Login
Recognising animals as sentient crucial for advancing animal welfare legislation
The recognition of animal sentience in ACT legislation is a positive step for animal protection that could lead to greater change, according to animal rights lawyers.
Jerome Doraisamy
Speaking to Lawyers Weekly following the recent Animal Law Conference 2019 (NSW Young Lawyers Animal Law Committee), practitioners have highlighted the importance of expressly recognising animal sentience in newly passed legislation in the ACT, which came into effect in mid-October.
Under the objectives of the Animal Welfare Act 1992, animals are recognised as “sentient beings that are able to subjectively feel and perceive the world around them, have intrinsic value and deserve to be treated with compassion”.
RSPCA Australia senior policy officer and Macquarie University animal law lecturer Dr Jed Goodfellow said that expressly recognising animals as sentient provided clarity to the purpose of animal welfare legislation.
“Stating it expressly in the legislation guides judges, magistrates, policymakers and the enforcers of the legislation as to its true underlying purpose and answers the question as to why animal welfare matters,” he explained.
“It will provide a more consistent, principled basis to the interpretation, application and development of the law. Implicitly, sentience is recognised by virtue of prohibiting cruelty, for instance. Why else would it be wrong to be cruel to an animal if an animal isn’t sentient?”
There is “mounting scientific evidence that highlights that most complex animals suffer pain, experience feelings (including joy, excitement, stress, and fear), and are social beings”, the Animal Law Committee noted in a statement.
“All animals with spines – that is, all mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish – as well as some animals without spines, such as octopus, squid, crabs and lobsters, are generally considered sentient. This means that essentially all animals currently used for food, entertainment, work and companionship have feelings, emotions and the ability to suffer.”
Canberra-based Animal Defenders Office executive director Tara Ward said that while the legislative change has been labelled “merely symbolic”, it is a step in the right direction and could lead to greater change.
“It’s obvious that if there is legislative acknowledgement of the sentience of animals, it would be a given that you must take that into account,” she said.
The comments follow recent reporting that it is “crucial” for future lawyers to have an understanding of animal protection needs.
“Teaching animal law to law students ensures that the next generation of changemakers in law, government and politics have an understanding of the key role law plays in animal protection.”
Pictured, left to right: Dr Meg Good, Shatha Hamade, Dr Jed Goodfellow, Animal Law Committee Chair Daniel Cung, Policy Advisor to Emma Hurst – Tess Vickery, Amanda Richman and Tara Ward.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. In June 2024, he also assumed the editorship of HR Leader. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
You can email Jerome at:
