Executive Summary

There have been several key changes in the legal protection of animals in Thailand since the first publication of the API. Namely, the Prevention of Animal Cruelty and Provision of Animal Welfare Act was enacted in 2014 and constitutes the main animal welfare legislation at present. Animal cruelty is prohibited in Section 17. In 2015, the Elephant Ivory Tusks Act B.E. 2558 was enacted. This legislation requires a special permit for trading in elephant ivory tusks. Furthermore, the Animals for Scientific Purposes Act B.E. 2558 was also brought into power in 2015. This Act defines procedures on the use of animals for scientific purposes to bring Thai practices in line with international animal welfare standards.

However, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Provision of Animal Welfare Act contains clear loopholes or compromises and fails to comprehensively protect animals. Notably, Section 18 of the Act lists exemptions to cruelty considerations, which includes all slaughter procedures. Religious slaughter is allowed, which means that animals can be killed without being stunned prior to slaughter. Farm animal mutilations are also allowed. The Act also exempts animal experiments from being included in this anti-cruelty provisions. Moreover, animal fights are also explicitly allowed in legislation. In addition to the above, there is a lack of regulations with regards to stray animal populations management, the dog meat trade, as well as the rearing and transport of several farm animals.

In Thailand, the Department of Livestock Development has powers in legislation to make regulations on areas concerning farm animals. Moreover, the Prevention of Animal Cruelty and Provision of Animal Welfare Act provides for the creation of the Animal Anti-Cruelty and Welfare Committee. The Committee is charged with proposing animal welfare policies and monitoring the implementation of the Act. Thailand should be highlighted as an example for other countries to follow, since its legislation mandates the inclusion of animal welfare organisations in the highest decision-making authorities with regards to animal welfare. Animal welfare organisations are represented in the Animal Anti-Cruelty and Welfare Committee, as well as within the Committee for Supervision and Promotion of Procedures on Animals for Scientific Purposes (CSPA), dedicated to the use of animals for scientific experiments.

The Government of Thailand is strongly encouraged to formally enshrine animal sentience into law and, from the recognition that all vertebrates, cephalopods and decapod crustaceans are sentient, the Government of Thailand is urged to amend the Prevention of Animal Cruelty and Provision of Animal Welfare Act, in order to remove the exceptions to animal cruelty, such as slaughter and scientific procedures. Moreover, the Government of Thailand is urged to ban the dog meat trade, recognising that the production of dog meat involves enormous animal cruelty. Similarly, the Government of Thailand is encouraged to ban the organisation of animal fights. The Government of Thailand is also encouraged to provide more detailed, species-specific welfare requirements with regards to the rearing of farm animals, the keeping of wild animals in captivity and stray animal population management. Further legal and policy recommendations are associated with each Animal Protection Index (API) indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report.