The Sport of Dog Poisoning in Peru
I wish I never had to write this post, but since my Labrador nearly died from ingesting poison in a Lima park this week, I must share what I’ve learned to alert other pet owners.
A surprising number of people in Peru like to kill dogs and cats with veneno(poison). Municipalities such as Barranco and Miraflores use highly toxic insecticides in public gardens that routinely poison pets. And poisoning a dog or cat is not a crime in Peru.
El Fotografo and El Hijo took Lola to Leoncio Prado park, in Miraflores, to play fetch on Wednesday. They had her running after the ball, something she never tires of, for more than half an hour, when Lola chased la pelota into the edge of a flowerbed.
She grabbed the ball with her snout, turned around and stopped in her tracks. She backed up two steps and vomited in the grass, heaved some more, and barfed up another batch of liquid.
Her sides were heaving and she weaved all over the grass, nose twitching. EF and EH walked her home, where she collapsed in the backyard. She lay there breathing rapidly, eyes closed, and I screamed for EF to drive her to the vet. We had to carry her to the car in a blanket.
Ten minutes later, Lola lay on the examination table as the vet probed her mouth and felt her stomach. One side of her mouth was swollen and her gums and skin around the eyes were all white — signs of poisoning, he said. She was in shock. He injected her with Cortisone, antibiotic and something to calm her stomach. After several minutes she began to breath normally and she looked at us with recognition.
Several days later, after more antibiotics, Gatorade and TLC, Lola is back to normal. We’re not sure what Lola ingested — plant insectide, rat poison, a poisoned piece of meat left by a vindictive neighbor. The vet doesn’t know either.
It’s shocking to see a healthy animal go from lively to comatose in the space of 30 seconds. What’s even more shocking is that poisoning episodes like this happen routinely in Peru.
I began hearing from Peruvians about poisoned “bocados” (mouthfuls) as soon as I posted about the incident on Twitter and Facebook, Wednesday.
Peruvian PhD student Giancarlo tweeted from Japan that he’d “lost three dogs to ‘bocado’ in Lima… (>_<). EF’s relatives warned that they’d had dogs die of poisoned meat left on the sidewalk. Fellow blogger Stuart Starrs remarked that “people enjoy putting out poison, it’s a popular hobby in Peru.“
Even El Hijo’s best friend from school sadly reported that his poodle died in this way last year, after snarfing up rat poison while being walked by the maid in San Isidro.
Health standards are so low in Peru that there is little to no control of poisons in this country — an alarming situation for anyone, Peruvian or foreign, who keeps a pet here. The so-called tradition of poisoning dogs has even created a black market for pet poisons, as various Latin American newspapers have reported.
A Peruvian company El Jazmines is marketing 100-gram packets of “El Asesino” — single-dose servings of poison for rats, dogs and cats. I haven’t seen this product for sale in Peru, but then again, until this week I wasn’t looking. The powerful poison induces a violent death by vomiting and then asphyxiation, reported El Mercurio de Calama last year. El Asesino, Perrofin and similar poisons also pose grave risks to human beings.
The Chilean newspaper reported that the Chilean health ministry had raised an alert in that country last year, after two salesmen were caught selling the illegal product at Chilean fairs.
None of the preliminary searches I’ve done on the Internet has indicated that Peru forbids the manufacture or sale of these products.
So this is a great position for an expat dog owner to be in. I’m raising a dog in a country where public demand for pet poisons has spawned an industry of grab-and-go poison packs. Poison is so readily available and used so indiscriminately, 24 children died in the Andes from eating a government-issued breakfast spiked with a crop poison in October 1999. Similar poisonings have happened in Ecuador.
If you own in dog in Peru, you should be alarmed. At least familiarize yourself with the symptoms of poisoning in dogs and have a good vet nearby.
Leave a comment if you or someone you know has lost a pet to this cruel practice.
Barbara
I am an American writer who lived in Lima for seven years (2007-2014), where I covered Andean traditions, melting glaciers and daily life in the capital for Miami Herald, MSNBC and Huffington Post. I now live and work in northern Florida where I champion climate change advocacy and compassionate, affordable eldercare.
