Executive Summary

The Ukrainian Law on the Protection of Animals from Cruelty (2006), provides a good basis for improving animal welfare in the country. It provides protection for some categories of animals including those in zoos, animals used in farming and animals kept as pets. It mandates that owners and those responsible for animals provide for animals’ biological, species-specific needs, including their natural movement and behaviour. Similarly, the Government of Ukraine has mandated humane slaughter for livestock, including that animals should not be slaughtered in the presence of others of their species.

However, there are many concerns regarding animal welfare legislation in Ukraine. Protections under the Law on the Protection of Animals from Cruelty (2006) are only given to a limited number of animals and some inherently cruel practices, such as testing cosmetics on animals and fur farming, are still allowed. Supplementary legislation regarding working animals and privately kept wildlife appears to be inadequate given recent reports of animal cruelty. ,  Since the API was first published in 2014, Ukraine has made limited changes to animal welfare law which have not resulted in an improvement in animal welfare across the country.

Animal welfare in Ukraine is not aligned under any one government ministry and responsibility for supplementary legislation is delegated to local authorities.

The Government of Ukraine is strongly encouraged to expand the Law on the Protection of Animals from Cruelty (2006) to include all animals, not just those relevant to Ukrainian business. The Government is also urged to provide species-specific guidance for the rearing, transport and slaughter of animals such as pigs and other farmed species. The Government is further urged to create an inspectorate to ensure animal welfare in zoos, both public and private, is of the highest standards. Further legal and policy recommendations are associated with each Animal Protection Index (API) indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report.