The Quintana Roo Congress has passed a new animal protection law that bans both bullfighting and cockfights in the state.

The Congress said in a statement that the Animal Protection and Welfare Law incorporates proposals made by the public and prohibits acts that involve suffering or harm to animals such as bullfighting and cockfights.

The law also establishes new regulations for the breeding, rearing, sale and exhibition of animals as well as for the capture of lost or abandoned animals.

In addition, it limits the number of animals that can be kept in shelters and establishes requirements for owning a pet.

Quintana Roo becomes the fourth state to outlaw bullfighting after Sonora, Guerrero and Coahuila, and the second to prohibit cockfights after Veracruz.

In contrast, bullfighting is considered intangible cultural heritage in the states of Aguascalientes, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Querétaro, Tlaxcala and Zacatecas.

Several states, including Puebla, México and Tlaxcala, have also afforded the same status to cockfighting.

In Mexico City, lawmakers have presented several bills that sought to ban bullfighting but as yet none has been approved.

Most recently, Morena party lawmaker Leticia Varela argued that the blood sport must be outlawed because Mexico City already guarantees dignified treatment for all living beings.

“We’re obliged to comply with what the supreme law of the country’s capital establishes,” she said.

The deputy’s proposal was referred to Congress committees for analysis.

The environment committee of the lower house of the federal Congress is also examining the issue and planning to present a bill to ban bullfighting.

“Although some people think that bullfighting is tradition and culture, it can’t be considered in that way because it doesn’t cultivate the spirit or the intellectual faculties of those who practice it, and for those who attend [the fights], even less so,” said federal deputy Pilar Lozano.

Source: Infobae (sp)