It is hard to believe that in the year 2024 and in the midst of multiple corruption scandals in different municipalities throughout Chile, there are also local administrations that explicitly encourage mistreatment in their communes, going on to provide basic rights, which one would think should be guaranteed by all State authorities, without exception.
This is the case of the Municipality of Molina and Mayor Priscilla Castillo, who, together with councilors Cristian Aguilera and Francisco Valdés, could not think of anything better than to inaugurate a dog track on February 17, which generated an immense reaction from different people. organizations, and that councilor Cristian Martínez together with the Esperanza Animal Group of Lontué and greyhound dog rescuers, filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office for the crimes of animal abuse, gambling outside the law and the use of public funds in this activity ( 1).
Hence, although in Chile, unlike some States in the world (United States, Argentina, Uruguay, Panama Portugal), greyhound racing is not prohibited, Law No. 21,020 on Responsible Ownership of Pets and Animals does exist. of Company (2), which sanctions those who abuse animals, which can help stop this type of violent and aberrant practices, which are disguised as traditions.
Given all this, Mayor Priscilla Castillo had no choice but to release a statement (2), which states that the dog track was not a municipal initiative and that at the inauguration they were watching the condition of the dogs, since as a municipality They have a commitment to animal welfare, which seems like a bad joke on their part, since there is enough evidence to show the damage that greyhounds suffer from racing, ranging from hip problems, broken teeth, drug use, high levels of stress, abandonment, sacrifice (3).
Consequently, the statement only seeks to clean up the mayor’s image, instead of making an explicit and forceful condemnation of the animal abuse that this type of practice generates for dogs, which does nothing other than end up validating the existence of dog tracks that They should not exist in Molina or anywhere in Chile, since it threatens life and causes suffering to greyhounds, for the whim and profit of some.
In other words, Mayor Priscilla Castillo seems not to understand at the moment that we find ourselves as a country and globally, in a context of climate crisis, where the care of Nature and non-human animals is key, so it is not It is enough to only generate statements, municipal ordinances or programs on responsible ownership, but to change the way we look and the way we relate to other living beings.
For the same reason, it is not about animal fundamentalism or urban mascotism, as the most conservative sectors like to point out in an ironic and derogatory way when we raise our voice against practices of animal abuse such as greyhound racing, coleus, caneo, bullfights, animal testing, but to leave behind a capitalist speciesism, which wants to put a price on everything, even the lives of some beings.
Having said the above, may this year of municipal elections in Chile, 2024, be a moment that serves us to not only demand that the candidates behave transparently and with integrity in their lives and with public money, given everything that has been known in the country, but also an empathy and sensitivity with the suffering of other people, which includes our younger brothers, who feel the same as us.
Only in this way will we build societies that are kinder and more respectful of the environment, in which it seems that we still do not realize that we are part of and depend on it, thus reproducing life systems that do not care in the least about suffering, such as the pain of thousands of greyhound dogs, because it occurred to someone at some point in history that they were condemned to compete and be a source of income for a pseudo-sport like this.