El Paso detective creates rescue for pets involved in animal-cruelty cases

At three years old, Kona has experienced enough pain to last a lifetime. The Shar-pei mix was found on the streets of Juarez, Mexico after being hit by a car. After losing the use of his two front legs, the dog had been dragging himself along so long that bone was exposed. His injuries were so far gone that a vet made the decision to amputate Kona’s front legs.

That was the beginning of what has become a long road to recovery for Kona.

The story caught the eye of El Paso police detective Vanessa Acosta, who is now helping to foster him. Kona is the inspiration behind the animal rescue group Law N’ Paws. Acosta started the nonprofit organization to help Kona get prosthetic legs and to help animals that have been abused. As a detective, Acosta has seen plenty of animal-cruelty cases and now wants to help the innocent victims get a second chance to find a loving home.

“Just seeing the cruelty cases here in El Paso, Texas. It is an ongoing problem and it leads to bigger things, transferred aggression. It’s a power and control thing when they start hurting animals. The animals they don’t have a voice and they need us to protect them,” Acosta said.

During her some 15 years on the force, Acosta has seen animals that have been starved, beaten, burned and abandoned. But because animals are considered property in Texas, she said the cases can be difficult to prove and prosecute.

Acosta first recruited family and friends to help her cause and is now looking to the public for donations and people willing to help foster abused animals. The money will be used for food, supplies and vet bills. Many of the animals who have been abused must undergo medical treatment before they are able to be adopted.

Word of Law N’ Paws is spreading. The group now has a GoFundMe account and a Facebook page.

Acosta wants to make education part of her plan to protect pets. She want to teach people that animals are more than property and encourage others to report abuse whenever they see it.

“Report it. Don’t be afraid to report it. I mean, you are protected as a witness. Just report it, whatever you see. If you can take pictures, document what you see,” Acosta said. “They do feel pain, just like us.”

There are a number of bills aimed at protecting animals that will be considered by Texas legislators this session.

House Bill 1087 would make it illegal for people to have sex with an animal. El Paso representative Joe Moody is one of four legislators sponsoring the bill.

“The testimony was pretty disturbing. It became very evident that we have a significant gap in the law that needs to be closed,” Moody said.
“We heard about a spouse who thought their spouse was cheating on them and set up cameras and discovered something I think they didn’t even expect to discover.”

“Animal cruelty is a very difficult hill to climb in terms of prosecution. And not just because it is hard to investigate, we don’t have a lot of resources to look at those types of offenses,” Moody said.

Other bills up for consideration deal with tethering a dog and a leash law.