Historical New Bill to Recognize Animal Sentience in the Mexico Constitution

Animal Equality has introduced a bill in Mexico to recognize all animals with a complex nervous system as sentient beings with welfare protections under the law.

Salvador Caro Cabrera, a member of the Citizen Movement Parliamentary Group, presented this initiative, with the support of Animal Equality, to amend article four of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States to recognize sentience and ensure animal welfare. It proposes to add the following paragraph:

Every non-human animal with a complex nervous system is recognized as a sentient being; the State will promote, protect, respect, and guarantee their welfare.

This initiative was developed by taking into account 15 years of abuse documented by Animal Equality’s undercover investigations.

Animals are here with us and we have the responsibility to create the conditions to respect their lives and their welfare. We must broaden our framework of outrage over animal abuse and extend it to all animals.

Dulce Ramírez, Vice President for Latin America, Animal Equality

What happens if this Reform is approved?

Once approved, its effects will be a guiding principle for the standardization of the recognition of animals as sentient beings and the legal, political, and social transformation that must take animals into account.

It is not an act of kindness to treat animals respectfully. It is an act of justice.

Tom Regan, American philosopher who specialized in animal rights theory

Animals feel and are conscious

In July 2012, a prominent international group of cognitive neuroscientists, neuropharmacologists, neurophysiologists, neuroanatomists, and computational neuroscientists published The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness.

In this document, they state that “convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Non-human animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates.”

This means that animals are aware of themselves and the world around them. Therefore, what happens to them produces mental states that can be positive or negative. They have interests of their own to avoid pain and other forms of suffering which is why we must provide them with legal protections.

How you can help

At Animal Equality, we’re determined to protect animals used for food through investigations that expose the suffering of the animals, campaigns that persuade companies to stop confining animals in cages and other forms of abuse and change the laws to provide the protections that animals deserve. 

By choosing a plant-based diet, you can have a direct impact on the lives of animals trapped inside the meat industry today and help create a better future for animals everywhere.