Imagine your pet being taken, herded into a cage with as many as 80 other animals, drugged and beaten, driven to a bridge, and then thrown over a 50 foot drop. Only 6 survive the fall. Many die slowly as the murderers above toss the rest of them over like bags of yesterdays trash.

We are not talking about dead goldfish here. These are people's live and well house pets: both dogs and cats. What kind of devil or devils can do something like this? If the verdict of the trial is correct, it was not these guys:

A visibly relieved Julio Diaz, owner of Animal Control Solutions, and workers Lucas Montano Rivera and Roberto Rodriguez Ceballo shook hands with supporters outside the courtroom.

On September 10th, 2008... one day before the anniversary of the massacre of American people in the Twin Towers of 911 New York... Puerto Rico's Superior Court Judge Miguel Fabre ruled that prosecutors "did not show sufficient evidence to make a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" as reported by the Associated Press, citing no witnesses despite this reference I was able to find in an online news report. So Julio Diaz, Lucas Montano Rivera, and Roberto Rodriguez Ceballo walked away from it clean. With that, the three men avoided maximum prison time of up to 9 years.

Julio Diaz, owner of Animal Control Solutions (and co-founder of Pet Delivery), told an Oct. 12 meeting at the Hector Ruiz housing project in the Puerto Rico town of Barceloneta that he was the "person in charge" and would fire workers for the pets' deaths, tenant Carmen Agosto said.

A quote from another resource might be a further indicator of some possible involvement, although not conclusive:

Jose Manuel Rivera, a resident in the northern town of Bayamon who discovered the grisly scene, testified in the preliminary hearing Friday that Diaz said he would pay for a bulldozer to create a mass grave for the animals.

"Julio Diaz told me, 'Get a machine, whatever it costs, I will pay for it because I want to be done with this. ... I am not responsible for this, but I will pay,'" Rivera said.

Defense Attorney Manuel Reyes Davila criticized the entire process, referring to it as "shortsighted and biased". I hope one of two things are true: (a) either Mr. Reyes is convinced they were innocent which may or may the reality, or (b) he has some fail proof way of sleeping at night. But for now, the justice system agrees with him.

Outraged animal activist Mery Donate Branches burst into tears upon hearing the verdict. Sadly, this is not the only sad animal story from Puerto Rico, and it is not even the worst compared to what else goes on in the world such as the skinning of animals alive in China. But it's bad enough that anyone with a heart is shocked and saddened upon hearing it. A true massacre...

Barceloneta (Pineapple city) town officials claim they hired Animal Control Solutions to remove pets from housing projects. In turn, Animal Control Solutions, Diaz, blamed the municipality for seizing the animals and claimed to be unaware of who threw them to their death at the bottom of a 50 foot drop.

Municipal officials in Barceloneta said they hired Animal Control Solutions to remove pets from housing projects, believing that regulations banned them.

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.

Prosecutor Zulma Delgado says she does not intend to appeal the decision, although there is a 10 day time frame to do so. Legally, we expect this to be the right call since it does not seem likely that any new witnesses will appear within that time frame.

Remember, that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. So the most we can say is that in our opinion, it sounds like they had found the right suspects. Remember that although double jeopardy protects people from being tried more than once for the same crime, they are not immune to other lessor charges such as perjury should evidence of that ever be presented. Likewise, as you might recall from the infamous OJ Simpson trial, being found innocent in a criminal court does NOT mean that the individuals cannot be sued in civil court for damages.

Possibilities of civil lawsuits for damages might include the town of Barcelona for the damage to the reputation of the town, the Puerto Rico Tourism company or related government bodies to loss of reputation for tourism to the "Island of Enchantment", or even a class action suit by the pet owners themselves for their very real pain and suffering. With International funding this could be a possibility. Animal organizations, activists, and moral people all over the word ARE watching this story with disgust.

Actually, I just discovered the following resource that indicates such a suit has already been filed:

Animal control workers seized the pets on Oct. 8 and 10, beating, drugging, and then tossing them to their deaths off a bridge, according to a US$22.5 million (€15.3 million) lawsuit filed against Animal Control Solutions and city officials on behalf of 16 Barceloneta families.

An investigation by The Associated Press later showed that such brutal methods were routinely used in the killing of thousands of pets and stray animals.

It is impossible that nobody knows anything about this. Come forward here, or report you findings to the prosecutors office. If they do not take action provide me with your report and I will publish it and make sure it gets into the right hands.

You could be anyone that has information. Someone who saw someone take a pet away, a family member of someone involved who would rather serve Justice than protect a murderer (do so anonymously if you must). Someone knows something. Justice can only be served if we find the truth.

Send me your anonymous reports. Help us seek truth and justice, and remind others that this type of massacre MUST NEVER happen again.

How do you think this relates to the International image of Puerto Rico? For insight, check out the online news story posted by NBC's Boston Affiliate, News 7 here. Notice the image they choose to run with this story? That's right. This is a national problem for Puerto Rico. For my government readers, keep that in mind.

Would you be surprised to find out this is not an isolated instance?

Back roads, gorges and garbage dumps on this tropical island are littered with the decaying carcasses of dogs and cats. An Associated Press investigation reveals why: possibly thousands of unwanted animals have been tossed off bridges, buried alive and otherwise inhumanely disposed of by taxpayer-financed animal control programs.

On top of that, the executives at Puerto Rico's Santuario Animales San Francisco de Asis *might* be willing to tell you how they got started after the founder's home was burned suspiciously, with over 50 cats and dogs inside that had been rescued, after receiving numerous complaints from a neighbor who included a government official.

This sanctuary has a "No Euthanization" policy meaning all animals are kept alive and cared for, regardless of age or condition, and they are in *dire need* of funding for even pet food on a month to month basis. Please contact me if you are interested and I will connect you directly to the executive team.

The Insider

Here is news footage (in Spanish) when the massacre was originally discovered:

Here is Yoli, a survivor of the massacre:

Another witness, Angelica Vargas, described the shock of seeing her dog "Yoli," one of the animals who survived the fall, on a television news broadcast after the animals were rounded up.

"I cried, because at that moment I could do nothing," she said.

Sources:

• 3 Cleared of Animal Cruelty in Puerto Rico Pet Massacre
• Witnesses testify at Puerto Rico pet massacre hearing
• Animal advocates in Puerto Rico complain of slow progress since pet massacre
• Puerto Rico hearing in pet massacre case begins
• Photo: Pets Massacred in Puerto Rico
• Fury over Puerto Rico pet massacre sparks Web petition drive
• Investigation into Puerto Rico pet massacre zeros in on Animal Control Solutions
• AP IMPACT: Puerto Rican companies brutally killed thousands of dogs and cats, ex-workers say