EP County Sheriff’s Office has 6 officers responding to animal cruelty calls

ABC-7 is looking into how animal cruelty cases are handled outside of El Paso’s city limits.

Last month, ABC-7 introduced you to the El Paso Police Department’s new animal cruelty investigative unit.

A member of the team, Sgt. Sandra Zamudio, said the unit was created because cases were not being processed efficiently.

“We started realizing that there are a lot of cases that go unreported or case that would never make it to a detective or they are not followed up correctly. So that’s how the unit came to be,” Zamudio said.

While the County of El Paso does not have a separate animal cruelty unit, the sheriff’s office does have six animal control officers responding to calls.

“When they get to the scene, they’re trained to identify animal abuse and cruelty,” Sheriff Richard Wiles said. “If they are investigating a scene where they determine animal abuse or cruelty is occurring they will call a sheriff’s deputy to the scene.”

Wiles said the deputy will then determine whether or not to remove the animal from the scene. If the deputy determines probable cause, they can arrest the suspect on site. Otherwise, the deputy will make a report and forward it to the station that services that area.

To make sure all reports are handled efficiently, Deputy Lieutenant Carlos Wittke said there are thresholds deputies must meet to be held accountable.

“Every month we submit reports and it has a time gage for when a detective receives their case and how long it takes to close them out,” Wittke said. “If there are any cases that are lingering, hey have to be held accountable and provide an explanation of why it hasn’t been worked on.”

Wittke says the department has received roughly 37 animal related calls within the last year or so, but very few of those calls are actually related to potential animal cruelty.

The sheriff’s office does take animal related calls for cities like Horizon, Fabens, Vinton and Canutillo.

You may remember the recent case of a little dog, Karrae, found tortured in Socorro. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office is the one now investigating the case.

Sheriff Wiles said they have been speaking with the El Paso Police Department regarding it’s new animal cruelty unit. Wiles said the number of cruelty cases inside the city are higher than in the county because of the number of people and animals.

“But we have been in conversations with them to see if we can assign an individual to that team and raise up our training and experience when it comes to investigating these cases,” Wiles said.

If you suspect an animal is being abused in the county, you can call 915-546-2020.