The Congress of Mexico City has received an initiative that would require a portion of income generated by animals in advertising, digital content and entertainment to be spent on their own food, veterinary care and living conditions. The proposal, dubbed the ‘Ley Merlín’ after a duck that gained national fame during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, was presented by Deputy Luisa Fernanda Ledesma Alpízar of the Movimiento Ciudadano party and has been referred to the legislature’s Animal Welfare Commission for analysis. According to the text of the initiative, current city law protects animals from mistreatment and abandonment but does not address situations in which a “sentient being” helps create economic value. The reform would not alter the legal status of animals as property nor create bank accounts for owners, the deputy told the chamber, but would ensure that commercial success translates into tangible improvements for the animal itself.

Viewed from Mexico City, the measure builds on a federal precedent set in April 2024, when the government of then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared the roughly twenty cats living in the National Palace to be “living fixed assets,” guaranteeing them a dedicated budget for specialised care. That administrative act, confirmed by the current administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum, marked a shift in official thinking about the obligations of the state toward animals in its custody. The ‘Ley Merlín’ would extend a similar logic to privately owned animals that become media figures, a phenomenon that has grown with the expansion of social-media platforms and the influencer economy.

In Italy, a parallel but sharply different debate is unfolding. Environmental associations have launched a mail-bombing campaign targeting deputies and newsrooms to oppose a hunting bill that passed the Senate and is now under examination in the Chamber of Deputies. The groups argue that the legislation would weaken biodiversity safeguards, broaden hunting seasons and species, and put Italy in potential conflict with European Union directives on the protection of wild fauna. They cite a poll by the Piepoli Institute showing that 94 per cent of Italians favour limiting, reducing or abolishing hunting, and note that over 400,000 signatures against the reform were deposited during the Senate debate. The European Commission has also expressed reservations, according to the campaigners. The bill’s backers in the governing majority defend it as a necessary reorganisation of wildlife management and a more effective tool for controlling animal populations.

Both dossiers remain at an early legislative stage. In Mexico City, the Animal Welfare Commission must now study the ‘Ley Merlín’ and produce a formal opinion before any floor vote. In Rome, the hunting bill is being examined in committee at the Chamber of Deputies, with no date yet set for a plenary debate. The two processes, though unrelated, illustrate how legislatures in different regions are grappling with the legal status of animals at a moment when their economic and symbolic roles are being redefined.