It’s now law, the “Ley Contra las Peleas de Caninos“, with its publication in La Gaceta Thursday, anyone who know causes the death of a dog resulting from dog fighting on engaging in weight pull competitions, faces imprisonment form six months to three years.
The objective of the legislation is to ban dog fighting, as well as raising and training dogs for dog fighting.
The law also punishes spectators of dog fighting events, with up to 50 hours of community service work, and up to 40 minimum wages (some ¢16 million colones) for promoting, selling tickets or disseminating material that promotes dogfights.
Compliance with the law is under the control of the country animal health service, the Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal (SENASA).
What we have as of yesterday is the law, coming soon is are regulations, according to SENASA legal director, Antonio Van der Luch.
It is a typical pattern in Costa Rica for legislators to pass a law (the Ley Contra las Peleas de Caninos was passed in the Legislative Assembly last April 14), have come into force and then months later comes the regulations.
Van der Luch said that although it will be some time before the regulations are in place, that does not prevent the SENANA from implementing the legislation.
In this case, Van der Luch explained that the regulations will include the handling of breeds of dogs considered dangerous. From now on, owners of such dogs must go through psychological testing to prove their mental balance, similar to the testing for weapons ownership.
However, Van der Luch added that SENANA will be in persecution of owners of vicious dogs.
Owners, breeders, marketers and trainers of breeds of dogs that SENASA defines as “dangerous” will have up to one year from the date of the regulations, to comply with the law.
To enforce the law, the SENASA requires the support of the Fuerza Pública (police) and judicial authorities (the Organismo de Investigación Judicial – OIJ) to investigate reports of incidents of dog fights and dangerous animals.
The does inclue cockfighting, since that activity is already under the control of the Ley de Bienestar Animal, a law that protects all animals against cruelty, which is expected to be voted on by Legislators next month.
Another vague law passed. Dog owners beware! Now we are all at risk of paying big fines for having “vicious” dogs because someone thinks our dogs are vicious. Even breeds typically considered vicious can be very docile with the right training. My neighbors freak out any time my docile and elderly dogs, which are not “aggressive” breeds or aggressive in their behavior, leave my property through an open porton. My dogs have been reported to the authorities just for being in the street, where many small dogs roam. Most locals I know have small dogs (few can afford to feed large ones), and consider any large dog to be a threat. Any dog that looks anything like a pit bull, including boxers which are the clowns of the dog universe, is a perceived threat.
I’ll wait to see the regulation, but suspect that it will not provide adequate details. Regarding the dangerous breeds, must they be full-bred, half, one quarter, or what? Where I lived in the US, even a pit bull mixed breed could not be adopted, and had to be put down if picked up by animal control.
Weak laws result in injustice wherein the elite are never prosecuted, and the rest are subject to capricious prosecution. I frankly don’t know if the legislature who pass the laws, and are among the elite, are simply incompetent or intentionally pass vague laws to perpetuate the injustice, but I’m beginning to believe the latter.