4 - Improving Animal Welfare through Legislation and Incentives Flashcards
“A law or set of laws suggested by a government and made official by a parliament”.
Legislation
reflects the ethical concerns of a society and tends to evolve with the growing findings of animal welfare science.
Animal Welfare Legislation
a specific rule made within a community, by those in authority.
law
used as the sum total of the individual rules and to legislate is to make rules
law
a specific rule or body of rules made within a community by those in authority
statute
any act which contravenes rules
Offence
the rule or group of rules relevant to a particular topic
legislation
person or body bringing an action in a court of law
Plaintiff
a person accused of an offence in a court of law
defendant
apply only to the relevant state where they are passed
State Laws
laws which apply across the country.
Federal Laws
local laws which are created and enforced locally
By-laws
means the initial document outlining the law
Primary legislation
gives more detailed provisions about the subject than those contained within the primary legislation.
secondary legislation
This tends to be developed following repeated debates in the national legislative body. It is used to create federal or state laws.
Primary Legislation
It is more readily amended (as it does not have the same need for prolonged debate), so is seen as more flexible than primary legislation, which can take many years to pass. Infringement of this law usually constitutes an offence.
Secondary Legislation
guidelines written specifically for those who need to comply with the legislation.
Guidance documents and codes of pratice
may be secondary legislation, but this will depend on the terminology used in that country
Regulation
Why is the law Protecting Species has small significance, generally?
Because it does not regard to the welfare of the animal being sentient. Without sentience being recognized, the penalty for committing the offence is likely to be minimal.
What is the law that prohibits actions involving animals such as fighting (e.g. dog-fighting, bull-fighting, etc.), fox hunting, using animals in circuses, etc.
Banning activities
Why is Prohibiting Cruelty may not be beneficial to the animals?
When an animal suffered violence/cruelty, suffering must be proven which causes confusion since there is a degree of cruelty to different individuals.
Explain how Controlling Methods for Reproduction becomes a useless law for animals.
Controlling methods are just the bare minimum standard that prohibits what could be the worst for the animals. Therefore, owners do not improve the conditions for the animals (environment, resources) but just do minimally.
these laws tend to be prescriptive (i.e. state what a person must do) and so require positive action for the particular animal, usually specifying minimum standards of care.
Improving Animal Welfare
Laws of this nature state positive actions that must be taken for those animals in order to improve or set standards for their general welfare.
Improving Animal Welfare
This kind of legislation is not designed to improve the situation for animals, so it might allow the use of poisons, traps, snares, etc. While it is legislation regarding animals, it is not passed with helping animals in mind
Improving public health
passed regarding animal health in order to prevent the spread of diseases; regulations that are put in place are related to animals, their purpose is normally always to benefit humans – it is to stop the spread of diseases which affect animals that are farmed or consumed by people
Improving Animal Health
does not apply to farmed animals, birds or rodents
USA federal Animal Welfare Act 1966
defines ‘animal’ as any horse, mare, gelding, bull, cow, ox, heifer, steer, calf, mule, ass, sheep, lamb, hog, pig, sow, goat, ostrich, dog, cat, or any other domestic animal, fowl or bird and includes any wild animal in a state of captivity
Botswana’s Cruelty to Animals Act 1936
applies to any living creature other than a human being
India’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960
it covers “all species of domestic animals and wild animals maintained in captivity”
Peru’s Law No. 27265
known as mens rea
guilty mind
a person can be found guilty of an offence without the necessary ‘guilty mind’
‘strict liability offences’
to cause an animal to suffer.
deliberate intent
Briefly explain.
“Legislative or administrative provisions and customs of the Member States relating in particular to religious rites, cultural traditions and regional heritage.”
It is an exempt from legal concern by virtue of their traditional status to the protocol and protection of animals such as not using pain relief for
routine surgical procedures such as castration, and using nose rings to control buffalo.
Give at least two weaknesses in legal protection.
Refer to your handout.
Give three examples why animal protection legislation are not enforced in some state/country.
a. lack numbers of enforcement personnel provided with adequate training and equipment
b. need to have suitable facilities to house animals and funds to
provide adequate veterinary care
c. If the enforcement body for a law also has a mandate to assist those policed, the impetus to enforce the legislative requirements may be lost.
d. limited powers of enforcement personnel (such as the authority to enter property, to stop and search suspects)
obliges countries to treat imported goods and locally produced goods equally
Article III of GATT
Acronym for GATT
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Give the economic pressures which might limit animal welfare enforcement.
a. the insufficient availability of enforcement personnel
b. the high cost of veterinary bills to treat sick or injured animal(s) who are part of the prosecution
c. the high fees for boarding the animal(s) while the matter goes to court if they have not been re-homed
d. high cost of legal action
Briefly give the six features of model animal welfare law.
a. All sentient animals should be protected by the law.
b. The law should be clearly written - outlining the offences and how these are breached so that it is easily understood by the public and those in industry alike.
c. The law should be prescriptive, comprehensive and coherent, laying down what must be provided for each species as identified by scientific research.
d. The law should be easy to amend in line with scientific or other developments
e. The law should have the highest legal status, making it possible to convict anyone who contravenes it.
f. Enforcement of the law should be the clear responsibility of a body which has been given sufficient powers and adequate funds to be able to carry out this role.
non-regulatory methods that can help improve animal welfare
a. Public Education
b. Government-funded research
