Happy Paws Groomer Arrested After Puppy’s Death At The Business

Earlier this week, the story went viral of one El Paso's family's nightmare after their puppy Luca died after being in the care of a local groomer. Luca's family took him to the Happy Paws location on 12370 Edgemere for his first grooming on July 7th. After they picked up Luca, they knew something was wrong. According to the family, Luca was yelping and the back legs of the puppy were limp. When they questioned the groomer at Happy Paws, the family was told "he was just scared."

Once the family brought Luca home, his condition worsened and Luca began bleeding from the mouth. The four-month-old puppy died in his owner's arms. An autopsy was done on Luca and his owners found out the Shitzu-poodle mix died of "pulmonary edema because he was subjected to blunt force trauma or strangulation" after being in the care of groomers at Happy Paws. Luca's story went viral after local social media account FitFam shared the puppies graphic last moments. Now, after days of the community calling for justice, there has been an arrest.

According to KFOX, the El Paso Police Department arrested 31-year-old  and authorities said they will relase more details on this case on Monday. Since Luca's story was shared, various former customers have come forward sharing their own horror stories of their animals treatment at Happy Paws. Many reviews complained of dogs being nicked by groomers and had razor burns. You can read more of the comments on the FitFam Instagram, the Yelp website, and Facebook page. After these stories also came to light, a Change.org petition was started to try and get the eastside groomer closed. As of today, over 27,000 people have signed the petition. You can also sign the petition at the Change.org website.