The story of a dog named Yoni, reportedly abandoned during Hurricane Melissa's floods in Cuba, sparked a media campaign that exposed tensions in animal rights activism. Though the dog and its owner were safe, the case drew criticism for prioritizing pets over broader needs. It highlighted challenges like inadequate oversight of veterinary clinics and fragmented organizations.
Hurricane Melissa struck Cuba's eastern provinces, causing the Cauto River—the country's largest—to flood dozens of communities. Nearly 100,000 people were evacuated, including about 16,000 by helicopter, with dramatic rescues from rooftops and isolated areas. In that context, on October 31, the organization Bienestar Animal de Cuba (BAC) reported that a dog was abandoned during an evacuation because its owner was not allowed to take it on the helicopter.
BAC's Havana chapter launched a social media campaign demanding 'proof of life' for the animal and a rescue mission. Independent media and South Florida outlets joined, even proposing to remove the dog from Cuba to avoid reprisals. However, on November 10, journalist and activist Rubén Javier Pérez visited Cauto el Paso in Granma province and found Yoni and its owner safe and unaware of the media stir.
As residents struggled to recover—the river reached 4,000 cubic meters per second, 70 times its normal volume, with waters rising over three meters—Pérez reported losses of animals like piglets, horses, and sheep. He criticized BAC's campaign as a 'tantrum' on social media, noting no members visited the area and they called to report state media pages like Radio Bayamo amid the emergency.
Dissident Manuel Viera accused BAC of hypocrisy for focusing on dogs and cats while ignoring thousands of affected cows, pigs, and chickens, and overshadowing human issues like political prisoners and disaster victims. BAC sidestepped the controversy, emphasizing prior confrontations with authorities and critical views among members.
The case could have pushed for updated evacuation protocols but remained brief headlines. Amid 21 fragmented organizations—only BAC and Aniplant with national reach, the latter legally recognized—challenges like emigration, epidemics, and Havana bias persist. Incidents such as complaints against Mascolive clinic for negligence and the unregulated pet emigration business underscore the need for oversight in the private veterinary sector.