The International Donkey Protection Trust says that: "Donkeys are probably the most neglected and abused animals in Mexico, but are a life line to many families."
People live in extreme poverty both in rural and urban areas. 60% of the population is classified as poor and approximately 40% of the working population is involved in agriculture.
There are over three million donkeys, 3 million mules and 6 million horses in Mexico.
The donkeys are mainly used for carrying wood, maize, straw, barrels filled with water, milk, agave juice (from which "pulque", the national alcoholic beverage is made) and the tools needed for plowing. They are also used to pull carts, plows, to cultivate the land and to carry people. In some suburbs of Mexico City, donkeys are also used to pull garbage-collecting devices, which are often so badly designed that they cause serious wounds.
The
Mexican prairie dog weighs about 2.2 lbs. It occupies deep rock-free soils in
open plains and plateaus. These flat areas are covered with herbs and grasses
and usually surrounded by mature desert vegetation. The Mexican prairie
dog eats herbs and grasses. It is diurnal (active
during daylight hours) and terrestrial (living
on the ground) and lives in
"towns" (colonies) where it excavates elaborate burrows for shelter
and protection from predators. These towns may contain hundreds of animals,
depending on habitat availability, but currently many towns only include 50 or
less animals. There is generally a single dominant male in the town.
Mexican
wolves are the smallest subspecies of North American gray wolves. They are also
the most endangered. Commonly referred to as "El lobo," the Mexican
wolf is gray with light brown fur on its back. It has long legs and a sleek body
to help it run fast. An adult Mexican wolf typically weighs 60 to 80 pounds,
measures 26 to 32 inches tall from the shoulder and ranges from four-and-a-half
to five-and-a-half feet long. Mexican wolves prefer to live in mountain forests,
grasslands and scrublands. Mexican wolves prey on white-tailed deer, mule deer
and elk but are also known to eat smaller mammals such as rabbits, ground
squirrels and mice. Humans and habitat destruction are the only major threats to
wolves.
