A department employee ignores animal protection regulations she is supposed to enforce despite citizen reports, and fails to sanction her sister for dog abuse
Photograph of the dog that is tied to a chain, in a small space, outdoors and apparently poorly fed. The dog is owned by the sister of one of Chapala’s Ecology inspectors.
Sofía Medeles (Ajijic, Jal.) – For at least two months a citizen has informed the Department of Ecology’ Animal protection staff that one of its employee’s relatives is abusing her dog, but the complaints have been ignored. He has denounced the Department for influence peddling. The Department has confirmed the case.
«José», who prefers to remain anonymous because of possible reprisals, has repeatedly reported the poor condition of a dog in the Tepehua neighborhood in the municipal capital, but the authorities have ignored him, he claims, because the animal is owned by the sister of one of the Ecology inspectors.
According to «José», the dog is tied up in a yard outdoors and (in his opinion) it is in bad condition, and the owner refuses to feed it, he said, because she does not want to clean the dog’s feces. He said that she denies this qualifies as animal mistreatment.
Reports have been made to both the Directorate of Ecology and the Animal Protection Department -which are in charge of dealing with these cases-, but according to «José», they have been repeatedly ignored due to the conflict of interest and influence peddling.
«It is a case of influence peddling on the part of the department’s officials by not acting and sanctioning behaviors that go against their own regulations,» «José» told Laguna.
Ana Luisa Maldonado, head of the Animal Protection Department and collaborator in the creation of the Regulation for the Protection and Dignified Treatment of Animals in the Municipality of Chapala, confirmed the case, and regrets that within the Department of Ecology there are people working on cases of animal abuse who ignore complaints because of influence peddling. She described it as «a very difficult case».
«The Director of Ecology told this girl who works for us to tell her sister that as a solution, he would support her with a cage, but that she would have to buy the posts, so that the dog could be released, but she has not accepted, and now she blames Ecology that if she does not release the dog it is not her fault», argued Ana Luisa Maldonado, who also confirmed that the dog is not in the best health, and does not have a complete vaccination card.
Maldonado agreed that the staff member is abusing her position and that it is a shame that personnel working in Ecología Chapala have this type of thinking, since part of their job is to treat and combat animal abuse.
«How sad that, within the team, there are people with such criteria despite all the work we have achieved. We cannot do much more than notify them, since it is private property and we cannot jump in to remove the dog, and the owner has not wanted to cooperate, so we are just waiting for her to come to her senses», she said.
Finally, she took the opportunity to ask the public to accept her apology, because although the Department has done everything to address the complaints, some have not been resolved, however, she said that they will continue working to enforce the established animal protection regulations.
Ana Luisa asked the people of Chapala to learn about the care and responsibilities of having a pet and reminded them that the shelter is not a kennel, but a place where they rescue abused dogs.
Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan
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