Animal rights groups in July will begin collecting signatures across the country to approve a referendum in which citizens would vote on an animal welfare bill imposing stricter sanctions for animal cruelty.
A bill that seeks to establish prison time for animal abuse faces an uncertain future after several lawmakers filibustered voting on the law last week by filing over 70 motions against it.
At the start of his term in 2014, President Luis Guillermo Solís promised that getting legislation passed to improve animal welfare in Costa Rica would be a priority for his administration.
With just over two weeks left of the year, reports of animal abuse have already surpassed by 15 percent those recorded last year, the National Animal Health Service (SENASA) reported Friday.
The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) reported that in the past 24 months invested ₡250 million ($460,000) in wildlife protection measures mostly to avoid animals from dying by electrical discharges when trying to cross using power lines.
A first tiny cub - pink, hairless and only about the size of an adult mouse - was born at 5:35 pm (2135 GMT) Saturday and Mei Xiang reacted by tenderly picking up it up. Just when conservationists thought they had heard all the good news, the zoo tweeted: "We can confirm a second cub was born at 10:07. It appears healthy. #PandaStory."
Zimbabwe on Friday called for the extradition of Walter Palmer, the Minnesota trophy hunter who shot and killed Cecil the lion. Palmer and his guide have said the killing of the tagged lion, who was a favorite among tourists, was a mistake and that calls for severe punishment are out of proportion.
A Cartago court sentenced a man for illegally breeding dogs in a puppy mill. Most of the dogs were kept inside stacked cages or hanging crates for years.
