Mérida, Yucatán — Technology can find you a ride, a meal or even a date. Why not a new four-footed friend?
The Adopta Project, a digital platform with 200 dogs and cats looking for homes, was unveiled this week.
The City Council Monday presented adopta.com.mx in collaboration with 14 civil associations.
Adopta facilitates animal adoption by gathering information on dogs and cats available to adopt in a single site.
During the presentation, Mayor Maria Fritz Sierra said the city has put into service a cutting-edge technological tool and innovation that will help in the protection of animal rights.
She added that the website will help to raise awareness among the population of the importance of rescuing and adopting animals that, due to various situations, end up on the street.
“For a society to be harmonious, human beings, fauna and flora should coexist in a good way,” Fritz Sierra remarked.
In addition to the Municipal Center for Animal Control, there are 14 groups included so far: Cinco Patas, Colitas Felices, de Tixkokob; Connie Pro Adopciones, El Hogar de Gaby, Huellitas de Amor, Gladys Pérez, Georgina Vázquez and Mayra Díaz; La Casa de Aidita; Luz María Argüelles, Perpópolis, Magali Tamayo, Manadas de Amor, Sanando Patitas and ExpoCan.
Kindness to animals has been a thrust of the current administration. The municipal president noted that the Animal Protection Unit since its inception in 2015 has investigated 417 cases of abused animals. The city veterinary module has attended to 11,320 pets and has been able to find homes for 1,000 animals.
Natalia Uprimny Salazar, Adopta Project coordinator and co-owner of Mercado 60, explained that with this project it is possible to gather in a single site information that was scattered across various networks, web pages or online groups. The site has filters to help narrow search results, and a portal to add information on a captured stray.
Mérida’s stray pet problem remains dire. More than 50,000 cats and dogs roam wild, estimated Uprimny Salazar, who created the project as part of a thesis in her native Colombia.
Sources: Diario de Yucatán, Punto Medio