47 Comments
Paul Cox
this is horrifying
Barb
Paul, you just traveled all over S America. Did you hear of anything similar in other countries? (I realize that you weren’t doing an investigation on dog poisonings, but maybe you did overhear something.)
Juan
where did u take the pic… i cant recognize the street?
Rachel
It’s really unfortunate that Peru does not invest in other humanitarian ways to control the pet population.
Irresponsible dog owners allow their pets to breed which cause them to become a neighborhood nuisance when they are abandoned or become strays, hence frustrated residents take it into their own hands and exterminate the animals by such terrible means.
The only solution I see is for the government to take responsibility (at the local & national level) and educate its citizens on how to be responsible pet owners in addition to introducing an “animal control” division or department like many countries & cities have.
Margaret
Wow. I’ve heard of animals being poisoned in Chile, but never like this! What would have happened had a child wandered into that flower bed? If it has such an immediate action on a dog, what would it do to humans?
Scary, scary thought!
Camila
It’s not a hobby. How irresponsible of stuenperu to portrait a a whole nation in such a way. Most examples I’ve heard of came from lower classes where animals are not much considered. For the place where you live in, it would correspond more to, yes, vindictive neighbors, or old people who gets annoyed by the barking or by the dogs playing in their garden in such way that it messes with their flowers or whatever they are cultivating. It’s horrible. I don’t have a pet so I don’t know exactly how you must have felt, but I’m vegan because I care about animals so I just find it terrible.
I hope your dog is recovering well.
Stuart
Camila, blaming undesirable behaviour on the “lower classes” is just plain silly. If you are going to generalise like that, don’t criticise me for doing it in the previous sentence.
Yes, for some people it is a hobby. They must get a kick out of it because they do it so often. Doing something often because you get a kick out of it is called a “hobby”.
As for “the cholos did it”, well I wouldn’t know what happens in Pamplona Alta, but where I live you hear of it often enough for me to justifiably make the comment I did.
If you think that by pointing out, highlighting and condemning unfortunate occurrences in what I can safely claim is my own country is attacking it, feel free to sweep me under the rug too.
Barb
Camila, I’m not sure what remark of Stuart’s you’re referring to.
But from what I’ve heard from friends and family, this sick behavior of poisoning dogs crosses social and economic boundaries. Most Peruvians don’t do it, but the few who do are poor, middle class and rich. Today I heard of a well-to-do lady in our neighborhood who paid her gardener to poison dogs in the park four years ago. Two dogs died and the gardener felt so guilty, he came forward and told the neighbors. She was annoyed at the barking dogs and felt justified in her actions.
I have seen this lady hobbling around the park. She’s frail, and I’m really horrified to realize that she purposefully killed people’s pets. I didn’t know about this until this morning.
So, sadly, this tradition cuts across class boundaries, and it seems to happen in cities and rural areas. There needs to be more awareness about it and more people need to speak out.
I think we all agree that killing dogs is wrong, no?
Junior
I am simply speechless. Back home in Piura this happened to my cat, but I have a hunch one of our neighbors poisoned our cat to get back at us. Besides that, I haven’t heard of animals being poisoned in Piura or Lima for fun. I may be too naive, but I had never heard of such thing. The people around me are all animal lovers and I have never seen a dead animal lie on the streets like the one on the picture above.
It is horrible indeed. We had an issue with rats in my house at one point and we used poison to get rid of them and after that we got a cat (we got rid of the poison before getting the kitty, of course). I once heard that robbers will usually feed a dog a poisoned moutful when breaking into a house. I cannot attest to it, nonetheless.
Juan Arellano
Even dogs inside their houses aren’t free from being poisoned, some neighbour’s dogs have died this way, someone throwed a “bocado” (poisoned food) inside their gardens, the dog eats it and dies.
Pico
Hi Barb,
Sorry to hear you had to experience another dark part of living in Peru and I hope your dog is recovering. You are actually lucky, because many people who have dogs that have been poisoned do not have the means to take them to the vet and their loved pets end up dead.
It really infuriates me every time I hear about these type of things happening. Sometimes the motives are as stupid as the old lady in your story. Others are carried out by unscrupulous people who are ‘pasteando’ your house and want to get rid of the watchdog.
