Costa Rica News – When I was living in the mountains of Escazu I had to walk down from the apartment I was living at to the place the bus picked me up. Most days there was a stray dog (may have had an owner) that hung out around the bus stop.
One morning I was extremely hungover (might have been still drunk) and was in a foul mood. I walked down to the bus stop and was waiting for my ride to work. There were already a few Ticos waiting when I arrived and at that moment the stray dog innocently walked past sniffing the ground.
One of the locals waiting along side me decided to take 2 or 3 steps into the road and kick the dog, while 2 of his buddies laughed. I then walked over to the Tico and kicked him. He looked at me like I was crazy but I think he got the point.
You may think this story is an exception but unfortunately animal cruelty is common place in Costa Rica, but I think President’s Solis’ dog got kicked.
On Sunday activists against animal abuse came to the Presidential Palace to push for the President to push forward on this issue with the current bill in the legislature.
Solis promised this bill will be one of the ones discussed by the executive in December.
This bill provides tougher measures against animal abuse, even jail sentences. It calls for one to six years’ imprisonment for any who intentionally causes the death pain and suffering to animals. This includes competitions where animals are killed, hurt or tortured. Also mentioned are acts of bestiality in which the animal is violated and sexually abused. The penalty may be increased by one-third if the conduct was committed by two or more people.
Oh course like the true politician that the President is he left himself an out if the bill does not go through by mentioning that other issues might take priority.
But he did state a fact….that changing this will have to be done with a change in the culture of Costa Rica. Pretty sad when animal cruelty in something internalized by a culture.
