Chetumal, Quintana Roo — A citizen initiative has been presented to the state Congress to reform the Civil Code of Quintana Roo, seeking to formally recognize animals as sentient beings and eliminate cruel terminology from the law.
Citizen Carlos Marcelo Baquedano Gorocica submitted the proposal to the XVIII Legislature, calling for a historic shift in the state’s private law: removing the legal status of “property” or “things” for pets and animals.
The draft decree proposes adding Article 1884 Bis and amending Articles 1899 and 1900 of the local Civil Code to align civil legislation with the November 2023 constitutional reform, which already recognizes animals as beings with sensitivity and moral consideration.
According to the explanatory statement, the current wording of Quintana Roo’s laws creates a legal contradiction and an obstacle to criminal justice and animal welfare.
As an example of the urgency for change, the document cites the disturbing “Xibalbá” case in the state capital, where a clandestine and fraudulent crematory deceived dozens of families by delivering dirt instead of their pets’ ashes, abandoning the bodies on vacant lots.
Although Congress criminalized the desecration of animal corpses after that incident, the initiative stresses that the Civil Code must stop treating any legal act involving an animal under the cold, property-based logic of merchandise.
One of the most significant and symbolic points of the proposed reform is the modification of Article 1899. The current civil text literally states that ferocious animals that escape their enclosures may be “destroyed” or captured by anyone. The proponent calls this term an open contradiction and cruelty incompatible with current ethical standards, proposing to eliminate the concept of “destruction” and prioritize only their capture and safeguarding under strict criteria of dignified treatment and respect for life.
Finally, the reform of Article 1900 seeks to directly link the civil framework with the state’s Animal Protection and Welfare Law. This would mean that the appropriation of abandoned or ownerless domestic animals would no longer be governed by the rules of “lost property.”
The proponent notes that according to INEGI (national statistics agency), nearly 70% of households in Mexico have pets, totaling 80 million companion animals. However, with Mexico ranking first in animal abuse in Latin America, with about 60,000 deaths annually due to violence, it is urgent to protect their rights from the architecture of civil law so that no private property regime shields negligence or post-mortem mistreatment.