Saludos
Carlos Espinoza
Yep, well know tradition in Lima since the time of the Spanish Colony. Peruvian author Ricardo Palma in his “Tradiciones Peruanas” describes the “mata perros’ (dog killers) which was an actual trade. Kind of like the dog catchers, but they just got down to business, and either clubbed or poisoned the dogs to dead.
Moreover, today you can outfit your big butt SUV (if you own one) in Peru with a front-end bumper specially designed to kill dogs as you drive to your beach house in Asia, called the mataperros bumper…
Barb
Juan, thanks for clarifying that “bocacos” = poisoned food. I was translating on the fly there.
Carlos — if there was such a trade as “mata perros,” as you say Ricardo Palma describes, that might account for this tradition lingering in Lima.
BTW, “mataperros” is Peruvian slang for the bumper of a car.
Note that in May 2008 a Peruvian MP gunned down his neighbor’s dog for harassing ducks on his property, reported the BBC and AP:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7420830.stm
Another note: The World Society for the Protection of Animals raised an alarm in 2002 when it obtained footage of the Peruvian army using live dogs in training exercises to teach soldiers how to kill:
http://www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/index.en.php?id=322
The army responded by banning the practice, but critics insist that it still continues. Really disgusting stuff.
Man Ray
Peru is a counrtry that has lagged behind the rest of the civilized world with basci “rule of law”, and is just now catching up with rights issues for its people, let alone pets.
Take a look at the way 99.9% of Peruvians drive- if you can call that driving- more like charging toward any pedestrian that crosses the road, regardless of age, gender, race or species.
Just as bad as the micro and taxi drivers are the well- heeled “pitucos” driving their trucks with “mataperros” bumpers.
In short, Peru is still a fairly primitive country struggling with a new found consumer power and all the dangerous toys new money can buy .
Man Ray
Moreover, I would lump-up pet ownership, particularly in Lima, as the “new thing” money can buy. Limenos can be very shallow and vane and will buy an expensive pure-bred pet just to say they have it and boast about it. Seen it and heard it plenty…
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Ward Welvaert
What a terrible experience. Unfortunately, not really surprising. I pay close attention to our dogs since I’ve been told poison is a big problem here in Peru, but you evidently can’t ever be totally safe.
I have to agree with “Man Ray” in that individual customs and social expectations in Peru have not kept up with the changes in lifestyle stemming from the mass migrations to the cities.
Daniel
It must be a very bad experience, but you all are making bigger than what it is. I have had pets all my life in Peru, and never had any problems with poisoning.
I really do not think this is just exclusively in Peru, I am sure it can also happen in other places, including the US 🙂
Barb
Daniel, I disagree with your opinion that I’m inflating the extent of the problem. Look at the responses: a number of Peruvians attest that they’ve had pets poisoned.
This happens rarely in the U.S. — in fact, if a person kills someone’s pet, he or she can be prosecuted under U.S. law. That’s not the case in Peru or in other Latin American countries, however.
Daniel
“Daniel, I disagree with your opinion that I’m inflating the extent of the problem.”
—Well I disagree with your disagreement. I have heard of cases as well, but it IS NOT something that happens all the time or that is a big problem. Most pet owners can feel safe their pet will come back safe. I have had pets all my life and friends also have them and they have never had them poisoned.
“Look at the responses: a number of Peruvians attest that they’ve had pets poisoned.”
—-I only see a few comments of people who have gone through that, and it is sad, BUT, does that mean that this has happened to everyone of us? In Lima, there are around 8 million people, and in the whole country there are about 29 million. A couple of comments will not make this a true statement, otherwise it’d be BAD statistics 🙂
” in fact, if a person kills someone’s pet, he or she can be prosecuted under U.S. law. That’s not the case in Peru or in other Latin American countries, however.”
—– How is this not the same in Peru? Maybe some people do not know about it, but a law DOES exist, you can find it here in this link
http://www.asppa-peru.org/ley_peruana_proteccion_animales.html
PS: It is in Spanish though, hopefully someone can translate it for you
Daniel
Also I consider the title “Sport of Dog Poisoning” very offensivee
Daniel
To Man Ray: I think you should better get your facts rights, instead of trying to offend the Peruvian people.
Barb
Did I say that it happens to “everyone,” Daniel? I did not. Read more carefully.
