Minority Report

Cultural attitudes - or stereotypes?

One traditional stereotype among the welfare community is that Hispanic and Latino communities won't alter their animals, and that the people believe spaying and neutering violates core Catholic religious principles. In fact, it doesn't. But the church has influenced other cultural attitudes.

"The Catholic Church plays a very important role in this," says Vigo, "because they approve everything. For as long as anyone can remember, when an animal was being abused in any form, the Catholic Church would hold the position that men have dominion over them, and animals are here to do whatever we want with them."

But others disagree that the church is at the heart of how attitudes are shaped within the community. Steve Zawitowski of the ASPCA says economics plays a stronger role. "These communities are often ill-served in terms of social services across the board. Let's face it. Their schools aren't the greatest. The streets aren't repaired. The infant mortality rate is that of a third-world country. We aren't protecting their kids either.

"So I don't think you can so easily chalk it up to 'Well, they have a different culture and approach to contraception.' The color of what's in their wallet is a better predictor of attitudes toward altering animals than the color of their skin. They are having problems just getting food on the table, getting the kids clothed, getting the kids books they need for school. So getting the dog spayed or neutered is probably not high on the list."

Still, the male dominant attitude within the Latino community can sometimes seem an impenetrable barrier to controlling pet populations. Priding themselves on machismo, many men will agree to spay females but refuse to have their male dogs neutered.

One program launching in February may help to change those attitudes. The Yucatan Animal Rescue Foundation (YARF) has been holding spay/neuter clinics in Mexico for four years. They've worked to overcome the cultural resistance to altering pets. Now they hope to educate American veterinarians and animal welfare workers by bringing them to Mexico for intense immersion programs in both the language and culture, in hopes that the experience will help them make inroads into solving problems in their own Latino communities in the U.S.

While holding their spay/neuter clinics, the group gained invaluable insight. "We had some experiences where resentment built up with the veterinarians in Mexico," explains Lewis Suiter, the foundation's program director. "We were fortunate to have a Mexican veterinarian participate, but instead of him developing his surgical skills with our veterinarians, which he wanted to do, he ended up being the person at the reception desk because he was the only one who spoke Spanish. And he was really having to work hard to explain spaying and neutering. He would try to talk to people about the importance to the pet's health and their overall quality of life. It struck me that if he was having that kind of difficulty getting them (usually the men) to agree for the dog to be neutered or spayed, what chance would somebody in the U.S. have, who wasn't part of the community, who didn't even speak Spanish, to make that same argument to Hispanics?"

Suiter hopes the new program in the U.S. will address that issue. Participants will attend language classes in the morning and then spend time with Mexican veterinarians in their clinics, gaining a true understanding of the public's needs, attitudes and concerns, and learning how best to communicate the humane message.

"Hopefully the American veterinarians will build some relationships that will enable them to provide ongoing professional information and resources for the Mexican veterinarians, who in turn will provide insight into their culture. It requires an investment on the part of veterinarians and animal welfare workers, but the benefit is they'll be able to understand the nuances of Latino neighborhoods and then communicate a different set of values."

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