The viralization of cases of animal abuse – captured in photographs and videos – in the last month has generated serious criticism among the Nicaraguan population against the Ortega-Murillo regime, to which they point out its inability to apply Law 747, Law for the protection and the welfare of domestic animals and domesticated wild animals, approved since 2011.
Legislation 747, although it has been approved for more than 13 years, remains unregulated and its application to violators of it has not been so noticeable in the country.
Biologist Amaru Ruiz, researcher and president of Fundación del Río, explained that said legislation was approved after being promoted precisely by Nicaraguan civil society. In addition, he mentioned that this establishes that “it is up to the Agricultural Ministry and the Police to apply said legislation, which can act ex officio, that is, directly without any complaint, to arrest any person or entity that is violating the animal protection law.” and is causing some level of physical abuse against any animal.
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This week a video went viral in which a horse was left hanging from a cart loaded with blocks and cement in the traffic light area of La Villa, in Masaya. The event generated outrage on social networks, in which Internet users urged the application of Law 747 and the action of the Police, since it is common to see animals, especially horses, being mistreated, forced to carry larger loads in the country. to their weight and with obvious signs of malnutrition.
Ruiz assures that in the country “there is no real application of Law 747 and, despite the fact that a series of sanctions are established to try to regulate this issue and ensure that there is no animal abuse, this has not happened.”
He recalled that after the approval of this legislation in the country there was even talk of the creation of an animal protection fund and to date “we do not know if it exists, if it has income or if any action has been generated with it.”
The State of Nicaragua does not have the capacity to protect animals
In addition to this, he mentioned that there is the National Animal Protection Council, which was created after the approval of Law 747, in which animal protection organizations had “a space, but this has been reduced by the regime, cutting off the entities.” legal aspects of the associations that worked in animal protection.
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The Ortega regime in recent years has canceled thousands of non-profit organizations, including many linked to the Catholic Church, Evangelical, charity, equestrian, education, and animal care and shelters, among the latter the Veterinary Association of Animal Protection and Conservation, Nicaragua Animal Adoption Foundation (ADAN), Rescatando Huellas Foundation and Amarte Foundation, accused of allegedly failing to comply with the country’s laws.
Ruiz assured that this space of attention provided by organizations dedicated to the protection and promotion of animal welfare has not been able to be replaced by the State of Nicaragua, which “falls short, because it has never exercised the function of prevention, protection , that has been in the hands of civil society. The State has not supplied, it does not have the capacity, if it does not have the capacity to execute the Law, unless it has the capacity to attend to animal welfare.
The most recent case of punishment for animal abuse occurred last week, when citizen Darwin de Jesús Rizo Castillo, originally from Estelí, was arrested and later charged with the crimes of “physical damage or mistreatment of animals” for murdering his horse. with a firearm, on a street in the 20 de Mayo neighborhood, in Jinotega.
The crime of animal abuse, with Law 747, for now only establishes sanctions of fines or social work and is applicable to “any conscious or unconscious fact, act or omission carried out by the owner, owner or possessor of an animal, which may cause pain, suffering, endangering the life of the animal or seriously affecting its health due to the overexploitation of its work.
