the President of the Cozumel Humane Society about the treatment of the horses.  She desperately needs emails regarding this tonight or tomorrow as they are meeting with the mayor and the board of tourism. 

Here is my email.

Dear Mayor and the Department of Tourism.

I have now been to Cozumel a few times and do love the island. 

As a Canadian and an animal lover, I am and have been totally appalled at the condition of the horses that pull the 'turistas' around in those buggy's.  I have been shocked to see them standing in the sun, hours on end and it appears they rarely if ever get any water.  They have sores on their bodies.  Many walk painfully on their legs.

The horses are not large and yet, they are allowed to carry between one and 6 people at a time.  I am sure many of the cruise ship people weigh more than the poor horse!  Not really but you get my meaning.

If such animal cruelty is allowed to continue to exist, I may very well choose not to visit the island again and will be sure to tell many others about the deplorable conditions of these poor animals.  I have already in reality told many people and asked them to please not go on a buggy ride.

If you want to know about my love of the island, I adopted a most beautiful dog from the Cozumel Humane Society.  Due to Isabela's health problems living on the street, I only got to share my life with her for 3 1/2 years.  I have supported the Cozumel Humane Society since adopting Isabela and even though she passed away June 1st, 2006, will continue to do so.  If not for the efforts of Monica Velasco Ariza and the many others, I don't think any animal would be protected in Cozumel.

Tourism is huge and it is what helps the economy of many nations. 

As Gandhi said, 'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated'.

It is time that the powers that be in Cozumel start to incorporate humane treatment for all the animals.  The horses, street dogs and cats.  No one wants to see horses with open wounds. lame legs and lack of water pulling around people.  No one wants to see starving dogs and cats.

Quite honestly, I don't have much respect for the people that see a lame horse, a injured horse or a horse with open sores that say, let's go for a horse ride.

Education is the key for the owners.  There should be a limit how many people get pulled or a weight limit.  When a horse is injured, they should have to house it comfortably until it is healed.

There should be strict guidelines and anyone that does not follow them should be penalized. 

One of the comments I receive from all my friends that travel to Mexico is how shocked they are by the treatment of animals.  Many have said they will never go back. 

The problem in Cozumel is huge.  It truly is a disgrace. 

The answer is not putting the horses down or poisoning the street animals.  It is a simple matter of compassion, education and implementation.

Mandatory spaying and neutering for the dogs and cats, rules and regulations for the treatment of the horses. 

Every living creature needs water.  I have seen horses in such desperate need for it, it makes me ill.  I have bought bottled water and let the street dogs drink from the bottle. 

Cruelty and ignorance happens everywhere but why not make a stand and a make Cozumel animal friendly.  Imagine tourists going home and saying, I loved Cozumel.  It is one of the few places I have gone where animals are treated with respect and kindness.

Please, you have the power to do so, make Cozumel a place where bad images of how the animals are treated is something we no longer take home with us.  Let us come home and tell our friends how wonderful the horses, dogs and cats are.

I beg of you!  Show some humanity.

Thanking you in advance!

Diane Clarke
Mississauga, Ontario
Canada

P.S.  I will be forwarding this email to all my friends and family.

Here is Monica's email and I will include her email address if any of you want to respond.

Dear Friends of our Humane Society of Cozumel,

This is an urgent message to all of you, asking for
your expressed opinion regarding the situation of the
horses that pull carriages in downtown Cozumel. Many
of you may have had a chance to notice the very sad
conditions of most of these animals. They stand on the
waterfront for hours and hours, from 9 through 4, with
no shade or access to water, under the burning sun,
plus the reflection from the ocean and the pavement.
They rarely if ever give them water during their
working hours, based on the incorrect argument that
the vet said they´ll die if they drink. We already
brought vets from the mainland to tell them this is
not so and how necessary it is for them to have shade
and to re-hydrate (and how to do it safely), but they
like it as it has always been.

We presented a well documented petition a year ago,
addressed to the Mayor, the Governor, the Tourism Dept
and the Ecology Dept., complete with photos of open
sores under the harness, bleeding bandaged legs, and
the deplorable conditions of the stalls, filled with
urine, mud and flies, no bed, etc. A horse had just
recently dropped dead on the street, which helped
raise attention. The government DID stop them for a
couple weeks, during which the horse owners made some
minor improvements, and when they started working them
again they gave them water sometimes and seemed to
make awkward attemps to improvise some sort of shade
for them.

But even these small efforts didn´t last long, and now
with the unbearable heat and humidity of our Caribbean
summer, the horses again stand there, breathing
heavily, head down and almost buckling, trying to lick
their lips with white, pasty saliva. Harnesses are
inadequate and hurt them, blinders cause sores and
infections on their eyes (I know of at least one who
lost his eye), they frequently slip and fall and
scrape their knees because the pavement is slippery
and they don´t shoe them properly. The carriages
themselves are old and beat up, the springs are broken
so they carry uneven load, and the rubber on many of
the wheels is just non-existent. They are fairly small
horses and they load them with 5 and 6 passengers
sometimes. About a month ago another horse died of
over-exertion. Because the vet in charge of presenting
reports to the City is payed by the horse owner, he
did not even report the death, much less the cause.
And when the day is over they go back to filthy
stalls, and on the floor there's no bedding with hay
(or wood shavings, which is what most use here) where
they can rest, but bare rock or mud. 

We have a chance of being heard tomorrow by the Mayor
and the Tourism Dpt, and it would be great help if
everyone who has ever seen the sight of these horses
could write me a quick email, expressing your thoughts
as visitors to Cozumel. I am so sorry to give such
short notice, but soome of you may have time. If you
read this later, please still send a note, because it
will help us in the following weeks.

I am attaching a few photos. The ones that say 2005
are the worst ones. They have been carefull not to let
the horses get those obvious open sores now, because
these photos circulated in the web. But their
conditions are still very bad. Just a couple of weeks
ago, when I approached a driver to ask him to please
give the horse some water, I saw that the left eye was
swollen shut, so much that the eyelashes were caught
inside the eyelids, and the coarse leather blinder was
still painfully rubbing on it. I ran to get my camera
and the guy took off.

This is a good chance to present evidence and your
opinion as visitors is certainly more important to the
authorities than just the animals wellbeing. So please
take a moment. It doesn't need to be long.

THANKS!!!

Monica Velasco Ariza
The Humane Society of Cozumel Island
President/Volunteer

monicavelaxco@yahoo.com.mx <monicavelaxco@yahoo.com.mx>

Monica has a full time job, is married and has a daughter.  She also has way way more pets than me and Davedrum.  One being a pelican that was injured when young.  She is the volunteer president of the Humane Society in Cozumel and has done more for animals on that island than anyone I know.  She has been doing it for years.  She started it!

Sorry I couldn't include the pictures she sent me but they are so disgusting, you would not want to see them.

If you have a minute or two, please send an email to Monica so that she can give them to the Mayor.  Doesn't matter if you have been to Cozumel.  Just talk about animal compassion.

Thanks so much.  This is truly important to me. 

Hugs
Di