The Animal Movement in Costa Rica and the Struggle for the Law to Penalize Animal Abuse: Opportunities and Symbolic Representations

Between 2015 and 2017, Costa Rica witnessed a period of mobilizations in favour of animal causes, most of which were directed towards passing a law to penalize animal abuse, with an emphasis on pets. This research seeks to produce an analysis of the Costa Rican Animal Movement focused on the circumstances of the struggle for the law against animal abuse, given that it has never before been investigated. The article is divided into seven parts: the introduction, a historical summary, three sections for the theories being addressed – the new social movements theory, the studies on symbolic boundaries, and theories on performativity -, the analysis, and finally, the conclusions. It is based on a case study involving a documentary review of academic books and articles, which has been supplemented with semi-structured interviews with activists that have held leadership positions. It identifies the main opportunities that allowed welfarist leaderships to bring the struggle for the law against animal abuse to effective approval. It identifies their motives and the symbolic representations made of them at the time when an initial outline of these elements was made about the abolitionist sectors. The formation of the Animal Movement revolves around the struggle for obtaining the law to penalize animal abuse, reflecting a preference for institutional means. Abolitionist groups are those that can revive the movement following the passing of the law, and welfarist organisations must offer guidance in a non-paternalistic way, while at the same time pressure the state to enforce Law N°9458 amid a political environment troubled by fiscal austerity.