Experts believe Alik, the beaten ocelot, could be released into the wild again and live a normal life in about four months, pending evaluations and retraining.
A family found the ocelot, a threatened species, inside their henhouse and allegedly beat her with a metal pipe. The case highlights the continuing problem of animal abuse in Costa Rica, while a bill that would impose stricter penalties for abusers languishes in the legislature.
Approval of Bill #18,298 — known as the Animal Welfare Bill — was scheduled for discussion by lawmakers in a full Legislative Assembly session starting this week, but it now has been postponed. President Luis Guillermo Solís on Monday evening tabled the proposal in order to prioritize passage of a construction bill for the highway between San José and San Ramón.
Recent cases of aggression against animals in Costa Rica have prompted animal rights advocates and everyday citizens to pressure lawmakers to pass an Animal Welfare Bill currently awaiting discussion in the Legislative Assembly.
More than 1,200 people were attending an illegal cockfight on Saturday when police raided it on a farm in Barrio Mercedes de Atenas, 40 kilometers west of Costa Rica's capital.
Ruta 27, or Route 27, is the highway connecting Costa Rica's capital San José to the Pacific province of Puntarenas. But the highway also now loans its name to a dog rescued from the thoroughfare. And the dog's deliverance has led to the development of a program to aid other animals injured on Costa Rica's highway to the Pacific coast.
