First Law Firm Specializing In Animal Abuse Opens
Colombia is way ahead when it comes to animal rights. They are also well aware of nature conservation. At the Free University of Cúcuta, also in Colombia, they opened the first legal office specializing in animal abuse. Learn more about this in our article.
Legal Office for Animals and Against Mistreatment
The name of this university’s project is striking. But when we start analyzing it, we realize it’s right. People are animals too, although we don’t accept that. We have to take care of the mistreatment of our furry friends.
The space opened by this institution, a few weeks ago, aims to help and advise those people who have doubts about the rules and laws in force in relation to animals in Colombia. The acceptance of the citizens was more than interesting, as they received a lot of queries in the early days.
The Animal Law Office was created by a group of researchers and students from that University. They are not “simple” activists, but lawyers who want to offer a service to the community. And they do it with both public and private entities. They also provide services to private individuals, in connection with the application of the recent Colombian animal protection law.
The office is led by a researcher named Carlos Andrés Muñoz. He diagnoses and analyzes the law at every point. In this way, it looks for the strengths and weaknesses of a particular case. The goal of Muñoz and his team is to reduce aggression to animals.
The services of the legal office for animals
Source: www.laopinion.com.co
It is worth clarifying that all services are free. The first of these services is that of advising private or public entities (especially authorities that have the capacity to apply the laws on a day-to-day basis). The second is providing advice to “ordinary” people who want legal advice on abuse. The third is used to take legal cases that present themselves at the office to be analyzed by the court in the North of the Province of Santander.
In a single month of operation, more than 60 services have been provided. Among them, consultations with the police and councilors of the city of Cúcuta. The process, according to Muñoz, will be slow, as many still do not know the laws in favor of animal rights. Of course, this is a major step forward for them to be legally protected.
The idea is for them to work together with other Colombian colleges and universities. That way, everyone can help the community. For example, in the case of abuse of a pet, a veterinarian must intervene to determine what type of injury the pet has suffered.
With these measures and with the legal office , it is expected that there will be less misinformation among the population. Disinformation can lead, for example, to the existence of families that have a wild animal as a pet, because they are not aware of the prohibition on hunting it or the dangers that this can cause.
Spain and animal rights
The organization FAADA informs us about measures to protect animals in the Penal Code and in current state laws. For example, some of the articles talk about banning introducing non-native species, hunting or fishing endangered species, destroying natural habitat or ecosystem, keeping exotic or wild animals, killing animals for fun or abandoning pets.
Animal law is nothing new. Since ancient times, there have always been people who intervened to prevent certain harmful practices. In fact, Buddhism and Hinduism are two religions that proclaim vegetarianism and are based on the principle of non-violence (both for people and animals).
Image source: www.laopinion.com.co
