Cuban animal lovers hope new law changes attitudes

Havana's streets teem with abandoned animals and are littered with carcasses of chickens sacrificed in religious rituals, while, behind closed doors, dogs are thrown into illegal deadly fights.

But things are changing in Cuba thanks to pressure from a growing middle class, and the island nation will soon pass a law to protect animal rights.

Cuba's streets are full of dogs and cats in a poor state, often abandoned for economic reasons. The lucky ones are picked up by individuals or animal welfare groups who sometimes go hungry to feed them.

In Havana's San Miguel del Padron neighborhood, 49-year-old housewife Noris Perez organizes her life around 23 cats and 38 rugged dogs, the first of which was rescued eight years ago from a pavement where it was suffering from epileptic fits.

The large dogs live in kennels on the roof while the smaller ones and cats call the kitchen home.

Cats and dogs are seen at a private animal shelter in Havana.

The aim of the new law is to "guarantee the physical and mental integrity of animals."

While offenders could be hit with fines and even prison sentences, the main aim is to change attitudes because "the science of animal welfare is something new."

There's also the issue of confronting a religious tradition of animal sacrifice amongst the Santeria cult - a religion created in Cuba that mixes Catholicism with the Nigerian Yoruba faith brought to the island nation by slaves.

Even more controversial is the question of cock and dog fights.

Often organized in secret at out of town locations, these combats to the death between two specially trained animals are often so savage that the victor also succumbs to its injuries.

That's not the case for cock fighting, though. It's an activity that is so anchored in Cuban culture that the family of late revolutionary hero Fidel Castro owned a fighting ring.

Even a dog fighting fan, who also insisted on anonymity, admitted that "watching two dogs fight is not good." However, he said he enjoyed the spectacle on which people can place bets worth thousands of dollars, and even risk their homes.

A man trains his dog to fight in Havana.