The proposed Domestic Animals Protection Law introduced last month in the National Assembly is meant to establish standards for the care of animals: to protect their well-being, health, hygiene.

The law was drafted to address Article 71 of the Constitution, which reads: “The State will incentivize natural and legal persons and collectives of persons to protect nature, and will promote respect for all the elements that conform an ecosystem.”

With this clause in mind, Lorena Bellolio, president of the organization Ecuador Animal Protection (PAE) says it’s the third time they’ve gone knocking to the door of Ecuador’s legislative body to draft a bill.

The original draft included the protection of both domestic and wild animals, proposed by Assembly representative Saruka Rodríguez.

But the Biodiversity Committee in the Assembly decided it would be complicated to lump all animals together. So they’ve settled on protections for companion animals: dogs and cats.

Miguel Jumbo, associate dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the Central University of Ecuador, this bill is very positive. “It compels us to be conscious about the responsibility that having a pet entails. A pet is another member of the family. The regulation is so pets aren’t used for dissection, as science projects, and protects them from esthetic surgeries like tail cropping and ear clipping.”

Jumbo is also in favour of getting owners to pick up after their dogs on walks, and prohibiting dogs from running free in parks, to avoid attacks on people or other animals.

And Veronica Boguña, from the foundation Animal Rescue Operation (GORA), is in favour of the clause against selling animals in cages in window fronts.

“The animals are in tanks, in hot weather, standing and lying in their own waste, and it’s all for a business, to make a profit. Young animals should be with their mothers, and they can be sold by presenting photos to potential buyers.”

Boguña says the only way to reduce the number of street dogs is to educate families about animal care. “You can’t ask that there be no street dogs when you don’t first educate people. And I don’t mean giving out flyers: I mean going neighbourhood by neighbourhood and school by school to train adults and children and achieve social change.”

In interviews of people on the street, this newspaper found that 23 out of 30 people support some sort of law to protect animals. The remaining seven were opposed to a law that helps animals instead of giving people the priority.