When Crime Happens in Your Backyard: A Mom’s Perspective

If you’ve paid attention to our local news, you’ve likely heard about the largest dog hoarding/animal abuse case Cameron County has ever seen. Such a crime. Nearly 300 dogs were holed away, filthy, and malnourished in a hidden metal building in Los Fresnos.

For over two months, my neighborhood called Cameron County Sherriff’s Department. For over two our reports were set aside. We were met with snark and annoyance and told that they couldn’t do anything about barking dogs. We listened to these dogs howling, day and night. Crying out of hunger, and out of thirst. We watched the temperatures skyrocket to intense heat 115 heat indexes, all while these poor animals suffered in the heat.

Sometime in mid-August, I received a call from Animal Control. The gentleman drove through our subdivision and took a cursory look at the situation. Then on the evening of September 9, via the NextDoor app, we got wind of the raid.

As a resident, and a dog mom, my heart hurts for these babies. Reading comments on KRGV’s news report calling the neighbors “idiots” and saying we should be arrested too was hurtful. Our entire neighborhood came together to call in reports — as did the HOA.

My biggest hope is that these dogs (and cat) no longer suffer. I hope those that can be adopted move on to loving homes where they can be cuddled, and kissed, and spoiled. They deserve a chance at not just life, but a good life. I am, above all things, a mom, but I’m also a dog mom. I can’t even begin to process how someone can think he/she is “helping” by hoarding dogs in a hot, filthy, outdoor barn — cramming them into filthy kennels, and stacking them on top of one another. 

I am all the emotions right now:
I am sad for these dogs.
I am angry that they could have been helped months ago.
I am relieved that they are free from those horrid conditions.
— but mostly, I am scared for their future.

Donations for the dogs collected from the Los Fresnos animal abuse raid are being collected in San Benito.