Your objection to my position rests mainly on the fact that it hasn’t happened to you, it seems. You are blessed that your pets have been safe and should give thanks for that, I think, rather than attack those whose animals have been poisoned.
This discussion is also happening on Twitter,by the way, where a number of Peruvians have commented that their dogs were poisoned in Lima.
I find it interesting that you are “offended” at the title of my post, but you aren’t deeply bothered to hear that people’s animals are being poisoned in your country. I sense that you love Peru, but to log on repeatedly to my blog to deny that this is a problem — that doesn’t redeem the situation.
Peru’s animal rights laws are contradictory and not enforced, as anyone familiar with animal rights in Peru knows. Cock fighting is allowed because it is part of Peru’s “cultural patrimony.” The same goes for bullfighting.
In the US courts uphold animal rights laws and award compensation to victims, but you won’t find that in Peru, whose legal system is weak by the standards of the developed world.
Man Ray
Daniel,
I am Peruvian, born and raised in Lima until age 21. Travelled extensively- lived abroad for many years and am back now in Peru for professional reasons.
My observations are not meant to insult myself (as a Peruvian ), but to relate my views on the issues outlined in this piece.
I’ve come to realize that Peruvian national pride will often get in the way of reason. I see it at all levels of society here; in households-families, schools, the private sector (including professional groups), public office, civil service, etc.
The first step in fixing something is to recognize that there’s a problem. Otherwise, we live in a society like in the fable, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, where everyone knows the king is naked, but none will say anything about it for fear (among others) of being out of step with the status quo.
I think this post has sparked a very interesting debate.
Thanks American In Lima!
Camila
Stuart, don’t imagine my comment written in bad blood because it wasn’t -and until they don’t invent video comments I guess that will stays as an unclear territory. In sociological terms, lower class, middle class and high class is not an insult but a description and has no association with the notion of race —which only makes sense, for race is only a construct and doesn’t have a scientific existence.
You say you talk based on your experience, well, I talk based on mine, and luckily I haven’t heard a single time where this activity has been done in the free time and the motives for killing a pet were pleasure.
I’m pretty sure you love Peru and that you have no intention of doing anything negative. I just think this kind of statements, as you already noticed, generalized social structures that are more complex.
Camila
And I feel in the same way when it’s applied to other countries, for it extends a behavior practiced by a few to a whole nation.
For instance this american acquaintance told me that it is known that near the border of Texas, it’s pretty common that if they see a shadow running they just shoot at it thinking it is someone crossing. Not only they did it in their free time but they did it happily thinking it was the right thing. This kind of things creates the kind of comments that we all know about, ‘american love guns’ and other kind of things that I know by first hand aren’t identity traits of americans.
Still, it has happened and therefore it’s great it gets out there and that it’s known but I would never deduce that ‘americans shoot illegal aliens as a hobby’.
and I also pro discussing, for only good things come out of it.
Barb
I agree that stereotyping can be unjust, but to take the example that you give, Camila — yes, I would say that Americans love guns! About 45% of Americans or 52 million American households own guns. It’s something that I despise about my country, and I don’t take offense when outsiders criticize that aspect of U.S. society because I deplore guns and violence.
I also will admit that there are plenty of sick Americans who commit acts of violence against immigrants. It’s all over the news lately, anti-immigrant sentiment. Some young Peruvians were beat up in Virginia last year by white Americans specifically because they were illegals, and there have been worse instances. As a matter of fact, U.S. citizens along the Texas border have organized into informal posses to “help” Homeland Security police the border, and they carry guns and will use them. Lots of disturbing web sites out there (americanpatrol.com ) that advocate war on illegals and arming oneself to the teeth to “protect” one’s family against the alien threat. When illegals are shot and it makes the news, these US “patriots” congratulate the shooter — it is a type of sport, if you call it. Paintball for real.
I love America but I acknowledge that its problems and violence are real, and I am not threatened when a foreigner raises these issues.
