CrimeBOSS Posted June 3, 2023 Posted June 3, 2023 Animal sentience is an important issue that, unfortunately, has not yet received full recognition and acceptance in legislation worldwide. When we recognise animal sentience, we accept that animals can feel both positive and negative emotions. We understand that they are capable of experiencing positive emotions like joy and excitement. And we also know that they can feel fear, pain, and distress. Recognising animal sentience isn’t a purely theoretical or abstract concept. If we accept that animals can feel pain and distress, we must accept it is our responsibility to minimise experiences that harm animals like factory farming and the wildlife trade and entertainment industries. Understanding animal sentience also changes our priorities regarding animal welfare legislation. Basic animal protections might ban physical mistreatment or violence, but sentient beings require more than just being free from physical pain. Animal sentience legislation requires us to consider the mental and emotional well-being of the animals we share our world with. Let's look at the best examples so far, as well as some countries with a very long way to go. The United Kingdom The United Kingdom has come late to legislation around animal sentience, but the legislation it has produced is high quality. The United Kingdom passed Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act in April 2022. Before this date, animals in the UK did have some protections under previous legislation. The Protection of Animals Act 1911 and the Animal Welfare Act 2008 prevented specific ways of harming animals, including forbidding animal fighting and baiting. They also placed a duty of care on owners and anyone responsible for the welfare of an animal. But none of these regulations truly recognised that animals were sentient and that their experiences were valid in their own right. The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act has gone a long way towards rectifying this. It recognises that all vertebrate animals (and an important selection of invertebrates) are sentient and that there is a moral obligation to protect their welfare. Importantly, it also requires that animal sentience and welfare is considered when laws are being drawn up or modified. This is an important step forward, although it doesn’t prevent policymakers from deciding in favour of damaging practices that harm animal welfare. The United States The United States does not currently have any regulations on animal sentience at a federal level, although some limited legislation does recognise that animals are capable of experiencing pain and suffering. Some states do have laws in place talking about both the physical and psychological suffering of animals and placing regulations and limits on how and when this is permitted. In total, 46 states consider at least some acts of cruelty to be felonies. The legal position for animals in the US is that they are considered property rather than sentient beings in their own rights. France France was a genuine pioneer in the area of animal protection. Some animals were designated as sentient beings in the 1976 Law on the Protection of Nature. The act only covers animals that have close ties with humans, specifically companion animals (pets), framed and domesticated animals, animals in laboratories and for the purposes of science, and wild animals kept in captivity. Progress has continued since those first important steps. In 2015, the French Civil Code changed the categorisation of animals from “moveable property” to “living beings gifted with sentience”. Although this is a welcome development, it continues to exclude wild animals, domesticated animals without an owner, and all invertebrates. New Zealand New Zealand also recognises animals as sentient. The New Zealand Animal Welfare Strategy took the first step in 2013 and this was then included in legislation with the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill in 2015. In addition to recognising animal sentience, the act includes logical consequences of this recognition. For example, people are required to “attend properly” to the welfare of their animals. Canada Animal sentience is not equally respected across all of Canada. There are some limited references to pain, suffering, and distress in the Criminal Code of Canada, but no overt references to animal sentience. The issue has been largely devolved to Canada’s individual provinces and territories. Some provinces, such as Quebec, are taking valuable steps forward. A 2016 Quebec law asserts that “Animals are not things. They are sentient beings and have biological needs”. This act isn’t perfect, however. Although domestic companion animals must have their biological needs met, farmed animals must only be kept “in accordance with generally recognised rules.” There is some evidence of recognition of animal sentience in Canadian case law, even in situations where it appears to be absent from primary legislation. For example, some judges have referenced animal sentience in their sentencing decisions.
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