Around 50 people held a demonstration on December 10 in the Guadalajara city center to mark International Animal Rights Day, a global observance dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of animal rights and advocating for the ethical and humane treatment of animals.
The protesters took the opportunity to highlight the mistreatment and cruelty to animals raised for meat, eggs and dairy. Dulce Ramírez, director of the NGO Igualdad Animal, said while progress has been made in the legislative framework regarding the abuse of domestic pets, farm animals have little or no protection under the law (see story below). She noted that 211 million animals are raised and killed for consumption each year in the state of Jalisco, and pointed to economic interests as the main reason why livestock farming is “untouchable” as far as animal rights are concerned. Recent proposals for reforms sent to the Jalisco Congress in this area have never failed even to reach the committee stage, says Igualdad Animal.
Most of the protesters were dressed in black and displayed photographs of the methods used to kill farm animals, while some showed images of the different instruments used by slaughterhouses.