More amores perros?

January 9th, 2013

Photo from Nature HD Wallpaper

A couple of days ago my cousin Rosalie in Los Angeles, looking out for my safety, sent me a link to a news story about four people who had apparently been mauled to death by a pack of wild dogs in Mexico City. The attacks occurred in the Cerro de la Estrella, a sprawling park in Iztapalapa, about 17 miles from my apartment. Here is a link to the latest in the story from the L.A. Times, written by the estimable Daniel Hernández.

If you got to the second-to-last paragraph you will have noticed that it is estimated that there are more than a million stray dogs in the city. The AP says that in the Federal District — the central part of Mexico City — there are as many as three million dogs, which would be approximately one for every three people. Not including the strays.

Now every time I post about dogs here I get hell from dog owners. But I’m just wondering. Am I the only one out here who believes that it would be great if you had to pass some kind of test before they let you buy a dog? To make sure that you would take care of it?

Labels: Mexico City

  1. 8 Responses to “More amores perros?”

  2. By Fred on Jan 10, 2013

    Well that would mean setting up another government bureacracy – it might be easier/better to institute or enforce leash laws.

    By the way are tests required to drive in Mexico City? – last time I heard they were not.

  3. By Seth on Jan 10, 2013

    Next thing you know, you’ll be telling us we need to regulate guns. What kind of wacko are you?

  4. By T Juarez on Jan 10, 2013

    I am 70 yrs old, I’ve had a dog in my life since I was six, I even had one in Viet Nam! I have been living here 8 yrs. I agree with you about the test! Everyday I drive my wife to work I see a new dog body on the hiway. People here don’t feed them, they’re always tearing open garbage bags, they crap all over they the place. When I lived in DF in a better part of town I could walk my dog, with no problem. Now that I live in a poorer area, because my wife wanted to be closer to her daughter’s school because she had, “Jesus en la boca” I can’t walk him, because of all the dogs wandering the streets, and I have a Doberman! They don’t take them to veterinarians till it’s too late, if ever!! What was it Ghandi said? “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”

  5. By Don Cuevas on Jan 10, 2013

    ” Am I the only one out here who believes that it would be great if you had to pass some kind of test before they let you buy a dog? To make sure that you would take care of it?”

    I maintain that Internet users should have to take a training course and pass a test before being allowed to post on forums or comment on blogs.

    Saludos,
    Don Cuevas

  6. By Ibrahim Izetbegovic on Jan 14, 2013

    Mexico City is a cruel place. Pent-up rage is everywhere. In this climate of aggression and violence, can we blame the dogs for synchronizing with their masters? And once they are abandonded, boy oh boy, run for your life. It’s just another sign of the in-civilization that prevails in Mexico City.

  7. By Dominique on Jan 14, 2013

    Were they homeless dogs or did they have owners? Either way, spaying and neutering, not to mention implementing any kind any animal control or advocacy agencies, is obviously not a priority in Mexico nor is it in many other countries. It is very sad.

    I wholeheartedly agree that potential pet owners should be screened before being allowed to adopt or buy one. I was just at the seashore in Argentina where a lot of families go and vacation. Can you believe that a lot of them brings their pets with them and then when the vacation is over, they leave them behind? That is so backwards and cruel.

    If there are packs of dogs attacking humans, it is likely that they are starving and have a history of being abused by humans. As you know, I am a big animal lover but I understand that if the dogs cannot be rehabilitated that it would be the most humane thing to put them down. Having said that, I do not agree with criminalizing the animals for what they did because they are animals, not human. The neglectful owners who abused them are therefore responsible for the deaths of those poor people and should be punished.

    A lot of Michael Vick’s dogs were saved and rehabilitated but many more had to be put down because they had to much experience with violence and the taste of blood. They were not wild animals, but they were trained to be. He should never be allowed to have a dog again.

    Interesting and disturbing post, thx.

    PS. the doggies in the picture are heel-maulers, that’s about it. :)

  8. By Dominique on Jan 14, 2013

    PS. To T Juarez: Yes, it was Gandhi who said that.

  9. By Kim G on Feb 5, 2013

    Unfortunately, Mexico has much bigger problems to address than stray dogs.

    I’ve lost track of the story now, but the dog attack story came out when I was there. And the more I thought about it, the more suspicious it became. First, the idea that the dogs were hunting for food must be immediately discarded as the bodies were NOT eaten. Second, when the authorities rounded up the dogs in the area, non of them looked or behaved in a particularly vicious manner.

    The whole story made me wonder if there was some criminal gang who had dumped bodies that were made to look like they had been attacked and killed by dogs.

    Very hard to believe that people were randomly killed by stray dogs, then just left alone.

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