Normatives for the protection of pets in Latin America: situation of Colombia, Chile, Uruguay and México

Normativas para la protección de mascotas: Situación de Colombia, Chile, Uruguay y México

Nowadays, society is focused on acquiring pets for the purpose of companionship, disregarding the duty of attending their needs and take responsibility for their actions. Consequently, social groups sensitive to this problem promote cultural changes and exert pressure on the governments of Latin American countries in order to formulate and implement guidelines to protect pets. This article compares essential aspects of pet protection regulations in four countries in Latin America, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico. A narrative review of published literature and the websites of the government entities responsible for the formulation and implementation of the regulations in the four countries was carried out with the purpose of establishing a comparison between their content and their performance. Through this review, differences regarding the objectives of the guidelines and the process of their formulation were identified. The actors that intervened in the process of formulation, structure, object, and what is more important, results reported in each country since the implementation of these regulations are also described.