Thursday, December 5, 2024

Senate passes legislation that enshrines animal welfare in Constitution

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.

A senator brought his pet to a session that voted on a new animal well-being reform
The reform was passed unanimously in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)

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.”

Dogs accompany their owner during the Sunday Walk on Avenida Paseo de la Reforma.
The new law empowers Congress to enact animal welfare laws, while also mandating education on the humane treatment of animals in all educational institutions nationwide. (Magdalena Montiel Velázquez/Cuartoscuro)

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

7 COMMENTS

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A Mexican man in a green jacket and green baseball cap stands outside the Chamber of Deputies in Mexico City, exhaling a a thick white cloud of smoking after inhaling from a vaping device. He is part of a protest to keep vaping legal.

Mexico’s lower house votes to ban vaping devices and e-cigarettes

0
The bill to make a 2022 presidential ban on the devices part of Mexico's constitution now goes on to debate in the Senate.
Portrait of a Mexican jaguar.

Activists sound alarm over removal of wildlife from around Maya Train

0
The activist group Sélvame del Tren is warning about the practices of a company hired to do species management around the tourist train's tracks.
Fentanyl bust in Sinaloa

Federal authorities intercept more than 20 million fentanyl doses in Sinaloa

3
The Sinaloa security operation, completed in two separate actions, was the largest fentanyl bust in Mexican history.