Animal Welfare in Mexico

Woof

Walking the streets of most towns and cities in Mexico, one might come to the conclusion that animal welfare is either an afterthought or a completely absent concept here. Of the roughly 23 million dogs and cats in Mexico, a whopping 70% live on the streets, making their way through the kindness of neighbors and discarded scraps of food from homes and restaurants. It can be a very sad and disheartening experience to witness all of these street animals, many suffering from malnutrition, flea and tick infestations, injuries, and disease. Generally speaking, in Mexico one finds a different set of cultural values around animal abandonment than is found in the U.S. or Canada. Many visitors to Mexico make value judgments when they witness the condition of these street animals. But these value judgments tend to be a little superficial, and biased by the experiences of a life lived in wealthier countries.

In Mexico, families and individuals who may have acquired or inherited a pet may, through a change in employment or other economic forces, find themselves unable to afford the care and feeding of the pet. And because there are scant few animal shelters in Mexico, people often have no other recourse but to abandon these pets to the streets.

But street animals and poverty don’t begin to tell the whole story about how Mexico, as a political entity, values animal welfare. In fact, Mexico has a surprisingly humane and powerful commitment to the animals that contribute so significantly to the professional and emotional lives of we humans (I’m assuming only humans read this newsletter; I could be wrong).

Late last year, Mexico’s Senate passed a law requiring that Mexico’s states and municipalities offer free basic veterinary services for pets. These basic services include: spaying and neutering, deworming, basic vaccinations, life-saving surgeries and other emergency care, and consultations. Free veterinary care is part of Mexico’s broader “dignified treatment of animals” laws that have increasingly been ratified throughout Mexico. Other examples include:

• Mexican law bans animal testing for cosmetics. In fact, the law goes much further - banning the manufacturing, importing, and even marketing of cosmetic products produced anywhere in the world if those products were tested on animals. Mexico was the first country in North America to enact into law such bans.

• All Mexican states - with the exception of Chiapas - have criminalized the mistreatment of animals. Underground dog and cockfighting still exist - but a recent survey of Mexico’s population indicated that 99% of Mexicans oppose dogfighting, and 86% oppose the use of animals in any “entertainment” context. Of course, bullfighting is still legal in much of Mexico; bullfighting is a more complicated cultural phenomenon, which I discussed recently here.

• Mexico City’s constitution is one of the most animal welfare friendly constitutions in the world. Mexico City recognizes animals as sentient beings, and guarantees animals the constitutional right to a healthy environment.

• The state of Coahuila’s animal cruelty criminal code applies to all vertebrate animals, and allows the state to confiscate all animals belonging to an individual found guilty of animal cruelty.

Pets and other domesticated animals exist almost completely within the realm of human influence and authority. Governments and civic laws should protect these animals from those who chose to abuse this relationship. It is encouraging to see Mexico’s laws moving progressively in the direction of protecting animal welfare.