Doggie Do-Gooders Told To Wait After Pup Hit By Car

By Ashlie Hardway

EL PASO — Some animal lovers were upset Thursday after a dog they attempted to help was ultimately euthanized when animal control picked up the injured animal on El Paso’s westside.

The rescue attempt was even more frustrating because when they originally tried to take the pit bull pup to a veterinary hospital, the police wouldn’t allow them to do so.

The dog was struck by a vehicle on Redd Road Wednesday night near I-10 around 6 p.m. Witnesses called police and pulled over to help the animal.

When officers arrived, the group moved the dog to the sidewalk near a local restaurant, but were prevented from taking the animal to veterinary hospital.

Instead, police officers were instructed to call animal control and wait. Officials with the police department did say that the decision is partly for the safety of those wishing to help.

An injured animal can sometimes become an aggressive one. Ray Sim, the director of the city’s animal control division said he stands by EPPD’s policy.

“If an individual is there that just says, ‘I wanna help,’ we can’t do that. It may not be an ultimate owner’s decision to do what that good samaritan wants to do.”

Witnesses said had they been able to take the dog sooner, more might have been done to save the animal.

“I don’t think they were bad people or they didn’t care, but they wouldn’t treat a human that way. At least I hope they wouldn’t. What’s the difference with an animal? It was a dog, it’s somebody’s pet,” said Elizabeth Dupont, who had stopped to help.

Animal control arrived and took the dog to their headquarters in Northeast El Paso. It was there, they said, that the dog dog was euthanized because it was “non-responsive and comatose.”