Animals and the Law in Bolivia

Bolivia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. However, in spite of having many wildlife protection laws, this rich biodiversity is currently not effectively safeguarded in the country. There are many examples where the Bolivian government’s favoring of economic interests over the protection of nature is evident. When it comes to the protection of other categories of non-human animals, the situation in the country is sadly not much better either. There are only two national laws protecting companion animals and animals used for entertainment and no laws pertaining to farm animals and animals used in research. Since all non-human animal protection laws in Bolivia have serious enforceability issues nowadays, there is little hope of the situation improving unless great changes happen in the country in the next years, which involve the passing of new public policies shifting away from all activities that are detrimental to nature, the development of a larger number of specific laws for more animal categories, the improvement of the judicial system, the granting of more human and economic resources to the authorities in charge of enforcing this type of laws and the promotion of an educational system that includes humane education as one of its important components.