It recently came to light that for the last 8 years private animal control companies hired by municipalities in Puerto Rico have been brutally killing huge numbers of pets and strays on a regular basis.
These private animal control businesses—Animal Delivery and Animal Control Solutions—rounded up strays and confiscated pets from residents of housing projects. They were supposed to take the animals to various rescue groups who would then adopt them out. Unadoptable and sick animals were to be humanely euthanized.
That’s not what happened. It’s possible not a single animal was ever delivered to a rescue group and they certainly were not humanely euthanized. Instead, over time thousands were thrown off a bridge, injected with unknown substances by untrained staff, or buried alive.
I think those of us in the U.S. have a particular responsibility given that Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory. The WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) has addresses for the Governor of Puerto Rico, the director of public housing, and the superintendent of police. You can also see a copy of their letter to Puerto Rico Officials. I don’t know how much good it does to sign online petitions, but there is an online petition to Puerto Rico’s governor, Anibal Acevedo Vila.