Camila
I understand what is your take in this problem and I feel I share your concerns, and because of that I wanted to share my “insider” knowledge with you, which is the reason why I mentioned the ways I’ve heard of —which should also include robbers trying to get rid of the watchdog.
then I read Stuart’s comment and I felt it was somehow unreal, because from the five cases I’ve heard, all the owner were as upset, confused and sad as you were. this is why I thought it was irresponsible, because if it was a hobby then the peruvians owners wouldn’t have reacted in this way.
but in the end I do think everybody has the right to experience reality and form an opinion of their own, so I hope my comments didn’t add more distress to your experience.
regarding the fact that you don’t feel threatened, that’s great because there is nothing to be threatened about, because the worst that can happen to a problem it’s that it remains unknown. In fact, that’s pretty much why I enjoy your writing because you give an interesting perspective about the things you experience, yet probably some would disagree with the description of these practices as ‘The sport of killing illegal alliens in america’.
and I guess that has to do with the word ‘sport’ having associated meanings with positive competitiveness, performance and the possibility of reward, which somehow it didn’t apply to me to neither case, but know that I’ve learned that shooters get congratulated then I guess I don’t know anymore.
Daniel
To me the title seems to imply that it is a very popular practice in the country, which is not. And again, a few cases won’t make this a very widespread issue.
As I said before, I am very sad for the pet owners, and certainly it must be a horrible situation, and whether I love or not Peru makes no sense in this discussion.
With regards of the laws that protect animals, I have seen and read cases where these laws have been enforced. Perhaps some of you don’t know since you don’t understand Spanish, and also the ASPPA is doing a great job protecting animals. But, perhaps some of you did not know it exists as well.
And the US legal system is a very broad topic that I will not waste my time debating about. I do a lot research, and you statement might not be supported by many interesting facts out there 🙂
To man ray: who hasn’t said this problem does not exist? it does, and it is not exclusively to Peru, but we can not say it is big concern or issue from my perspective.
Daniel
or that it is a very popular “sport” in Peru
Daniel
And, I agree with your point Camila
Barb
Daniel, lay off saying that I don’t understand Spanish.
Man Ray
Camila, Daniel:
You guys are just clinging to the word “sport” to defend your national pride and are beating this thing to death. No pun intended…
Sure, dog/cat/bird/pet poisoning is a common problem in Lima/Peru. Be it for revenge against a neighbor or to quiet their noisy animal, or to stop the dog from pooing in their lawn, or just out of pure ignorance-sheer evil.
People frequently poision animals here in Peru, and there are no animal rights laws to prevent-it.
Broaching the subject at an upscale gathering last Friday, a “prominent” Peruvian told me matter-of-fact, that him and a bunch of neighbors got together and decided to poison the neighbor’s cats that where taking over the street.
A simple call to the culprit’s house, or ringing Serenazgo could have taken care of the roaming cat problem. But no, posion was the obvious group choice.
I am convinced it is, for most, a cultural thing to regard pets as disposable here in Peru.
Daniel
I disagree with you Man Ray. I don’t know where you live, but in my district and community I have never heard of itvery,but I have heard cases from other people, and obviously people who do these things must have problems.
Camila
Dear M.R,
I not only don’t share the same argument Daniel and you have, in fact I don’t agree with how you both deliver your comments but I didn’t address neither of you exactly because my response doesn’t come from national pride. Because if that was the case I would take whatever comments are on “my side” to form an alliance of “them against us”. but I value understanding, and I like addressing topics in a complex way.
I read Barbara’s blog for some time now and I really like it so I felt very sad that his had happened to her. I thought Stuart’s comment in combination with other responses, had an untrue tone to them and that this altogether had led Barbara to think that this is something comparable to a sport -which as I said have different meaning associations, and have a positive light to them.
In my interest for her to understand what I meant I mentioned the killing illegal aliens which is a reality that happens but that by calling it a sport would acquire a meaning that it’s not true and therefore would make it more difficult to understand, to access and to address. Barbara’s response seemed to imply that she was understanding that my comments was me feeling threatened by a foreigner talking about the real issues about this country. and this is when I felt that I was not really making myself understood and that I would just leave everybody to their right to their own opinion.
I have experience in getting involved in the real problems of peruvian society, this including visiting the victims of years of terror here in Peru and learning their stories and in my years of theory and practice it was always important to address the problems with the words that describe them.
