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- To say that Mexico has a dog problem is something of
an understatement. In almost every street in every town, stray dogs wait
for scraps or lie in the sun.
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- To tackle the problem officials in one state have decided
to offer food parcels to people handing in stray dogs.
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- The relatively small state of Puebla estimates that it
has more than one million loose animals.
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- Mexico also has a serious poverty problem, with more
than half of the population officially living on or close to the breadline.
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- Now the authorities in Puebla are trying to tackle both
problems at once.
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- Cheaper solution
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- The dogs will be killed. The state health secretary Jesus
Loreno Aarun said the scheme is cheaper than trying to vaccinate and sterilise
the dogs.
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- He said the programme is aimed at reducing the risk of
diseases.
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- But the idea also has its critics. A spokesman for the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the offer of food
for hungry people would encourage them to go to extraordinary lengths to
get a dog to trade.
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- He says he is worried that people will try to raise puppies
or steal pets so that they can get food.
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- It is not clear just how big the impact on the state's
stray population will be. So far, the state government has just 5,000 food
packets to give away.
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