MISSISSIPPI ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER FIRED FOR ANIMAL DEATHS
- Thursday, January 7, 2010, 7:42
- Animal Cruelty, Breaking News
- 611 views
For Immediate Release
Grenada, Mississippi (January 6, 2010) - On behalf of In Defense of Animals, an animal-protection organization with over 85,000 members, Debbie Young, a volunteer at IDA's Project Hope Sanctuary in Grenada, Mississippi, is filing an affidavit for each animal shot to death by Canton and Madison County, Mississippi, animal control officer, Alonzo Esco. On Tuesday, January 5, the Board of Aldermen approved the decision to terminate Esco from his job for "improperly disposing of dogs," according to Canton Police.
Two days before Thanksgiving, Ms. Young received a call from someone who knew a dog had been picked up by animal control and she was asked to pursue getting the dog so the caller could help place or even adopt the animal herself. When Mississippi Animal Rescue League, the private kennel where dogs are held for a five-day period, was contacted about this dog, it was learned that Canton’s animal control officer, Alonzo Esco, had not arrived at the shelter and had not been seen there for several months, which led to the question, "what is he doing with the dogs?"
Speculation was that Esco had been selling them as bait for dogfighting. But what became clear after an investigation by the Canton Police Department as a result of Debbie Young’s formal affidavit was that Esco had shot at least 100 dogs and dumped their bodies in a Canton waterway. The findings were turned over to the Canton City Council on Tuesday and Mr. Esco’s employment with the city was then terminated.
Because the crimes were not a felony, the case would have to be taken up in a lower court. And the Mayor of Canton said that because it was a misdemeanor, the city would not take up the case at all, leading Debbie Young to file multiple misdemeanor charges on behalf of IDA, which is also seeking the Department of Environmental Quality to file its own charges for an environmental hazard.
"We will not let go of this," said Doll Stanley, director of IDA's Project Hope. "It is absolutely appalling and disgusting that an animal control officer working for any municipality would take it upon himself to violate city policy by shooting animals entrusted to his care. We know this goes on in different communities in Mississippi, and we’'re hoping that when these same communities see that Mr. Esco is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law that they will wake up and smell the coffee."
Esco is facing at least 100 counts of animal cruelty for shooting the dogs. IDA is also looking into the fact that he used city property to act illegally.
Sources revealed that Esco was let go from the Canton Fire Department for stealing gasoline and "demoted" to animal control.
"What is very disconcerting is that a city employee would be demoted to animal control. It is really disturbing that an animal control position is not considered respectable. Sadly, here in the Mississippi, animal control is often viewed as a gateway to the police or fire department. As an auxiliary policeman, Esco did have a police weapon and this is the weapon he used to kill these animals."
On Wednesday morning, WLBT, a local Mississippi TV and radio station, conducted a poll asking listeners what they thought about animal cruelty and should the state statutes be stronger. There was an 86 percent lead in favor of strengthening Mississippi state laws, which IDA’s Doll Stanley has vigorously dedicated herself to for years regarding legislation about animals.
Contacts:
Doll Stanley, 662-809-4483
Debbie Young, 601-750-4723
IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS • 3010 KERNER BLVD. • SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 • 415-448-0048
9 Comments on “MISSISSIPPI ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER FIRED FOR ANIMAL DEATHS”
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He should be sentenced to death. Dogs are as helpless as children, and they have the same intelligence level of children. If this happened to children, he’d be facing the death penalty. Pure betrayal. The worse kind. He needs to pay for it.
Hopefully some form of justice will be forthcoming against the human who killed animals for “reasons” that are unacceptable. Yes in fact animals are killed in shelters everyday but the least we can give them is a painless death with a loving hand on their head as they die. This subhuman is not a man but a 2 legged beast.
if the penelty is only animal cruelty then what ever the penilty is for a single case of crulty should be 100 counts of crulty and the sentence 100 times
I don’t know why I am so shocked and appalled at what this man has done – because I lost faith and belief in people a LONG time ago. The scary thing that this man was in a position where he was given a weapon through his work. Not only did he murder (yes – it was murder) these beautiful, innocent animals (who didn’t ask to be placed in the position that they found themselves), what would have happened if this savage idiot woke up one day in a bad mood and killed or injured his family. It is a known fact that psychopaths have a history of animal abuse in their past.
I am a very firm believer that you can SEE a person by the way they treat animals and children, and if they abuse either one, there is evil in there somewhere. Another thing, because of this man’s treatment of animals, his children (pray he doesn’t have any) will think that this the right way they should be treated, and themselves mistreat animals.
As usual, Mississippi is at the bottom of the list. It is appalling that we are one of two states in the whole U.S. where animal abuse is not a felony. We need to make it so! Our elected officials turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to us regarding animals. The only one who seems to care about our four legged friends is Bennie Thompson and he is at the federal level. Until some of these “good old boys” are replaced I doubt there will be changes. What a shame!!!
Thank you IDA for filing againest this person. The agency that put him in a position with animal control afther being fired for stealing from the Fire Depart. should be held accountable. The Mayor not wanting to get involved doesn’t sound good. What kind of a town is this?
It’s important when somebody does something this cold hearted that they spend a little time in jail and get some counseling.I know we’re not going to put this guy in prison but considering that at least some of these dogs were somebody’s pet that they’ll never see again a few months or a year in jail is hardly a harsh sentence.Part of his sentence should be that he’s not allowed to own or be around animals again and that local police be given a heads up when this guy is in their presence.This isn’t the first time out the gate for this guy and I’m sure we’ll see more of the same down the road.Personally I think it’s outrageous that he isn’t being prosecuted for misuse of a public office or something and I’d be heartbroken if I thought this guy shot a dog of mine he was supposed to look out for.
Mississippi is one of four – FOUR states that still does not have felony animal cruelty laws on the books. ND, SD and ID are the others. This is backward in civilized society, especially when there is clear and convincing evidence that animal cruelty goes hand in hand with other social problems – such as dog fighting, drugs, domestic violence. In NY it took a tragedy to get a felony animal cruelty law enacted in 1998 – Buster’s Law. After that states started to follow suit. Mississippi is way behind in this regard. I teach Animal Law at HVCC in Troy and am a member of the New York State Humane Assn. Board and the Rennselaer County Animal Protection Coalition.
Who is this guy’s supervisor??? You know he wasn’t the only one who did this? It was “accepted” by the people in his department. Animals are looked down on like vermin and it has to stop. This has been going on for decades in this state, don’t be so shocked. And what makes me sick is that these people go to church every Sunday and call themselves Christians…..come on, Jesus would NEVER harm an animal or tie it up to a tree for the rest of its life with just scraps to live on. Is this really America we live in, or a 3rd world country?