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From the Baja Western Onion:
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Animal Protection Law Now In Force In BCS!

Great news for those who care about animals here in Baja California Sur: the domestic animal protection law has now been published on the statute book, and is in force. The Ley de Proteccion de los Animals Domesticos para Baja California Sur.

The key elements of the final version made it into the new law, such as prohibited methods of euthanizing animals, basic humane treatment of domestic animals, dumping animals and litters, and specific paragraphs about what constitutes cruelty.

Sanctions are also outlined clearly, too, and they include fines, community service, and 36 hours in jail for serious cases.

The new law also includes elements which were not in the previous version, such as a specific stipulation about the treatment of guard dogs (who also have entitlement to food, water, shelter and not being tied up for more than 12 hours at a time).

There are new paragraphs on guide dogs and sniffer dogs, too. Responsibilities of animal owners towards other people are also still present in the law, and keeping your animals under control and clearing up after them, for example, are now enforceable by law.

The new law is at the same time wide-ranging, and quite specific, and should certainly help to encourage a change in people's perception of animals and their needs.

The next step will be to set up the Pro-Animal Committees, which will be responsible for publicizing the new law, and building education campaigns to raise people's awareness of the issues.

Anyone wanting to read the law can download a copy from the Congress website. It is only 24 pages, and written in a very accessible style. Go to H. CONGRESO DEL ESTADO DE BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR and find the Compendio de Leyes. Click on Consultar and you will see a long list of all the recent legislation that has passed through Congress. The animal protection law is number 058.

Passing the law was the easy part.....the hard part will be education, enforcement & actually bringing about change over the next several generations!

All my kids are rescues.

something is better than nothing.Now they can enforce a law. As people are caught the word will spread on the law.

Enforcement seems to be the issue with a lot of laws in Baja California in my experience. There are reasonable fishing regulations in place, for example, but so little enforcement that they are ignored for the most part.