The animal rights group No Kill El Paso made waves fighting to make El Paso a no kill city, but now fighting within the group has ruined the organization.

"It's dissolved," said founder John Conwell.

Conwell said disagreement within the group over treatment for a dog last month forced him to shut down his rescue.

But volunteers, like Barbara Valencia, said that's left them without any resources to take care of the dogs rescued by No Kill El Paso and currently in foster care.

"The volunteers have banded together to save some of the puppies Mr. Conwell adopted. He promised he would give these puppies vet care and loving forever homes and then he turned his back on them," Valencia said.

Valencia says as a result of not having the resources they need, two puppies have died. "It's heartbreaking," said Valencia.

Last Friday KFOX14 met BB, a No Kill lab-mix puppy, sick with parvo. Valencia said BB died Monday morning because the group couldn't get in contact with Conwell so that the puppy could get the proper treatment. Another dog, Astor, also died last week.

But Conwell tells KFOX14 he's the target of false accusations and hasn't turned his back on the animals.

"All these rampant irresponsible allegations -- if there is anything, if someone can show me a piece of paper, if someone can show where I've said I refuse to take care of these dogs, then the accusations are true. But nobody can show that," Conwell said. "If a dog needs treatment I need to know and if I find out after the fact I can't do anything."

Valencia said volunteers have tried.

"He changed his number, shut down the Facebook page and stop responding to any of us," Valencia said.

Conwell admits he changed his number from a California number to a local one. He said he shut down the website and Facebook pages because he disbanded the group, an announcement he made on his own personal Facebook page. Conwell added he is fostering five rescue dogs and intends to find homes for them.

"Prior to us dissolving we had a discussion among the volunteers that everyone was going to take care of dogs they had. We were going to cover the vetting for them but everyone was going to take care of the dogs they have because if we are not an organization we can't adopt out as an organization. We can continue to re-home them as individuals under city ordinance and that's what I plan to do," Conwell said.

KFOX14 asked Conwell about the organization's finances, which are collected primarily through donations.

"There are still some funds out there. I don't have them personally. Other individuals have them," said Conwell. Conwell told KFOX14 he doesn't have access to the group's financials and named certain volunteers who do have access to the organizations funds.

Volunteers dispute Conwell's claim. "The only one who had access to the funds was Mr. Conwell. There was another volunteer that was put on as a co-signer in case something should happen to Mr. Conwell," said Valencia.

Volunteers said they became suspicious when they saw No Kill El Paso's bank account had $10 in it and more than $2,000 had been deposited into the nonprofits account and then transferred to another account not related to the rescue between October and the end of December. Volunteers claim they confronted Conwell with the information and received no explanation.

Conwell maintains when he has been notified that a no kill rescue dog is in need, he's taken care of them.

"Once I was notified I went to the vet. We took care of the treatment for that one dog. I haven't been provided any follow up on it. When they notified me I went there and talked to the volunteers. I got text from them thanking me for coming in and making the payment," said Conwell

Conwell plans to do that for the dogs No Kill rescued before the organization disbanded.

"We had dogs that were under foster care and as far as I know they still have them. I made the agreement that I take care of getting them vetted for adoption," said Conwell.

But Valencia said actions speak louder than words. "You are hearing to very different stories. I've had seven families contact me saying they need help because they have dogs of ours that they are fostering and for the last several weeks they've been trying to contact Mr. Conwell and they've been unable to," said Valencia.

The former volunteers have taken to social media trying to find anyone still fostering a No Kill animal to so they can get an accurate count.

"No other volunteers had access to records he has all of the foster records, adoption records, vet records. He has everything and he refuses to give anything to us," said Valencia.

The volunteers are also taking donations to help with vet bills for the remaining animals and said many other animal rescue groups in the city have come to their aide.

But for Valencia it's difficult to see the nonprofit that advocated passionately for animals, and kept pressure on city leaders to make El Paso a no kill city, fall apart.

"A man who sits here in our city preaching how he loves the animals and he is the only voice for the animals and he's into making El Paso a no kill city and he's abandoning sick and dying puppies. That is wrong that is not what a rescue does," said Valencia.

Conwell said the nonprofit was emotionally and financially draining and has no plans to start another one. But he stands by his principles and said he plans to continue to rescue, foster and re-home animals on his own.

"It will reduce the number of animals I can help but I'll continue to do what I can," said Conwell.

"A founder who started this organization, who brought all these dogs and puppies into his rescue and now he washes his hands and leaves the volunteers to clean up the mess," Valencia said.

Volunteers are also looking for families who may have adopted from No Kill and might still have needs the nonprofit is contractually obligated to address.
Foster or adoptive families can contact Barbara Valencia at 915-539-2171.