A registry and a digital health booklet
Households in the City of Buenos Aires hold more than 860,000 pets, counting both dogs and cats, according to the statistics cited in the proposal. On that basis the city's executive branch sent the Legislature a bill to establish a single identification system for dogs and cats, create a digital health booklet and broaden the mechanisms that protect and care for domestic animals. The initiative also envisages travel with pets on porteño buses, sets new conditions for daycare centers and boarding kennels, creates a register of dog walkers and proposes enabling a cemetery and a cremation service for animals.[S1]
The measure is presented as an update to rules that have fallen behind the place companion animals now occupy in city homes, and as a comprehensive framework to improve their health care, prevent disease and order coexistence in public space. At its center is the Single Digital Identification System for Dogs and Cats, which would gather the animal's data, the contact details of the person responsible for it and other relevant background. A Digital Health Booklet would be added to that registry to centralize vaccinations, reproductive status, spaying and neutering, and the details of the attending veterinarian, who must hold a professional license.[S1][S2]
According to the city government, the system is meant to make veterinary care easier, help prevent illness and improve control of each animal's data. Professionals entering health information would have to be licensed. The bill also addresses the presence of animals in public and private establishments: private premises may set entry restrictions under the right of admission, while guide dogs and assistance animals would be exempt.[S2]
Buses, kennels and dog walkers
On transport, the proposal adds the possibility of traveling with dogs and cats on porteño bus lines, provided the animals are inside closed, ventilated carriers of an appropriate size, as already happens on the subway at weekends. The implementing authority could set quotas, days, hours and other requirements, with exceptions for assistance animals. Until now, domestic animals were allowed on the underground network under certain conditions.[S1][S2]
Minimum conditions are also set for daycare centers and boarding kennels: safe spaces, adequate enclosures, ventilation, natural light, recreation areas, rest areas and isolation zones. Minimum floor areas would be required according to the size of the animals, along with trained staff, a responsible veterinarian, emergency and evacuation protocols, and records of the animals housed. A further point is the creation of a register of dog walkers, with registration requirements, training, a digital credential and specific obligations for handling and controlling the animals.[S1]
A cemetery and crematorium for pets
Among the measures in the city government's initiative is a change to current rules to allow cremation and burial services for dogs and cats. The bill proposes creating a city animal cemetery with a crematorium, a shared space for memory and farewell, and areas to bury animals or keep their ashes, depending on available space.[S1]
The proposal joins another initiative already before the Legislature that seeks to create a Public Cremation Service for Companion Animals. That project, promoted by legislators Emanuel Ferrario and Graciela Ocaña of the Confianza y Desarrollo bloc, would have the service begin operating at the Chacarita Public Cemetery and eventually extend to other facilities. Last year a law was also passed that toughened penalties for animal mistreatment and for those who fail to pick up their dogs' waste from sidewalks.[S1]
The difference is that the earlier initiative focuses specifically on handling pets' remains, while the executive branch's new proposal forms part of a broader framework of identification, protection and animal welfare. Both raise the possibility of a public alternative for saying goodbye to animals and disposing of their remains in a dignified and sanitary way. The cremation project envisages regulated, accessible fees, with the possibility that owners recover the ashes, discounts for rescue organizations, and free service for animals found in the street without identification or a known owner, as well as for pets whose owners can prove social vulnerability and residence in the city.[S1]
The implementing authority would organize appointments, set and update fees, monitor sanitary and environmental conditions and publish periodic reports on how the service works. Staff would also have to assess the circumstances of a death and notify the authorities of any sign of mistreatment or a suspicious death. Cremation can currently be done at no charge at the Pasteur Institute, where ashes are not returned; otherwise private funeral services are used, with basic packages that may include collection of the body from home, its preservation, collective cremation and an electronic certificate, priced at between 120,000 and 130,000 pesos for small animals, while an individual cremation with ashes returned in an urn can cost between 140,000 and 190,000 pesos and may reach 300,000 depending on the animal's weight and transport.[S1]
