ANIMAL WELFARE AND THE LAW

Climate change, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity loss all have at least one thing in common: no respect for sovereignty. Similarly, wildlife trafficking, industrial farming, overfishing, habitat destruction and the global trade in animal products all connect countries through shared markets, ecosystems and supply chains. Yet our laws still treat animal protection largely as a domestic issue.

It’s a mismatch that’s becoming impossible to ignore.

For 25 years, I have practised and taught animal law in Canada and watched the field evolve from a niche area of legal study into an increasingly international discipline. And one lesson has become clear: meaningful protection for animals cannot stop at national borders.

Consider wildlife trafficking. It is among the world’s largest illicit trades, threatening biodiversity while fuelling organised crime across continents. Or animals that are raised under one country’s welfare standards being routinely sold in another, while global demand encourages production to shift wherever regulation is weakest.

These are not isolated animal welfare concerns. They are global governance challenges.

The growing recognition of the interconnectedness of human, animal and environmental health reflects this reality. The One Health framework recognises that the wellbeing of people, animals and ecosystems is inseparable. Indigenous traditions have long understood these relationships, and modern science increasingly confirms them. Protecting animals is therefore not simply an ethical question – it is fundamental to protecting biodiversity, public health and a stable climate.

Law is beginning to respond. Slowly.

Despite growing scientific consensus on sentience, most legal frameworks continue to treat animals as property, limiting their protection in court. Industrial farming, overfishing, animal testing, and the global animal trade continue under a property framework.

However, the European Union formally recognised animal sentience in the Lisbon Treaty and continues to strengthen welfare standards across farming, transport and trade. Courts and legislatures in several countries are gradually moving away from treating companion animals as mere property. Scientific understanding of animal cognition continues to grow, making older legal assumptions increasingly difficult to defend.

These developments matter because legal reform rarely remains confined to one jurisdiction. Successful legislation inspires governments elsewhere; Canada’s prohibition on cosmetic animal testing followed earlier reforms in Europe and the United Kingdom. Family law reforms recognising the interests of companion animals are likewise beginning to influence other jurisdictions. Animal law is already developing through international dialogue.

Thanks to social media and professional networks, the cross-pollination of ideas now occurs swiftly. Over the past quarter century, animal law has grown rapidly across academia, legislatures, and the courts. Many law schools worldwide now teach animal law; specialists are emerging; and litigation and legislative reforms aimed at strengthening animal protection are increasing around the world.

What is still missing is a broader recognition that many of the problems affecting animals require international legal cooperation from the outset.

Climate change offers the obvious comparison. Few would argue that one country can solve the climate crisis alone. Biodiversity loss demands the same level of coordinated thinking. Migratory species cross continents. Marine ecosystems connect oceans. International commerce moves billions of animals and animal products across borders every year. Without common principles and stronger cooperation, improvements in one country can simply be undermined elsewhere.

This does not mean every nation must adopt identical laws. Legal systems reflect different histories, cultures and priorities. But greater cooperation around shared principles—recognising animal sentience, reducing unnecessary suffering, improving enforcement and strengthening international agreements—would help close the gaps that currently allow exploitation to flourish.

There are reasons for optimism. Animal law is expanding rapidly in universities, courts and legislatures around the world. Scholars, practitioners and advocates increasingly collaborate across borders, sharing research and legislative innovations that would have been far more difficult to exchange only a generation ago.

Animal law should become more of a collective response. In an interconnected world, our legal systems must recognise what science, economics and ecology already demonstrate: the welfare of animals is no longer a purely national concern.

The animal laws we create today will determine whether future generations inherit a planet where animals are exploited resources or properly recognised as sentient beings with intrinsic worth.

Global challenges require global legal thinking. Animal law should be no exception.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Victoria Shroff, K.C., Canada’s 1st and only animal law lawyer appointed King’s Counsel, has been practicing animal law for over 25 years in Vancouver at Shroff Animal Law (Shroff & Associates). She is also an Associate Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, an independent centre pioneering ethical perspectives on animals through academic research, teaching, and publication. The Centre comprises more than 100 academic Fellows worldwide and hosts the annual Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics Summer School, now in its eleventh year. The Revd. Professor Andrew Linzey, Director of the Centre is the subject of a new documentary called ‘The Animal Thing’.

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