Human Interest

Thousands march in Mexico to demand end to animal abuse

Mexico City, Jun 25 (EFE).- Thousands of people protested in the streets of Mexico City and other cities on Sunday, demanding an end to violence against animals and harsher penalties amid increasingly frequent cases of abuse and cruelty.

Called upon by animal rights organizations, hundreds of citizens gathered at the Angel of Independence in the morning to march to the capital’s Zocalo.

With slogans such as “No more animal abuse,” “Jail for animal murderers” and “Stiffer penalties for abusers,” the protesters called on the authorities to address the situation.

Among the demands of the demonstrators were for animals to be considered sentient beings in the Mexican Constitution and for animal abuse and cruelty to be considered serious crimes, as well as for prison terms for those who commit them.

They also demanded that Article 73 of the Constitution, which addresses environmental protection and the preservation and restoration, be modified to allow Congress to legislate for animal welfare.

They recalled that since 2016, three initiatives have been presented in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies to create the first General Animal Welfare Law in the country, with no positive results so far, which they claim is due to lack of interest from lawmakers.

In April in Tecamac, in the central State of Mexico, a man identified as Sergio “N” was arrested after he allegedly threw a dog into a vat of boiling oil, as captured by a roadside CCTV camera.

Weeks later, a 15-year-old high school student in Huauchinango, Puebla state, posted photos on Facebook of a puppy named Huellitas that she said she had tortured and killed. In a leaked WhatsApp conversation that went viral on social media, the girl said that she killed the dog and that she had picked up the stray for that purpose.

In May, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made a statement on the matter and said that this type of case should not be accepted. EFE

csr/nt-ns/tw

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