(31 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Quito, Ecuador – 31 May 2025
1. Protesters marching in demonstration for animal rights
2. Protester using a bull mask, holding a sign reading (Spanish) "It’s not culture, it’s animal suffering."
3. Two protesters holding a dog and a rooster during the protest
4. People marching with their pets
5. Person holding a banner reading (Spanish) "Animals are sentient beings. Respect them. No more abuses."
6. Protesters marching and chanting
7. Woman holding her dog, marching
8. Protesters playing drums
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Shady Heredia, member of the Organic Animal Law Collective:
"Today, we are participating in the second National March for Animal Rights, taking place in 23 cities across the country. We are demanding that the LOPDA (Organic Law for the Protection and Defense of Animal Rights) bill be shelved."
10. Gabriela Benavides feeding her rooster
11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Gabriela Benavides, animal rights advocate, protester:
"It’s very common to hear that dogs and cats have rights. But you almost never hear anyone say that farm animals have rights. They live in terrible conditions and are often mistreated—especially chickens. I want to raise my voice for hens and roosters, for all poultry animals. They shouldn’t be kept in cages; they should be free to roam. That’s why I’m here—to speak up for them."
12. Various of march, owners and pets
13. Protesters holding a banner reading (Spanish) "No going backwards on rights."
STORYLINE:
Animal rights groups took to the streets of Quito and 22 other cities across Ecuador to defend animal rights and demand that the National Assembly shelve the proposed LOPDA bill (Organic Law for the Protection and Defense of Animal Rights).
According to activists, the proposed bill represents a significant step backward from recent advances in protections for both urban and wild animals—rights that were established under the existing law.
Mobilizations were held in cities including Guayaquil, Cuenca, Santo Domingo, and Machala, among others.
Activist organizations argue that LOPDA undermines recent progress, including a historic 2022 ruling by the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, which recognized wild animals as rights-holding subjects deserving of protection as part of nature.
Animal rights defenders are now demanding that LOPDA be permanently shelved, and that any future legislation be aligned with the Constitutional Court’s ruling and the foundational protections already established under the previous law.
AP video shot by Cesar Olmos
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