Guanajuato, Mexico - Darkside 2

In Mexico,there are little to no animal cruelty laws, however, it has been suggested that animal cruelty laws are slowly being implemented. The country's current policy usually condemns physical harm to animals as property damage to the owners of the abused animal. The Law of Animal Protection of the Federal District is wide-ranging, based on banning 'unnecessary suffering.' Similar laws now exist in most states. However, this is disregarded by much of the public and authorities. - (Wikipedia)

Animal cruelty is evident in Guanajuato on a daily basis. Whenever one sees Guanajuatenses walking dogs you are bound to see just what I mean.

First of all, Guanajuatenses, as a whole, will turn their dogs loose on the street. Packs of dogs can be seen running the streets anytime night or day. The consequence of this, breeding on a massive scale, results in more and more puppies that grow up only to repeat the process some six months later.

If that wasn't bad enough, you can see roof dogs that are staked out on their owner's roofs sometimes with no water or food nor shade.

Puppies are abandoned routinely at garbage dumpsters or thrown into them as though they were cardboard boxes.

Those who have pets can be seen kicking them on the streets as we saw today.

A male child (future serial killer in the making) was chasing down two very tiny Chihuahuas, running to keep up with their owner, and kicking them if the dogs lagged behind. One puppy tried stopping to make pee-pee and the 8 year old kicked it viciously. The boy, now get this, was associated with the dog's owners.

The parents or caretakers see this happening and rarely do anything to stop the child.

Just a few minutes afterward, we saw at the bus stop where we were waiting, a child with a small puppy throwing it in the air as though it as a rag doll.

I would love to tell you that small kids are the only ones doing this but I would be lying. Last fall, we saw a twenty something young woman carrying a chihuahua on her back like it was a parrot perched on her shoulder. This 5´7 tall adult dropped the puppy where it promptly fell on its back.

The thing is, is that dogs and cats, companion pets, are treated badly here. The locals seem to think that these are pieces of cardboard, or whatever, that can be thrown away more easily than trash.

My poor wife is getting to the point where she can barely stand to be out in public. She will plug her ears and close her eyes when she sees small children given charge over some helpless puppy for the child to toss it around, hold it upside down by one leg, or kick it around for not keeping up.

This is truly one of the most hideous dark sides of Guanajuato.

Not all Mexicans, mind you, do this.

Our upstairs neighbor has a small, purebred dog. He never lets this dog run loose to breed anything that crosses its path, he always walks this dog on leash, he feeds it a high quality premium dog food, and has it impeccably trained. And, in fact, just this week he took in a stray to clean it up and try to find it a home. We chatted and he too is angered at his fellow Mexicans for their irresponsibility.

Can you guess what I will say as to my neighbor's place of birth?

Mexico City and NOT Guanajuato.

This is just one reason why I say Guanajuato is TERMINALLY PROVINCIAL!

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A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue