El Paso Owners Demand Change, Why Have So Many Dogs Died At The Groomers?

After the death of their dog at a groomer in El Paso County, these dog owners want to see changes made so that no other owner will have to go through this. An El Paso family is heartbroken after the death of their beloved dog after going for a typical groomer visit. Bevo was a happy, healthy, 9-year-old English bulldog who went to the groomers for a typical visit. His owners dropped him off expecting him to come back a couple of hours later fresh and clean, instead, Bevo was dead.

Bevo's family obtained the security footage from the groomer of Bevo's last moments and are now talking to animal cruelty officers. The family says they want to make sure this never happens again to another Borderland four-legged family member.

A Sad History of Dog Deaths at El Paso Groomers

Sadly, Bevo's story is one that we've heard before in the City of El Paso. In 2019, an 11-month-old Husky died after visiting a groomer in Central El Paso. The owner and groomer, Luis Alberto Vargas, was charged with cruelty to non-livestock animals causing death, per CBS 4 News.

In 2020, a 16-moth-old Shih Tzu puppy named Lucas died after being roughly handled at a groomer on the eastside of El Paso. The groomer, Leobardo Nava II, was arrested and charged with animal cruelty in a puppy's death, per KFOX News.

After these incidents and others, El Pasoans began wondering what is going on with dog groomers in the city and demanding change. In 2020, a new city ordinance went into effect that made businesses and groomers meet certain requirements, according to KFox News:

• Complete groomer training course and receive certificate
• Obtain groomer license and post inside the business
• Complete background check
• Maintain hygiene and safe conditions that don't endanger pets
• Take precautions to make sure animals aren't abused
• Provide way owners can observe their dogs during the grooming process
• Report all injuries and deaths
• Keep records of work for 2 years

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If the groomers don't abide by these requirements, the shop's registration and groomer certificate can be suspended or revoked. This ordinance had a positive response from people in the city and from local dog owners. But sadly, this new ordinance is only in effect for groomers within the City of El Paso city limits, and the groomer Bevo visited was outside the city limits.

Representative Claudia Ordaz-Perez wants to change this and is working on getting the City of El Paso's groomer law into effect statewide. Representative Ordaz-Perez told KTSM:

“To know that a lot of these unfortunate in some of these circumstances moving out of the county outside of city limits it further demonstrates the need for a statewide ordinance to protect our pets across the board it doesn’t matter if you’re in the city of El Paso or not jurisdiction lines should not matter.”

You can read more about bulldog Bevo's recent tragedy at his family's Change.org petition. This tragedy shouldn't be happening as often as it is in the Borderland, and owners want to make sure that their dogs are safe and protected while at the groomers. Bevo's owners say they want to bring awareness to these issues and help protect dogs in the El Paso area.