Thirty percent of the livestock sold in the cattle market of San Bernabé, in the state of Mexico (neighboring the capital), are injured, ill and even in their last throes. The handling of many animals is cruel and degrading in San Bernabé, where some 10,000 head of cattle are sold per week, Gabriela Gamboa, delegate of the state's ministry of agriculture, told Tierramérica.

Government inspectors have found that one-third of the cattle are in poor condition and many on the trade floor and aboard trucks are bleeding, or have exposed organs or bones.

The Environment Secretariat should take charge of the matter, because the agriculture portfolio is only responsible for the phytosanitary aspects, according to Gamboa.