”

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