Eagles, pups and a killer granny

In 2025, Mexico News Daily once again covered plenty of “hard news” and “bad news” stories.

As we have done since MND was founded more than 11 years ago, we also reported numerous stories that made us laugh, brought a smile to our faces, warmed our hearts and even left us scratching our heads in bewilderment.

Now, as we approach the end of the year, it’s time to look back at the amusing, uplifting, inspirational, heartening, gratifying, strange, surreal and “only in Mexico” stories MND published this year.

We continue today with a compilation of articles we published between April and June.

Click here to read our Q1 compilation, and look out for our “México Magico” compendiums for the last two quarters of the year in the coming days!

México mágico: A look back at MND’s weird and wonderful stories in the second quarter of 2025  

The second quarter of the year had just begun when we reported on an unusual murder: the killing of two alleged squatters by a 74-year-old grandmother, who owned the property her victims were apparently occupying without permission.

‘Killer granny’ goes viral after shooting alleged squatters in México state

Grandma Carlota’s actions earned her the nicknames “abuelita sicaria” (the killer granny) and “abuelita justiciera” (the vigilante granny) on social media, and sparked polarized reactions across Mexico and a bucketload of memes — ranging from praise to condemnation.

In much better news, we had an uplifting story about the sighting of a striking, almost mythical-looking eagle that was thought to be extinct in Mexico. However, the harpy eagle’s reappearance in Chiapas was not a major cause for celebration as the population of the species remains critically small.

In other news from the natural world, we had a story about the identification of two previously unknown crocodile species inhabiting two islands off the Yucatán Peninsula.

Meanwhile, the animal inhabitants of a wildlife sanctuary near Culiacán, Sinaloa, were forced to migrate, by truck, to a new refuge in Mazatlán to escape cartel violence in and around the state capital. In a story of surreal sadness, it appeared that not even elephants, tigers and lions were safe from the Sinaloa Cartel’s bloody internecine war.

Mystical eagle thought to be extinct in Mexico reappears in Chiapas

A story about a pack of stargazing dogs who guard the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá lifted our spirits, as did the news that the Mexican Senate had approved a nationwide ban on shows in which dolphins and other marine mammals perform.

In Q2, we also covered the “pawsome” news that the pharmacy chain Farmacias Similares had launched its first SimiPet Care veterinary clinic in Mexico City.

Furthermore, continuing a long-running tradition at MND, we reported on yet more Guinness World Records set in Mexico. In Acapulco, the resort city’s famed cliff divers were recognized for completing 5 million headfirst dives, while in Mazatlán a new Guinness World Record was set for the longest serving of sashimi in the world — a one-kilometer-long stretch of fresh tuna, no less.

Another new Guinness World Record holder is Viridiana Álvarez, a mountaineer from the city of Aguascalientes who is the first woman to summit all of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters and the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each continent. What an achievement!

Anyone in need of even more inspiration would have found over five hours’ worth in this article about Mexican open-water swimmer David Olvera, who set an unofficial world record for his sensational — and undoubtedly exhausting — swim around New York’s Manhattan Island.

Among the other out-of-the-ordinary stories we covered in the second quarter of the year were those about a proposal in Jalisco to introduce temporary marriages; the entry into effect of the Chair Law, giving Mexico’s workers the legislated right to sit down for periodic breaks; the assembly in Toluca of the largest chorizo torta ever made; the naming of a New York street after Mexican regional music band Los Tigres del Norte; and the election of El Chapo’s former lawyer as a judge in the state of Chihuahua.

Regional Mexican music takes over NPR’s Tiny Desk

We also reported on two Regional Mexican music performances on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series; the inclusion of President Sheinbaum and Mexican actor Diego Luna on Time magazine’s  “100 most influential people of 2025” list; the formation by more than 5,000 people of a huge LGBTQ+ flag in Mexico City; and an annual ritual in the small community of Zitlala, Guerrero, in which residents perform a centuries-old ceremonial battle in jaguar costumes in exchange for rain.