Government issues care pathway and course against animal abuse

The national Government issued Resolution 1162 of 2026, signed on September 4, which establishes the guidelines for the Animal Abuse Awareness Course and adopts the Animal Abuse Care Pathway, in development of articles 8 and 24 of Law 2455 of 2025 (Angel Law). The regulation was published in the Official Gazette number 53,618, on Monday, September 7, 2026, on page 95.

The resolution is signed by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the Ministry of Transport, and the National Planning Department, entities that make up the National System for Animal Protection and Welfare (SINAPYBA).

Regulatory Framework

Law 2455 of 2025 strengthened the fight against animal abuse and updated the National Animal Protection Statute (Law 84 of 1989), recognizing animals as sentient beings in accordance with Law 1774 of 2016. The regulation classified the abuse of a domestic, tamed, wild vertebrate, or exotic vertebrate animal resulting in death as a crime, and ordered the SINAPYBA entities to issue the guidelines for the course and the care pathway.

The Awareness Course

The course is a mandatory pedagogical mechanism to access the reduction of the fine provided by law, and is aimed at fostering behaviors of respect and protection toward animals. Its main characteristics are:

• In-person modality, with a minimum intensity of three (3) hours of training.
• Structured into four modules: recognition of the act and framework of responsibility, animal welfare and behavior, motivations and associated factors, and legal, social, and community consequences.
• Aimed at persons sanctioned for behaviors constituting animal abuse.
• It may not be limited to the sending of material, reproduction of audiovisuals, passive lectures, or mechanical forms.

The Care Pathway

The Animal Abuse Care Pathway is structured into four operational components: case reception, analysis and classification, technical verification and institutional intervention, and management, monitoring, and closure. It applies to vertebrate animals and includes in-person, telephone, and electronic reporting channels, as well as the figure of the institutional first responder.

Departments, districts, and municipalities must adopt the Pathway through an administrative act within six (6) months following the issuance of the resolution, and update it every two (2) years. The regulation also incorporates special provisions for the care of animals affected by armed conflict and for production animals.

Impact

The resolution, signed by Fabio Alberto Arjona Hincapié (Minister of Environment), Ana María Vesga Gaviria (Minister of Health), Indalecio Dangond Baquero (Minister of Agriculture), Elsa Margarita Noguera de la Espriella (Minister of Transport), and Julián Buitrago Arango (Director of Planning), unifies technical and operational criteria for the handling of animal abuse cases throughout the national territory, overcoming the dispersion of competencies and the absence of standardized protocols that have historically hindered the institutional response.

Source: Official Gazette, number 53,618, Monday, September 7, 2026, p. 95 (official reference: Resolution 1162 of 2026).