Animal care shelter director in dock after grisly discovery

In theory, the animal care center in Torremolinos provided shelter and veterinary services to abandoned pets. In reality, what the Civil Guard uncovered at the Animal Park in the Málaga town were dozens of dead creatures in freezers, bags and trash cans. The president of the association that ran the center, Carmen Marín Aguilar, and one of her employees, Felipe Barco, will be tried in court for killing almost 3,000 cats and dogs over a two-year period.

Neither of the accused is licensed to administer euthanasia medication to animals.

It is thought the pair injected some of the animals with small doses of Dolethal and T-61, veterinary euthanasia drugs. Charges were brought against Aguilar and Barco based on witness testimony from six people and photographic and documentary evidence gathered by the Civil Guard.

Neither of the accused is licensed to administer euthanasia medication to animals

Both Aguilar and Barco face charges of animal cruelty and unauthorized practice of a profession. Another two veterinarians who were named as suspects in the case have been cleared.

Prosecutors have yet to enter their sentencing recommendations because of an appeal against the initiation of proceedings.

"The prosecutor asked that Carmen Marín and one of her employees be indicted again for falsification of documents," said José Alcalá de los Ríos, a lawyer at the Veterinary College of Málaga, which has brought a private prosecution against the accused. Part of the investigation also centers on the use of donations from benefactors of the center, a "large sum" of which is believed to have been spent by Marín on vacations to St. Petersburg, Boston and Marrakech; spa treatments with her husband; the installation of an alarm system at her home; and the purchase of food and bathroom products.

As well as Marín, two of her daughters and a son-in-law are alleged to have helped themselves to the center's accounts, according to a Civil Guard report that was penned in October 2011. Investigators also believe that these funds may have been augmented by other "people or companies" and that the center may have been a front for a money-laundering operation.