In Mexico, there is one stray dog for every seven citizens. It has become a major health issue and the mayor of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Samuel Toledo Cordova Toledo, has been accused for campaigning to kill the stray dogs. Through social media, the issue blew out of proportion. On twitter, "#ChiapasMataPerros" or "Chiapas Kills Dogs", began trending and brought major attention to the issue. The Department of Health Risks claims the stray dogs have become an increasingly worse problem for the citizens of Tuxtla Gutierrez with 7 cases of rabies; 5 in 2012 and 2 in 2013 so far. Toledo says measures are to be taken to control homeless animals, provide health care to them, and use adoption facilities.
Though this is not your typical economic issue, I think the fact that social networking played a big role in the spread of word about the dogs, is similar to what we have mentioned in class. Technology has become so advanced, that an issue that applies to a single town has spread rapidly and gotten attention worldwide ("#ChiapasMataPerros" was in the top ten trends worldwide on twitter). With world knowledge of the issue, tourism, a major source of income for the entire country, may be affected not only through the accusation of killing the dogs, but also the major health hazard the dogs bring.
The article mentions that this issue may have arisen through lack of attention from past governments. If the growing issue of stray dogs had been brought to the attention of leaders earlier, it may have prevented worldwide attention. Policies that may help this situation include creating regulations of domestic animals as well as controlling homeless animals, providing care, and using adoption facilities, as mentioned above. I believe it would be beneficial to do so before the word spreads like wildfire, which is hard to accomplish with technology nowadays.
I especially think it is beneficial, as councilor Karla Burguete Torrestiana mentioned in the article, to stress the importance of responsible use of internet and social networking.
http://www.noticiasnet.mx/portal/chiapas/general/147862-mienten-redes-sociales-sobre-matanza-perros-capital
No comments:
Post a Comment