Mexico Enshrines Animal Welfare Laws into its Constitution

​aldf.org/article/mexico-adds-animal-protection-to-its-constitution/

Mexico has taken an enormous stand for animal welfare after enshrining animal welfare laws into their Constitution. Doing so makes Mexico the tenth country in the world to include welfare laws in their Constitution signaling a sincere commitment to protecting animals from needless cruelty. These laws will ensure;

• Guarantee the protection
• Guarantee The Proper Treatment
• Guarantee appropriate conservation
• Prohibition of mistreatment in the breeding, use, and slaughter of animals for consumption
• Prohibition of the use of wild animals for profit generating shows.

While a lot of the smaller details are yet to be finalized, this signals a move in the right direction for animal welfare in the country. Among these protections, the enshrinement ensures that students in school will learn about animal welfare, although the extent of that ruling is yet to be determined. This is crucial you guys. Students need to be aware of the horrors that animals endure in order to create the next generation of compassionate individuals. If they're desensitized to cruelty, they will undoubtedly perpetuate, or turn a blind eye to cruelty should they witness it, so this is an important step to preventing future cruelty to animals.

Again, the details of this enshrinement are still in the works, and what they'll essentially cover is still rather grey, but it's still something to celebrate. These commitments will hopefully lead to necessary protections for farm animals which often times endure the worst treatment, living conditions, and abuse prior to their slaughter. It will also hopefully extend to wild animals that are in desperate need of valuable protections like the Vaquita, with fewer than 10 individuals left in the wild. Time is certainly of the essence when it comes to protecting this species and so many more.

With this enshrinement, animal abuse will be penalized properly and addressed like the serious problem that it truly is. If we don't demonstrate that cruelty towards animals is a serious offence, what prevents the next person from committing atrocities towards animals? If there's no fear of repercussions, or simply no worries over embarrassingly weak punishments, there is simply no deterrent to committing cruelty. Laws that ensure proper punishment are necessary in addressing abuse towards animals. 

​Learn more about Mexico's animal welfare stance through the link at the top of this post. It's important that we celebrate these victories to demonstrate a united commitment to animal welfare. 

HAPPY VEG