animal rights

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.

Thousands of people gathered Sunday in San José for the 7th National March Against Animal Abuse to demand an animal welfare reform law that President Luis Guillermo Solís has long promised to prioritize.

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.

Street cats living at the Legislative Assembly in downtown San José are going to be pretty jumpy starting Friday evening.

The savage beating of a toucan has revived the urgency for lawmakers to pass an animal cruelty bill, said President Luis Guillermo Solís on Tuesday during a weekly press conference at Casa Presidencial.