Agricultural groups reject proposed National Assembly animal protection law

Ecuador farmers are opposing a proposed National Assembly law that would establish working hours and other protections for farm animals. According to several agricultural organizations, the Organic Law for the Promotion, Protection and Defense of the Rights of Non-Human Animals, if passed, would “increase prices and threaten the food sovereignty in Ecuador.”

Ecuador dairy farmers are asking the National Assembly to reject proposed legislation that would grant new rights to farm animals.

The legislation is also opposed by the Ministry of Agriculture, which claims it would introduce “unnecessary chaos” into the country’s agricultural industries.

Based in part on the constitutional guarantee of the rights of nature, the law would establish hours and conditions under which farm animals are utilized and treated. In rules yet to be determined, several animal rights organizations claim that animals in the dairy, beef, pork and poultry sectors are “routinely abused, underfed, injected with harmful drugs and treated in a generally undignified manner.”

Among the law’s requirements is that “slaughtered or cooked animals not be openly exhibited by roadside vendors or in markets.”

The National Dairy and Beef Councils are demanding that the National Assembly’s Biodiversity Commission reject the proposed law and stop any consideration by the full Assembly.

In a statement, the councils, joined by the Agricultural Ministry, say they are open to measures to provide additional animal protection but reject “extreme measures” that will affect the livelihood of farmers. “Farm animals are not people, and it is absurd to consider providing them with human rights,” the statement says.