Criminalisation of dogfighting
Law & Regulation
In Effect
June 22, 2017
Summary
On 22 June 2017, a federal decree adding Article 419 Bis to the Código Penal Federal (Federal Criminal Code) was published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación, having been promulgated by President Enrique Peña Nieto on 21 June 2017 following approval by the Congreso General de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. The provision entered into force the day following publication, 23 June 2017. Article 419 Bis imposes imprisonment of six months to five years and a fine of 200 to 2,000 days’ minimum wage on any person who: breeds or trains a dog for participation in dogfighting exhibitions or activities (fraction I); possesses, transports, buys, or sells dogs for the purpose of involving them in dogfights (fraction II); organises, promotes, announces, sponsors, or sells tickets for dogfighting events (fraction III); possesses or manages a property where dogfights occur with knowledge of that activity (fraction IV); causes minors to attend or witness dogfights (fraction V); or performs, for profit or not, any act with the objective of involving dogs in dogfights (fraction VI). Sanctions increase by one-half when the offender is a public servant. Criminal responsibility additionally extends to spectators who knowingly attend a dogfight, with one-third of the article’s penalty applied to that conduct — a category not present in comparable animal-fighting criminalisation statutes in other jurisdictions documented in SE’s database.
The federal criminal provision was preceded by a parallel reform process targeting the Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente (LGEEPA): on 24 November 2016, deputies of the Partido Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM), led by Diputado Jesús Sesma Suárez, submitted an initiative to add a “Fauna Doméstica” chapter (Article 87 Ter) to LGEEPA, requiring all states and Mexico City to include domestic fauna protection provisions in local law and to explicitly prohibit dogfighting within 180 days, with sanctions no lower than the federal standard. The Chamber of Deputies passed the Federal Criminal Code reform on 8 December 2016; the Senate and Chamber of Deputies passed the companion LGEEPA reform (Article 82 Bis 2, mandating that the Federation, states, and Mexico City penalise dogfighting within one year) in January 2017; the Senate Justice Committee and full Senate approved the Federal Criminal Code penalties in April 2017.
Background Context
Before the 2017 federal criminalisation, dogfighting regulation in Mexico existed primarily at state and municipal level through fragmented animal protection, welfare, or fauna laws. The November 2016 LGEEPA initiative documented that of Mexico’s 31 states with some form of animal protection legislation, 12 expressly prohibited dogfighting and 20 maintained broader cruelty or animal-fighting prohibitions; Oaxaca was identified as lacking specific animal protection legislation entirely. The initiative’s exposition of motives cited documented dogfighting complaints and NGO reports from specific localities including Mexico City delegations (Cuajimalpa, Iztapalapa, Miguel Hidalgo), Aguascalientes, Coahuila, Michoacán, Estado de México, Sinaloa, and Veracruz, with Amigos Pro Animal México cited as a source of evidence and complaints. The initiative also referenced United States NGO estimates of approximately 40,000 professional dogfighting participants and 250,000 dogs involved nationally — figures specific to the US context and not independently verified Mexican prevalence data.
System Impact
Direction
Reduces Exploitation
Type
Alters Legal Basis
Significance
Moderate
The Chamber of Deputies passed the Federal Criminal Code reform on 8 December 2016. The Senate and Chamber of Deputies passed the companion LGEEPA Article 82 Bis 2 reform in January 2017, mandating dogfighting penalisation by the Federation, states, and Mexico City within one year. The Senate Justice Committee and full Senate approved the Federal Criminal Code penalties in April 2017. President Peña Nieto promulgated the decree on 21 June 2017; the Secretaría de Gobernación (headed by Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong) published it in the DOF on 22 June 2017, with entry into force 23 June 2017. Enforcement of Article 419 Bis falls within the federal criminal justice system, including the Procuraduría General de la República (now Fiscalía General de la República) and federal courts. Current legal codifications and commentary continue to reference Article 419 Bis as an active, unrepealed provision. The completeness of state-level implementation of the LGEEPA Article 87 Ter mandate (requiring all states to adopt aligned domestic fauna protection and dogfighting prohibitions within 180 days) is not established in sources consulted.
Anticipated Effects
If Article 419 Bis is consistently enforced, the federal criminalisation would be expected to reduce the legal and operational space for organised dogfighting by exposing organisers, property owners, breeders, trainers, traders, and spectators to federal criminal sanctions rather than only state-level or administrative measures.
If the LGEEPA Article 87 Ter mandate is fully implemented across all Mexican states and Mexico City, subnational legal frameworks prohibiting dogfighting would be expanded and harmonised with the federal standard.
Whether the federal criminalisation has produced a measurable reduction in organised dogfighting activity, or redirected dogs formerly used in fighting into other exploitation channels, is not established in available sources.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Reduces Exploitation (impact direction) because the provision criminalises a comprehensive range of activities constituting the organisation, facilitation, breeding, training, transport, trade, and spectatorship of dogfighting, removing the legal basis for these activities at the federal level across Mexico.
Assigned Alters Legal Basis (impact type) because the primary mechanism is the statutory creation of new federal criminal offences with specified penalties, extending criminal liability to a broad range of core and ancillary roles including spectators.
Assigned Moderate significance because the provision applies nationwide and comprehensively covers breeding, training, transport, trade, promotion, venue ownership, and attendance — comparable in structure and scope to Canada’s 2019 Criminal Code amendments criminalising animal fighting (also Moderate). Mexico’s explicit extension of liability to knowing spectators is a genuine scope expansion relative to comparable statutes documented in SE’s database, but does not by itself indicate a materially greater system-wide impact; both laws target a specific, bounded subset of animal exploitation rather than restructuring a major exploitation sector.
The duration and persistence of the scale change is not established in available sources; no consolidated enforcement data (investigations, prosecutions, or convictions under Article 419 Bis) is documented in sources consulted.
Within The System
Key Actors
The Congreso General de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos enacted the decree; Chamber of Deputies president María Guadalupe Murguía Gutiérrez and Senate president Pablo Escudero Morales signed the transmitted decree. President Enrique Peña Nieto promulgated it; the Secretaría de Gobernación (Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong) published it. PVEM deputies led by Jesús Sesma Suárez authored the companion LGEEPA initiative. Amigos Pro Animal México and Humane Society International documented and publicised the legislative process. The Procuraduría General de la República (now Fiscalía General de la República) and federal courts hold enforcement responsibility.
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