Animal rights groups in July will begin collecting signatures across the country to approve a referendum in which citizens would vote on an animal welfare bill imposing stricter sanctions for animal cruelty.
A bill that seeks to establish prison time for animal abuse faces an uncertain future after several lawmakers filibustered voting on the law last week by filing over 70 motions against it.
PETA said last year that SeaWorld San Diego worker Paul McComb had been a double agent inside the organization and "seemed to be trying to incite confrontational and illegal actions against SeaWorld and distract from SeaWorld's own wrongdoing and smear people that may reflect poorly on our cause."
SeaWorld executives said Thursday that McComb, who was suspended during the uproar last summer, is still an employee at the company.
At the start of his term in 2014, President Luis Guillermo Solís promised that getting legislation passed to improve animal welfare in Costa Rica would be a priority for his administration.
Dozens of animal rights activists gathered during the opening of the Zapote festival, east of San José, to protest against one of the celebration’s main event: Tico-style bullfights.
With just over two weeks left of the year, reports of animal abuse have already surpassed by 15 percent those recorded last year, the National Animal Health Service (SENASA) reported Friday.
The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) reported that in the past 24 months invested ₡250 million ($460,000) in wildlife protection measures mostly to avoid animals from dying by electrical discharges when trying to cross using power lines.
