In Mexico Animal Rights Are Now Fundamental

Humane Society International is celebrating a south-of-the-border success this week, as Mexico announces it has enshrined animal protection as a fundamental value in its constitution.

“Some milestones feel like the beginning of a brighter future, and this is one of them,” Anton Aguilar, executive director of Humane Society International/Mexico, writes in the organization’s blog. “This transformative reform represents years of advocacy and a growing societal commitment to protecting animals from cruelty, neglect, and suffering.”

There have been years of advocacy, but Aguilar is right to call the milestone a beginning. The reform mandates humane education in schools nationwide and grants the Mexican congress expanded authority to legislate on animal welfare. The latter lays the groundwork for a General Animal Welfare Bill, which is already in the works and is expected to establish national standards for humane treatment and care of all kinds of animals under a single bill.

When that happens, the legislation should easily become law because the recently elected president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced on her first day in office that she would make passing this bill one of the top  priorities of her administration.

Animal rights are definitely trending upward in Mexico. In 2017, the federal government criminalized dogfighting (high time!) and Mexico City's constitution recognized animals as sentient beings. In 2021, Mexico became the first country in North America to ban animal testing for cosmetics. The following year Tlaxcala became the 31st state to include penalties for animal cruelty in its local laws. And just weeks ago, Oaxaca passed its first statewide animal protection bill, which establishes responsible pet ownership as an educational guideline in public schools, among other anti-cruelty provisions.

Next up perhaps? Oaxaca’s murdered humans? About one a day in 2023.

Photo credit: Humane Society International México