The constitution of 1993 established the right to a healthy, balanced, and adequate environment. Although the constitution does not address animal protection directly, it establishes that all citizens have the responsibility to protect and conserve the landscape and nature. In the civil code, animals have the status of "acquirable assets." Animal owners and keepers are responsible for the damages that animals may cause unless it is proven that a third party was at fault.

The criminal code treats animal cruelty as an misdemeanor, punishable with up to five years of imprisonment when the animal dies as a consequence of the cruelty or abandonment.

Ley 30407 is the statute of animal protection and welfare. This law grants all vertebrate domestic and wild animals kept in captivity the status of sentient beings. It sets guidelines for the protection of vertebrate domestic and wild animals kept in captivity from abuse and cruelty, whether those acts were caused directly or indirectly by humans. Bullfighting, cockfighting, and other activities declared of cultural importance are considered exceptions to the duty of animal protection, as is animal experimentation and research done in compliance with the law.

Producers of food for animal consumption may be punished with up to one year of prison and fines when they endanger the life, health, or integrity of animals by selling products not up to standards. The criminal code also considers certain acts against an animal "an act against good practices," where the actor has committed certain cruel acts against an animal or manifestly subjects an animal to excessive work or mistreatreatment.