Of the more than 50 street dogs rounded up after five humans were found dead in a Mexico City park,?almost half have had tests done on their stomach contents, and none have?shown any evidence of having eaten human flesh.
Sources in Mexico City told the Associated Press?that initial tests on?25 strays showed none had human remains in their stomachs. An unnamed employee of the city prosecutors? office said officials were still awaiting results from tests on the dogs? fur and paws to see if any human DNA was present.
Authorities in Mexico City have blamed five?deaths on stray or wild dogs that roam Cerro de la Estrella park, where five mauled human bodies have been found in recent months.
Fifty-seven dogs, including the one pictured above, were swept up in and around the park, prompting protests from animal activists and others who believe authorities aren?t?looking closely enough at the possibility that the bodies were killed by drug gangs and dumped there.
Dozens of protesters chanting ?free the dogs, arrest the criminals!? and ?the dogs aren?t criminals, the police are inept!? demonstrated outside Mexico City police headquarters Friday, demanding the release of the stray dogs.
Authorities say autopsies?determined that?three women, a teenage boy and a baby found in the park since mid-December died of loss of blood due to bites from multiple dogs.
The protesters, while acknowledging dogs might have fed on the victims after their deaths,?say the dogs are being unfairly blamed, and many suspect the victims were killed by humans, then dumped in the park in hopes the stray dogs would destroy any evidence.
Jose Luis Carranza, of the Citizens Front for Animal Rights, was one of those critical of the round-up of strays:
?If the authorities really want to crack down on the overpopulation of dogs, then they should go after the clandestine puppy sellers,? he said. ?Every day there are people selling dogs on the streets, and the police don?t do anything.?
The 57 dogs rounded up at the Cerro de la Estrella park, located in a poor Iztapalapa neighborhood,?are mostly?small to?mid-size dogs, and include beagle and border-collie mixes. Twenty-three are puppies or very young dogs, according to the Associated Press report.
On Friday, authorities in Iztapalapa announced that the dogs taken into custody would, once tests are completed,?be put up for adoption. They had earlier promised animal rights groups that the dogs would not be killed.
The dogs will get shots,?baths and medical treatment before being given away, they said.
(Photo: Dario Lopez-Mills / AP)
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