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State passes new amendment banning cock and bullfighting

Chetumal, Q.R. — The Congress of Quintana Roo has approved amendments to the Animal Welfare and Protection Law of Quintana Roo, officially prohibiting bullfighting and cockfighting in the state.

Members of congress voted in favor of the law amendments, which marks the new legal regulation for events in which the animals used are injured.

“Bullfights, heifers and bull calves and calves, as well as cockfights and their training for these types of shows, are prohibited,” they read in the bill decree.

Before the approval, animal rights defenders demonstrated in front of the State Congress to demand the elimination of bullfighting and cockfighting practices with one woman, Magdalena Mulia Cabrera, saying “torture is not culture.”

“We are here to support everything that has to do with violence against animals and we know that on this occasion the animal welfare law will be voted and that is why we are here, because torture is not culture and we do not want our children growing up seeing violence as something normal,” she said.

Eugenia Solis Salazar of the Human Rights Commission of the XV Legislature explained that the amendment to the law was done in coordination with civil organizations focused on the protection of animals, researchers, local and federal authorities, as well as citizens.

“It is a job that we managed to realize after almost two years of working, to nurture it with proposals from civil associations and authorities related to the subject. Today, Quintana Roo is moving towards a state with less violence. This prohibits, for any reason in Quintana Roo, the bullfights, heifers or bull calves, the cockfights and the training of animals for use in theses type of shows,” adding “we are one step closer to achieving peace in our society.”

The deputy added that this new legislation is more comprehensive and also includes more defined protocols to impose administrative sanctions against people who commit crimes of animal abuse.

The law also contemplates the prohibition of the use of carriages pulled by horses, greater facilities for carrying out mass campaigns of free sterilizations at low cost as well as in the administration of animal care centers of the 11 municipalities of the state.

The amended law hopes to eradicate animal abuse or torture through a more stringent regulatory framework to detect and sanction those involved, which prohibits bullfighting and cockfighting, among other activities, that can be considered animal cruelty and also includes defined protocols to impose administrative sanctions for the crime of animal abuse.