More than 30 malnourished horses, cows and pigs found April 3 on a parched Lower Valley farm will be sold at auction to pay the expenses of area residents who rescued them, a judge ruled Monday.
"It's a shame something like this happened, especially in the Lower Valley," Justice of the Peace Ruben Lujan said. "We're proud people who take care of each other ... and our animals."
Lujan ordered the owners of the animals to forfeit the animals, which are being cared for by members of the Desert Valley 4-H Club.
Property owners Julio Antonio Arreola, 29, and his wife, Santos, have been charged with cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail or up to $4,000 in fines.
Julio Arreola was arrested April 3 and bonded out of jail. His wife has not been arrested. The criminal cases against them are pending, Assistant District Attorney Jim Callan said. Neither Julio nor Santos Arreola could be reached for comment Monday.
Warren Ivey, a 4-H adult leader whose children helped rescue and care for the animals, said Monday's ruling surprised him.
"I was expecting him (Arreola) to walk away with all the animals," he said. "I always contended that they were his property."
The 4-H children "will be tickled that he did not regain possession," Ivey said. "That was their greatest fear. They didn't want to see him benefit from their hard labor."
The Arreolas were not present or represented by an attorney at Monday's hearing, where a veterinarian, a Border Patrol agent and neighbors described the dehydrated and underfed animals found at the Arreolas' property near the Rio Grande. Rotting corpses of two horses and four piglets also were found on land adjacent to the property.
Veterinarian Wiley Heath said although five cows and about 20 pigs recovered quickly when given food and water, the nine rescued horses were in worse shape.
"Left with much more time in that situation, those animals would be dying of malnutrition," Heath said.
One 5-pound bag of oats and a trough with 1 inch of water were found at the site, sheriff's officials said, and both were in an area closed off to the animals. Even if they could have reached it, that amount of food and water would only be enough to sustain one of the animals for one day, Heath said.
Border Patrol Agent George Mendoza, whose patrols take him past the property daily, estimated the animals had not been fed or watered for two weeks. He said one horse was so weak it had to lean against the barn to keep itself upright.
"When I drove by and saw that, I couldn't believe my eyes," said Mendoza, a former horse patrol officer. "I couldn't take it anymore. The next day, I called the Sheriff's Department."
Mendoza described the area -- a stone's throw from the border -- as "very active" with drug traffic and undocumented immigrant smuggling. He said agents previously had seized a van containing about 350 pounds of marijuana on the property, but officials did not link that seizure to the Arreolas.
Judge Lujan said the rescued animals will be auctioned to the highest bidders, "but bids by the former owners will not be accepted." Any profits exceeding the more than $4,000 that 4-H members spent boarding and rehabilitating the animals will be returned to the owners, he said.
Alfred Gonzalez, former El Paso County Extension Service agent, said reviving and caring for the animals has been a learning experience for his son and other 4-H members.
"They've brushed 'em, washed 'em, wormed 'em, petted 'em and trimmed their hooves," he said. "While they've known the animals would have to go some day, this was their good deed." Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
Back to Top References | El Paso Times |
« TX State Animal Cruelty Map
|
