Mario Vadillo, a lawyer and president of the Green Party, issued a strong warning to the provincial government of Mendoza due to the growing crisis of canine overpopulation, which he claims has reached 'critical levels'. Vadillo denounced that the province today has 'more dogs on the streets than in homes' and argued that state inaction for nearly twenty years is the main cause of the problem, ensuring that the 'current chaos could have been 90% avoided' if two key laws had been applied. Vadillo emphasized the existence of a specific legal framework that was not complied with and recalled that Mendoza was a pioneer by enacting Law 7603 (2006), which declared the province 'non-euthanizing' by prohibiting killing as a population control method. Subsequently, Law 8246 (2010) was approved, which 'mandates the implementation of a massive, systematic, and free program of castration of dogs and cats'. For Vadillo, 'everything we suffer today was foreseen and prohibited', and the solution is clear, as 'the only effective way to control urban populations is through sustained and widespread sterilization'. Vadillo stressed that the failure is essentially political and not social, stating: 'In twenty years, no provincial government implemented a plan that even came close to what the law mandates'. He then listed the main risks, ranging from the 'real sanitary risk' due to unvaccinated dogs, the existence of feral dogs that attack wildlife and people, 'economic losses' from packs in rural areas, to the multiplication of abandonment and conflict. Vadillo rejected the discourse that tends to blame exclusively pet owners, arguing that Mendoza society has shown more empathy through 'more adoptions, more foster homes, more volunteers sustaining entire neighborhoods'. To reverse the crisis, he demanded concrete measures from the Government, including the urgent implementation of a 'massive, monthly, and sustained castration plan'. Finally, Vadillo emphasized that the solution does not lie in creating new regulations, but in the strict compliance of existing laws. 'When the State does not castrate, it multiplies abandonment,' said the lawyer.
