Gente por la Defensa Animal A. C. (GEPDA, People for the Defense of Animals), is a non-profit association created in Mexico City in 2000, by a group of professionals dedicated to promoting the application of humanistic principals to the protection and defense of animals.

Formerly Grupo Educación Pro Defensa Animal

Gente Por La Defensa Animal (GEPDA)  fight against animal cruelty in Mexico focuses primarily in making sure that the related government agencies enforce the law, and that all aggressors responsible for animal abuse are brought to justice.  If violators are punished, this will discourage animal violence and dissuade gruesome crimes.  By doing so GEPDA wants to create a historical precedent that will propel the animal rights movement in Mexico forward, since the laws are not seriously enforced and there is no mechanism within the government to address this issue.

Moreover, Gente por la Defensa Animal is one of the few organizations in Mexico that focuses on humane animal welfare education.

Although education will not eradicate the problem, it is an initial step to raise a new generation of compassionate children; while at the same time exposing the link between animal abuse and human abuse—meaning that people that are abuse as children tend to become abusers.

Our fundamental teachings promote a deep respect toward all animals, so that we enable Mexican families to have a  compassionate and caring outlook on the well being of animals.  GEPDA believes that by incorporating such values in the Mexican conscious, a new society will be created that has a deep respect for animals, prompting these ideas to permeate the Mexican social fabric.