As you know, Pet Friendly Yucatan is all about promoting responsibility towards our pets, and our communities. We love hearing about all the hard work done by so many great organisations locally to sterilise dogs and cats, educate children, and to help make Yucatan the most pet friendly state in Mexico.
It seems that the message has been heard, loud and clear. Local governments and politicians like to keep their people happy, and in Yucatan, that now means keeping pets happy too, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to see all of the efforts that they are making.
We should point out, Pet Friendly Yucatan is far from political. We have no say in local government, but we want to support local Mexican people, who have worked so hard to get their representatives to listen. If you don’t keep up with local news, we’d like to share some of the great initiatives have been happening recently.
Dog registration
We were so excited to hear about the new dog registration campaign being run by the Registro Civil de Yucatán (that would be the Civil Registry), where dog guardians can receive an official birth certificate for their dog. Otherwise known as a FIA (Formato de Identidad Animal). It seems that this is a national initiative, which is now being rolled out in Yucatan.
Of course we took pet friendly Ambassador, Senorito Beauregard, to represent, find out what it was all about, and get registered. The process was fairly simple – well, it should be unless you have a gigantic 9 month old rescue puppy.
Dog registration process
First – Arrive with your dog by any means possible
Second – Queue up several times to give your information to various people until you finally get called to a table, where you present your national ID, proof of address, and try to wrangle your puppy, while they take a pawprint. The Ambassador managed to ruin his first try, so they had to issue him a second certificate. His paw was a little bit bigger than the form required, but we did the best we could. He thought it was all rather amusing.
Third – Then you hang out with a Congressman, so he can kiss puppies, shake hands, and generally charm the crowd. We met Diputado Chucho Pérez Ballote, previously at a sterilisation clinic. He takes his animal welfare campaigns seriously, it seems. His photographer took a lovely photo of us.
Fourth – Then it’s time for another, official photo, which everyone who registers their dog poses for. It was fun and it was posted on the Director of Civil Registration, Juan de Dios Colli Pinto’s Facebook.
Fifth – You could check out some police dog demonstrations, shop for cute pet things from some vendors, or, if you’re like us, you could take photos of more cute dogs.
Free pet sterilisation
There are so many incredible charitable organisations and even private veterinary clinics providing low cost or free sterilisation in Yucatan, but there are never enough. So, we couldn’t have been happier to see this campaign run by the local government department, Merida Sustenable, providing free sterilisation for dogs in cats and some of the areas most in need.
The clinics started in June and will be running until the end of July.
But local areas are getting in on the action too. Progreso’s Direccion de Servicios Publicos y Ecologia, have been running sterilisation clinics and they are really making a difference in that cute little beach town.
Free rabies vaccination
People who travel between the United States and Mexico are often relieved to discover that Mexico is considered a low risk for dog rabies, and that is no accident. The Mexican government have been working hard for years to ensure that dog rabies does not spread here. If you want to get a free rabies vaccine for your dog or cat, you can head down to CEMAA, which is the Municipal Animal Care Centre, also run by Merida Sustenable. You can also adopt a pet from them.
So, if you want to support the responsible care of the cats and dogs in Yucatan, this will help you to share the good news with your family, friends, neighbours, and the wider community.
Pet Friendly Yucatan 