Puerto Rico

The Animal Legal Defense Fund works at the federal, state and local levels to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals. This page is meant to be used as a resource to see what is happening in your territory and what actions you can take for animals.

State and Territory Rankings

Each year, the Animal Legal Defense Fund publishes its U.S. State Animal Protection Laws Rankings Report. It is the longest-running and most authoritative of its kind, assessing the strength of each state or territory’s animal protection laws by examining over 3,400 pages of statutes. Each state or territory is ranked based on 19 different categories of animal protection.

Puerto Rico
Overall Rank: #4 (Middle Tier)

• +Wide range of care standards/requirements including food, water, shelter, care, and space, which are well-defined
• +Felony provisions for cruelty, neglect, abandonment, fighting, and sexual assault of animals
• -Cockfighting is not criminalized under territory’s law
• -Veterinarians are not required to report suspected animal cruelty
• -No provisions for pre-conviction restitution or forfeiture of cruelly treated animals

Animal Protection Laws of Puerto Rico

The Animal Protection Laws of Puerto Rico compendium contains the general animal protection and related statutes for Puerto Rico with an effective date on or before September 1, 2022.

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