Neither dogs nor cats nor birds escape the consequences of the serious food crisis that the island crosses.
Miami, United States. – The Food Program Independent Observatory (FMP) He denounced on Wednesday the hunting of the pitarreTyrannus Dominicensis) In the East of Cuba, where its meat would be selling in the informal market to 400 pesos La Libra.
The FMP warned that Pitirre is a migratory species with key ecological functions and urged the authorities to act with “social justice” without criminalizing subsistence practices in a society without resources.
According to the FMP thread in X, this little bird reproduces in Cuba and every winter migrates to South America by the minor Antilles, during its seasonal passage on the island it concentrates on rivers, lagoons and water mirrors, which makes it easy in wet areas of the East.
The FMP also described that for its capture improvised weapons, including compressed air raffles 4.5 mm and cartridged shotguns, the latter subject to the Decree-Law 262, On weapons and ammunition in Cuba.
The Observatory also synthesized the dilemma in terms of food security and conservation: “Like other elements of Cuban fauna and flora, in a context of scarcity and hunger, the Pitirre becomes a ‘temporary lifeguard’ for empty tables. But: what happens to the ecological balance that breaks with this hunt?”.
The organization also requested policies that reconcile food urgency with environmental sustainability, in a country affected by poverty, inflation and collapse of basic services.
In general, the FMP frames the phenomenon within a polysis that has triggered the indiscriminate use of natural resources: logging for prolonged blackouts and lack of gas, illegal hunting of jutías and iguanas, and intense fishing of crabs and river shrimp. The observatory itself has documented Recently the link between survival and deforestation in columns and reports.
Reports of Cubanet They show that, in scarcity contexts, unusual consumption practices resurface. In 2019, The images transcended of a man in Santiago de Cuba who drew a cat allegedly to feed.
More recently, in 2023, Cuban activists asked the population to protect their pets, after reporting the increase in cases of robberies and murders of dogs and cats for food purposes. “Save their pets and have them very safe in their homes that in Cuba the same thing is eaten than cats and dogs,” He warned then Activist Bonne Gamboa activist.
That same year, an individual identified as Gilberto area, aka El Nene, was exposed on social networks for feeding with domestic and wild animals. “This man said he could not spend on 24, Christmas Eve, without eating meat, and here they look what fought [un perro]. The aura no longer was enough [tiñosa que cazó y se comió en noviembre de 2023]”, Denounced on Facebook the Holguin Yasel Bravo, who also shared photos and videos of man with the remains of both animals.
In 2024, the columnist of Cubanet Ana León recalled Similar episodes of the 90s and compared them with recent events: “The cat ceased to be just a domestic animal to become a substitute for rabbit meat,” he wrote.
