Last week, Mexico’s Senate approved historic legislation that, once ratified by the states, will enshrine animal protection in the Constitution.

The bill was passed unanimously by the Chamber of Deputies on Nov. 12 (450-0) and, on Nov. 20, the Senate approved the measure unanimously as well (117-0). The legislation must now be approved by a majority of Mexico’s 32 local congresses to become law.

The new law amends three articles of the Constitution and empowers Congress to enact animal welfare laws. It also mandates the humane treatment of animals as a mandatory guideline in all educational institutions nationwide.

The Humane Society International (HSI) praised the legislation: “By granting animal protection the highest importance in Mexico’s legal framework, the reform safeguards the legal protection granted to animals from being easily undone by future legislation.”

The reform aims “to protect animals, guarantee their well-being, provide them attention, good treatment, maintenance, accommodation, natural development, health and avoiding abuse, cruelty, suffering, zoophilia and the deformation of their physical characteristics, as well as ensuring the animal health, […] and satisfactory treatment of and general welfare of animals,” as per the bill’s text.

“With this constitutional reform,” said Anton Aguilar, executive director for HSI Mexico, “the government has taken a significant step toward ensuring that the protection and welfare of animals become a priority in public policy.”

Secondly, the reform requires all public schools to include the protection and welfare of animals within their curricula.

The reform also requires Congress to pass legislation that coordinates all federal, state and municipal laws related to animal protection and establishes penalties for violations.

According to El Economista, Senator Luis Donaldo Colosio of the Citizens Movement (MC) party said the reform is a crucial step toward making Mexico a country where all forms of life are respected. “Empathy must transcend words and be reflected in our actions,” he said.

Mexico is the third worst country in the world concerning the mistreatment of animals, according to a 2021 report by the national statistics agency INEGI. The survey revealed that more than 60,000 animals die annually in Mexico as a result of mistreatment.

Senator Paloma Sánchez of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), citing past INEGI surveys, told the online publication Línea Directa that there are 80 million pets in Mexico, but approximately 70% of all dogs and cats are homeless.

“This … reform has the power to transform the lives of millions of animals — from stray dogs and cats enduring cruelty, disease and neglect, to the billions of farm animals exploited for food, and the countless wildlife threatened by illegal trade,” HSI Director Aguilar concluded.

With reports from El Economista, Línea Directa, Wired and Humane Society International