Animals Flourish in the Mexican Cement Jungle
10/27/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO: Animals Flourish in the Cement Jungle
Source: InterPress Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 27, 1999
Byline: Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, Oct 26 (IPS) - Amid the glass, steel and cement of
Mexico's capital survives a diverse wildlife. Millions of rats,
dogs, cats, birds, insects, bats and other animals compete for
space, create pollution, and almost always survive the city's
extermination or population control programmes.
Descendents of the fauna that once roamed what is today Mexico
City, and product of the growing city itself, the animals share
their urban environment with 20 million people and three million
automobiles, living on approximately 1,000 square kms of cement
and 17,000 km of streets and roads.
The constant availability of food - especially scavenged from
garbage - and many convenient spaces in which to hide, frustrate
initiatives to regulate the capital's animal populations, said
Jesœs Figueroa, an official at the city's Animal and Pest Control
Unit of Urban Services.
Every day, an army of city government workers and several units
from the fire-fighting force lay traps, fumigate buildings, pull
down hives of dangerous bees and dispose of hundreds of animals,
mostly stray cats and dogs.
But animals continue to prosper in the city. Two million dogs,
one million cats and more than 50 million rats are among the
city's ''wildlife.''
Also co-existing in the urban landscape are 320 bird species,
three types of rodents, 15 species of ants, 24 species of bats, 33
kinds of lizards, two scorpion species and more than 15 types of
spiders, according to a study by the National Autonomous
University of Mexico (UNAM).
Figueroa told IPS that the major problem currently is the
excessive number of rats and stray dogs because they are a major
source of disease.
To eradicate rats, chemicals and traps are used, but ''they will
never be effective if garbage is not promptly collected and
processed, because it provides the rats with a food source,''
explained Figueroa.
The capital and surrounding urban areas generate nearly 20,000
tonnes of garbage each day, making the city one of the top five
rubbish-producing metroplitan areas in the world, according to
government studies.
Garbage from city markets often sits two to seven days before
being collected, and 30 percent of the rubbish from residential
areas is not picked up on schedule.
No area of the city can be declared rat-free, leading authorities
to declare this rodent a serious public health hazard.
The UNAM's Centre for Atmospheric Sciences reported last month
that it had recorded several sites throughout the city with air
particles originating from rat hair and urine.
Rats are linked to the spread of diseases such as leptospirosis,
toxoplasmosis, trichinosis, plague, rabies, salmonella, scabies
and mycosis, among others. Rats also spread parasites such as
lice, fleas and ticks.
Female rats can reproduce three to seven times per year. In
general, rats have a lifespan of 18 months - time enough for a
pair to produce dozens of offspring.
Stray dogs, and even house dogs, also spread disease. Their
droppings and fur can be found everywhere in the streets, later
becoming a health hazard as atmospheric particles.
The Public Health Services Department reports that it eliminates
an average of 200 stray dogs per day.
Some dogs are given an overdose of anesthesia, which is
considered the least violent method of death. But most are put
down using electrocution or by shooting a spike into the brain.
Cats do not escape the reach of humans either. More than 80 are
eliminated by authorities every day and later sold for supposed
scientific research, denounces the Animal Protection Association.
The city's bat population is also considered a nuisance, though
the animal has its positive side. The flying mammal lives
primarily in city parks and in older buildings.
Of the 24 bat species reported in the capital, 10 are permanent
inhabitants and the rest live in the city during certain times of
the year. Most eat insects and pollen.
Though often attacked because they are considered harmful, bats
pollinate flowers and disperse seeds - a difficult feat in a city
like the Mexican capital, where fertile ground is increasingly
covered with cement.
Controling Mexico City's animal life is a difficult challenge for
authorities, who warn that plans to regulate the animal population
will never be successful without the help of citizens and
improvements in public services.