Executive Summary
Law 88-08 of 1988 on veterinary activities and the protection of animal health is the legislation most relevant to animal welfare. Article 58 prohibits bad treatment towards domestic, tamed or captive animals. There is also a minimal duty of care included in legislation, which mandates that animal owners must keep their animals in a good state of health. In addition, the Penal Code sanctions various conducts such as mistreating, poisoning, overworking and causing injuries or death to animals. With regards to animals used in experiments, the principle of Replacement is referred to in legislation, since experiments using animals must be limited to the cases of strict necessity. It is also forbidden to hunt, capture or trade endangered species in Algeria.
However, Algeria could make improvements for animals on many accounts. There is a lack of an overall animal welfare legislation in Algeria, which impedes progress in numerous areas related to animal welfare. The country’s legislation does not recognise animal sentience and provides only basic protection to animals, through Law 88-08, as the focus of this legislation is animal health, rather than animal welfare. Moreover, there is a lack of legislation regarding the rearing, transport and slaughter of farm animals. Algeria still authorises fur farming, the culling of stray animals, and the abuse of animals through cruel forms of entertainment, such as animal circuses.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fishing (MADRP) is responsible for activities relating to veterinary medicine and farm animals. However, there is no Ministry responsible for animal welfare. There is a lack of government bodies dedicated to animal welfare in general, as well as specific animal welfare issues, such as the use of animals in scientific research.
The Government of Algeria is urged to enact a comprehensive animal welfare legislative act that would enshrine animal sentience and define animal welfare in line with the OIE animal welfare standards. Further animal welfare provisions will stem from this recognition of sentience. In particular, the Government of Algeria is urged to ban the worst forms of confinement for animals reared in farming, and to mandate humane slaughter for all animal species. In addition, the Government of Algeria is strongly encouraged to fully ban fur farming, which is inherently cruel and causes pain, distress and suffering to animals. The Government of Algeria is urged to outlaw the culling of stray animal populations, and to implement spay-and-neuter campaigns as a tool to control homeless animal populations. The Government of Algeria is also strongly encouraged to ban the use of all animals for entertainment, in circuses for instance. Overall, the Government of Algeria is strongly encouraged to align its current legislation with OIE standards. Responsibility for animal welfare should be allocated to a Ministry, and a specific government body should enact and assess the implementation of animal protection legislation. Such a government body should include representatives from animal welfare organisations. Further legal and policy recommendations are associated with each indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report.