But in the end, history is filled with inadequate namings so if I have to choose between calling it “the sport of killing dogs of peru”, and “the sport of killing illegal aliens in america” or raise this topic in such a way that it would stop the actual killing. I would instantly choose the second.
by the way, Man Ray was a great fotógrafo and artist in general. Kudos to the nickname.
Daniel
I agree with you Camila. I personally try to be as straightforward as possible.
Personally, I consider the title Offensive to everyone. It pretty much implies that everyone in Peru, for just some cases that happened, practice or like to poison dogs, which is totally wrong.
And, certainly “The Sport of Killing Illegal Immigrants” or “the Sport of Killing others Oversees” as in Iraq and Afghanistan will probably not be as fair to say, even though this is being done by many people in the US, in regards of people from the US. And this is more serious, since it is people, and not animals.
What’s up with Human Rights in regards with this matter?
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Gabriela
Hey all. I am peruvian and even contemplated giving a “bocado” to certain dog that bit my little brother many years ago when he was 6. The dog was vaccinated but was one vicious dog that was let free on the streets all the time!
Everytime we come back to Peru we still see many dogs free on the streets, sold for cheap in the markets or given away like nothing. I even a relative that changes dogs like pieces of furniture, because they got sick and died, they got killed by a car, etc.
I have to agree with everyone that pet protection and overall pet regulations are still by far behind Europe and North America.
The peruvian culture towards pets are in most cases treating them as objects that you can love, but can dispose of if it becomes a nuissance. It is a fact. Most people in Peru will see a poisoned dog on the streets and never cringe. Sad, but true.
Just because people don’t give it a second thought or special consideration to killing a pet, I wouldn’t consider it a sport, or a hobby.
Much needs to change in Peru, and I can only sympathize with Barb, I feel bad for you, since you obviously care for your pets as much as some peruvians even do, and come from a pet-caring culture like yours. I hope you find some relieve to know that most peruvians simply do not know better.
remi
I’m ashamed of being south-american, I live in Ecuador and dog-poisoning is a very common “hobby” for some people here too, I wish I could give those vicious-ignorant bastards a bit of bocado too, my friend’s dog was poisoned yesterday and it’s strugling at the vet’s, I hope it hasn’t been to late for him.
Barb
Sorry, Remi, your friend’s dog got poisoned.
Thanks, G, for your good wishes. Peruvians do need to become aware that it is wrong to poison other people’s pets.
Janet S.
I’m peruvian and live in Lima and yes! I’ve had that problem too. From my five dogs, two of them got poisoned in different days and once I found one homeless dog almost dying in the street because it seemed that one neighbor had left “bocado” in her garden. Happily I was able to take all of them to the vet on time and the homeless one (he was a puppy) was adopted at the end!!
But no way I would call that a sport or a hobby. That is a condemnable action that unscrupulous people take against defenseless creatures. They do it anonymously and hidden, protected by the dark of the night they leave “bocado” in their gardens, streets, parks, throw it inside one neighbor’s house or pay another person to do it. That’s not a sport nor a hobby, that’s a coward, cruel and ruin action commited by insane people and that is completely unacceptable by most peruvians. That’s what it is!
Dr Cathy
Check out the work of World Vets (www.worldvets.org). We had a team in Lima last week to start a long-term spay/neuter program. We work in many areas of Central and South America to help stop poisonings of animals. It is a common problem in many places that stems from pet-overpopulation. It was very heartwarming to see how much people love their pets in Peru. We are going to help with the problem. World Vets is working on this project in collaboration with Grupo Cardidad, an animal welfare charity based in Lima. Please help spread the word about World Vets. We are on Facebook too: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/World-Vets/75896151570?v=wall&ref=mf.
Thanks
Barb
I’m glad to hear about World Vets and to learn that another NGO is stepping in to help usher in more humane treatment of animals in Peru. Yes, please continue to work to stop this practice of dog-poisoning in Peru and elsewhere in Latin America. In Peru it’s become a common form of retaliation for politicians to get back at one another by poisoning one another’s dogs. Another incidence of this happened this past week.
I encourage readers to visit the World Vets page and to learn how your can help support the group’s mission.
Shahida
I think this is disgusting to say the least. The Peruvian Government needs to look at the misery caused. Frankly, I cannot understand anyone who can enjoy or laugh at misery. Be it to an animal or human being.
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