It is urgent to stop the abandonment of dogs and cats. Given the increase in the abandonment and proliferation of stray dogs and cats, the Pedro y Elena Hernández Foundation, in collaboration with various organizations, trains elementary school teachers to raise awareness among children and their families of the serious risk to human health and its effects on wildlife, such as the attack on flamingos.
For: David Alonzo-Parra [dalonzo@pedroyelena.org], E. Serrano [eserrano@pedroyelena.org], E. Yepez [eyepez@pedroyelena.org]. 2024
Responsible Pet Ownership and Public Health are concepts that, when united, promote an integrative vision where human, animal and environmental health are interconnected and depend on the ecosystems in which they coexist. Our "Responsible Pet Ownership" campaign seeks to involve the community, especially children, along with their parents, in the responsible care of companion animals.
In order to implement a holistic approach to Responsible Pet Ownership and Public Health Education, we are conducting training workshops for elementary school teachers in the municipality of Celestun, Yucatan and other coastal entities. In the workshops, zoonotic diseases and animal welfare are discussed extensively with the teachers, with the objective of raising awareness about the problems that stray animals represent, especially for wildlife such as flamingos. This effort is part of the development of collaborative strategies with the educational sector to face these social challenges.
In this regard, Isac Maella-Méndez (2015) in his article ¿Perros y gatos peligrosos...para la fauna silvestre?, warns about the risks of diseases that can be transmitted from wildlife to domestic animals and humans and vice versa. The same author cites the prestigious journal Nature Communications where they report that in the United States alone, cats are responsible for the death of 3.7 million birds; and mentions studies in Mexico that report the extinction of several species of wild animals due to dogs and cats.
Studies we conducted during the 2023 breeding season of flamingos in the Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve near the town of Celestún, indicate the presence of stray dog tracks in 100% of the samples, which represented a risk to the breeding colony. Another problem was the attack by stray dogs on flamingo chicks at the "Laguna Cocodrilo" site, very close to the community of Sisal, Yucatan. This 9.92 ha lagoon was used as a flamingo "dormitory" site. At this site, feral dogs developed hunting tactics to capture mostly inexperienced flamingo chicks by attacking and then colliding with power lines. In the period 2023-2024, 6 dead flamingo chicks hatched in 2023 were recorded; however, the scarce record of dead flamingo specimens in the area is due to the bodies being eaten or taken to other sites by feral dogs, making it difficult to assess the real effect of predation by feral dogs.
Feral dogs attack flamingo chicks at the "Laguna Cocodrilo" site in Sisal, Yucatan. Photo Juan Pech.
Feral fauna (dogs - cats), is already an issue of growing concern today; as human settlements and urban areas expand, there will be more affectations by domestic animals to wildlife (flamingos, nesting shorebirds, nesting sea turtles, among other species recorded).
We appreciate the collaboration of Ms. Concepción Ayora Pinto, principal of the Berta María González Elementary School and Ms. Jessica A. Turriza Segura of the Berta María González Elementary School. Turriza Segura from José Alayola Preve Elementary School in Celestún, to the director of the RBRC Lic. Rene H. Kantún Palma, to the director Dr. Jonatan A. Mezeta Chin from the Celestún Health Center and to the H. Ayuntamiento de Celestún 2021-2024 for their enthusiastic participation in the workshops and to our funding partners Fundación Axa México and Fundación SíMI PLANETA.
Conversation with teachers of the José Alayola Preve Elementary School, Celestún, Yucatán
Conversation with teachers of the Berta María González Elementary School, Celestún, Yucatán
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