Activists in western Mexico are demanding that authorities continue digging at a suspected clandestine burial site after dogs were seen nibbling at human body parts. The group representing families of missing people in the state of Jalisco expressed concerns that the police might leave the site unattended due to a long holiday weekend. They fear that more evidence could be lost as the site had already been disturbed by dogs.
The volunteer search group, known as the Light of Hope, has recovered 41 bags of human remains at the site. The discovery was made earlier this month when dogs were spotted carrying a human leg and a skull.
"It is outrageous that the authorities, who can't keep pace, take the weekends and holidays off and don't work extra shifts to continue with this investigation," stated the group in a press release.
Officials have not provided any information on the number of bodies the bags may contain.
Cartel Violence in the Region
Guadalajara has long been plagued by turf battles between different factions of the drug cartel operating in the region. Over the years, numerous bodies have been found at clandestine sites, victims of the ongoing violence.
One common method used by drug cartels is to dispose of executed rivals or kidnapping victims by placing their bodies in plastic bags and throwing them into shallow pits.
Unfortunately, the presence of dogs or wild animals in these areas can disturb the remains and destroy important pieces of evidence, such as tattoos, clothing fragments, and fingerprints, which are crucial for identifying the victims.
This is not the first time animals have led authorities to bodies in Mexico. In November of last year, police in the state of Oaxaca discovered a dismembered human body after noticing a dog running down the street with a human arm in its mouth. This led investigators to uncover other parts of the body in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Oaxaca city.
Similarly, in a town in the state of Zacatecas, residents witnessed a dog running down the street with a human head in its mouth. Eventually, the police were able to retrieve the head from the dog.
In a gruesome incident, body parts were found in an automatic teller booth in the town of Monte Escobedo, accompanied by a message linked to a drug cartel.
In Mexico, drug cartels often leave messages along with dismembered human remains as a means of intimidating their rivals or authorities.
In June 2022, the bodies of seven men were discovered in a popular tourist region, with warning messages written on their corpses, referencing the Gulf Cartel, which primarily operates along the U.S. border to the north.
In April 2022, six severed heads were reportedly found on a car roof in Mexico, accompanied by a sign warning others: "This will happen to anyone who messes around."
Shocking discoveries at mass graves
Mexican police and other authorities have long struggled to allocate the necessary time and resources to search for clandestine grave sites where gangs often bury their victims.
Due to the lack of assistance from officials, many mothers and family members have taken it upon themselves to search for their missing loved ones, forming volunteer search teams known as "colectivos."
At times, the scale of these discoveries is truly shocking.
In July, searchers found 27 bodies in clandestine graves in the Mexican border city of Reynosa, opposite McAllen, Texas, with many of the victims having been brutally dismembered.
In February, 31 bodies were exhumed by authorities from two clandestine graves in western Mexico. Last year, volunteer searchers found 11 bodies in clandestine burial pits just a few miles from the U.S. border.
In 2020, a search group said that it found 59 bodies in a series of clandestine burial pits in the north-central state of Guanajuato.
Mexico has more than 100,000 disappeared, according to government data. Most are thought to have been killed by drug cartels, their bodies dumped into shallow graves, burned or dissolved.
