Uruguay’s Law 18471 on the Responsible Tenure of Animals, enacted in 2009, is the country’s main animal welfare legislation. This law prohibits cruelty to animals and highlights the importance of responsible ownership, and requires that any holder of an animal is responsible for keeping the animal ‘in proper physical and sanitary conditions, providing accommodation, food and shelter in suitable conditions according to their species, according to the regulations established by the World Organisation Animal Health (OIE) and the guidelines of the World Society for the Protection of Animals’ [now World Animal Protection]. The Law 18471 prohibits bull fights and other shows during which animals are killed. Decree 204/017, which implements the primary legislation Law 18471, provides detailed legislation on the welfare standards appropriate for companion animals, which should respect their Five Freedoms. Furthermore, Law 18611 regulates the use of animals in experiments and enshrines the Reduction principle into law.

However, there are several areas where the animal welfare legislation could be improved. Notably, Law 18471 does not define ‘animals’, which means that its scope of application is unclear. Moreover, despite prohibiting animal fights, the law still authorises the use of animals for public shows and circuses. In addition, fur farming and greyhound racing are cruel practices still allowed in Uruguay. Furthermore, there is a lack of species-specific welfare provisions for the rearing of farm animals. Law 18471 exempts from cruelty considerations all livestock management practices considered ‘usual’, which means that common forms of animal cruelty in farming are not condemned. The slaughter of farm animals who are not stunned is also allowed for religious purposes.

Since the API was first published in 2014, the national body in charge of monitoring the implementation of Law 18471 has been renamed the Honorary National Commission for the Responsible Tenure and Welfare of Animals (COTRYBA). Its functions are clearly outlined in Decrees 311/016 and 204/017 and focus on companion animals and farm animals. COTRYBA has moved from being under the Ministry of Education and Culture to falling under the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries. The work of COTRYBA is complemented with Departmental Commissions on animal welfare. Furthermore, Law 18611 establishes a National Commission on Animal Experimentation (CNEA) to regulate the use of animals in research. Each facility using animals for experimentation is also required to have an Ethics Committee.

The Government of Uruguay is strongly encouraged to define more precisely the scope of application of Law 18471, so that it is applicable to all vertebrates, cephalopods and decapod crustaceans. All these species should explicitly be defined as sentient in the law. Furthermore, the Government of Uruguay is urged to enact more precise regulations surrounding the rearing of farm animals. The Government of Uruguay is urged to ban fur farming, which is inherently cruel and causes pain, distress and suffering to animals. The Government of Uruguay is also strongly encouraged to ban any form of entertainment which exploits animals, such as greyhound racing. The Government of Uruguay is urged to implement humane stray animal population management programmes, whereby culling should be banned. Further legal and policy recommendations are associated with each indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report. Further legal and policy recommendations are associated with each Animal Protection Index (API) indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report.