Animal protection

Ruta 27, or Route 27, is the highway connecting Costa Rica's capital San José to the Pacific province of Puntarenas. But the highway also now loans its name to a dog rescued from the thoroughfare. And the dog's deliverance has led to the development of a program to aid other animals injured on Costa Rica's highway to the Pacific coast.

If approved the bill would allot prison sentences of up to three years for those convicted of injuring or causing a dog's death.