Friday, July 18, 2025

Ecatepec bans use of animal-drawn carts for garbage collection

A new law went into effect in Ecatepec, México state, on the weekend ruling that horses and donkeys can no longer be used to haul trash, a bid to end a longstanding practice that continues to this day even in some urban neighborhoods.

Mayor Fernando Vilches Contreras said the new law aims to end the exploitation and abuse of horses and donkeys. Ecatepec will have zero tolerance for those attempting to flout the new law, which prohibits using animals to haul or carry waste of any kind. Waste hauled by animals to Ecatepec’s landfill will not be accepted, he said.

With these changes, he said, “… from this day forward, we take a vanguard step toward the protection of the rights of living beings.”

The equines have been heretofore used to haul all kinds of refuse, including household trash and landscaping waste. Their owners, known as carretoneros (haulers), number in the hundreds in Ecatepec and have been accused of overworking the animals with little regard to their care. Animal welfare organizations such as Defensoría Animal had been calling on Vilches to end the practice in his municipality since at least 2018.

Since that year, eight horses used in four neighborhoods to collect garbage have been seized by the city’s environmental office due to their maltreatment by carretoneros.

The animals were rehabilitated at municipal facilities for Ecatepec’s mounted police and at the Ehécatl Ecological Park, and then sent to live at equine sanctuaries in México state and Puebla.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Reporte Indigo (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A man stands by an open suitcase in an airport revision area

Foreign national caught with over a million pesos of ketamine in Cancún airport

0
Officials confiscated 2 kilograms of ketamine, a controlled substance in Mexico.
two people walkin gby a for rent sign

Can rent control stop gentrification? Mexico City officials plan to find out

9
Political leaders in the nation's capital have reached into their anti-gentrification toolkit and come up with an approach that goes straight to the heart of the problem.
cell phone with Uber

Mexican authorities slam Uber’s price hike: ‘Unilateral and irresponsible’

2
The ride-hailing app insists that the rise is necessary after recent labor reforms gave its drivers full employee rights, including IMSS membership.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity