Full Title Name:  ANIMAL LAW IN COLOMBIA SINCE THE ADOPTION OF ACT 1774 OF 2016. DECISIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND THE SUPREME COURT DURING THE TWO FIRST YEARS (2016-2018) OF THE NEW STATUS OF ANIMALS AS SENTIENT BEINGS INSTEAD OF THINGS

Summary: On January 6, 2016, the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, approved Act 1774 of the Republic of Colombia, which led to the most important development concerning the legal protection of animals in the country, and represented a turning point in Animal Law in Latin America in terms of the new conception of the legal relationships between people and non-human animals, which is the basis of modern Animal Law. The drafting of the bill, presented by Chamber Representative Juan Carlos Losada, relied on the participation of lawyers and experts, who in turn involved associations and activists who had been working for a long time on animal protection issues in Colombia. The author had the honor of participating in the drafting of the bill, exchanging opinions, knowledge, and experiences in a very enriching debate that culminated with the consolidation of a text that is fully coherent with the Colombian legal framework. The Act reformed the National Animal Protection Statute (Act 84 of 1989), as well as the Colombian Civil, Criminal and the Criminal Procedure Codes. This commentary analyzes the novel aspects brought about by the publication of the abovementioned Act, which within the first two years that it has been in force has already been interpreted in several decisions of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court. These judicial decisions have explored the actual implications behind the conception of animals as “not things” and as “sentient beings,” turning the focus onto the materialization of legal principles and declarations into everyday life.