Animal welfare laws involve continuous assessment of the wellbeing of the animal which must take into account not only the condition of the animal, but also the background reasons. This often requires careful and expert assessment of an enormous range of factors that are both external and internal to the animal. Some of the factors include the inputs (e.g., shelter, nutrition), the care-taker (e.g., abilities, resources), and the internal health of the animal (e.g., parasites metabolic conditions) (Robertson, 2015).
Animal welfare laws are required to protect animals from cruelty/abuse and provide conducive conditions to express their natural behaviours. These laws and legislation varies from country to country. Some of the countries which have strict animal welfare laws are Austria, Switzerland, UK, Germany, Netherlands and Denmark.
Do you know when animal welfare law came into existence in India? You will be surprised to know that since time immemorial, welfare and rights of animals has been given due importance in India. Ancient Scriptures like the Vedas clearly preach the ideology of non-violence to all living creatures including the animals. India, being the home to several traditions and cultures advocating non-violence and compassion towards animals, has passed a number of animal welfare laws and rules from time-to-time. The sources of modern animal welfare legislations of India are either based on international conventions or western philosophies for prevention of cruelty to animals.
The whole matrix of animal protection in Indian legal system can be summarised under three dimensions:
First type, perhaps the original one in Indian context is the protection of animals for the betterment of agriculture, which lead to animal husbandry development with focus on farm animals. State has the responsibility of protecting these animals through legislation / penal code.
Example: Article 48 of the Indian Constitution or enactment of laws like cattle protection etc.
Second type of animal protection is as part of preservation / conservation on non-human beings mainly based on environmental utility under international conventions or treaties during 1940s or more precisely 1970s. Indian judiciary played a major role in the protection of wild animals and birds as part of preservation of biodiversity.
Example: Article 48A, 51A (g) and entry of 17B in concurrent list of schedule VII in the Indian Constitution.
Third type of animal protection is purely based on welfare ethics and morality and this is the oldest form of animal rights. Here animals are protected only for their welfare not for human resource or environmental biodiversity.
Example: Entry 17 in concurrent list of schedule VII in Indian Constitution.
0 Comments