For the second time in a year, authorities in Mexico have been led by a dog to mass grave site where human remains were unearthed.
At least 45 bags containing human remains have been removed in recent days from shallow pits the western state of Jalisco after stray dogs were seen roaming around with human body parts.
The discoveries were made possible after an activist group representing the families missing people expressed concerns over the lack of police investigations because of a long holiday weekend.
The grounds, located on the outskirts of the Guadalajara municipality of Zapopan, had already been dug up by dogs and there were mounting fears that evidence could disappear.
The group demanded Friday that authorities continue to dig at the site and by day’s end they had recovered 15 bags with human remains.
By Saturday, an additional 30 were found, according to María Ruíz, who oversees the volunteer search group Light of Hope.
None of the remains had been identified as of Monday.
Authorities in the western Mexican state of Jalisco have located seven shallow pits, where they have pulled out 45 bags with human remains. The discovery was made in Zapopan, Guadalajara on November 8 after dogs were seen trotting with a human skull and leg during the span of two days
Stray dogs were spotted at a clandestine burial site in Guadalajara, Mexico, where authorities have found 45 bags with human body parts and continue to search additional pits for more
Ruíz said the Jalisco State Attorney General’s Office sealed off the site November 8.
Residents in the Zapopan neighborhood of Brisas de La Primavera spotted a dog trotting with a human leg November 7. A day earlier, a dog had been seen wandering around with a human skull.
According to Ruíz, investigators found seven pits on the uninhabited property and had completed the search in four of them.
‘There are three (burial sites) that are still to be processed, because, as it was a place found by the canines, they marked seven graves and are going to work on the three that are (remaining),’ she said, as quoted by Mexican news outlet NTR.
Ruíz said that investigators also found clothing inside one of the clandestine burial sites.
In October 2022, a stray dog was seen with a human leg in the streets of Irapuato, in the central state of Guanajuato. Authorities were able to locate the grave site and found 51 human remains.
A Jalisco state worker digs through the ground at a burial site where authorities have so far found 45 bags with human remains
More than 112,000 people are missing in Mexico, most have been kidnapped since 2004 when the administration of former President Felipe Calderón declared war on drug cartels and criminal organizations
Authorities in the Mexican town of Zapopan have found seven shallow graves, including four from where 45 bags with human remains have been located
The state of Guadalajara has been besieged by ongoing turf battles between multiple drug cartels, and hundreds of bodies have been dumped at clandestine sites there.
The criminal organizations are known for stuffing the bodies of dead rivals or kidnapping victims in plastic bags and dump them in the shallow graves.
More than 112,000 people have been reported missing in Mexico since the government starting keep stats in 1964.
However, most of the abductions have taken place since 2006 after the administration of former President Felipe Calderón declared war on drug cartels and other criminal organizations.