Executive Summary

Since the API was first published in 2014, Denmark has not enacted a new primary source of animal welfare legislation. The Act on the Protection of Animals in Denmark is from 1991 and the latest consolidated version is from 2018. The new Act is applicable to all animals, defined as ‘living beings.’ It is positive that a ban on bestiality was enacted in 2015 and is included in the Protection of Animals Act. Legislation specifically dealing with farm animals has largely been introduced in order to comply with European Union requirements and, in some instances, welfare provisions go beyond EU law, for instance with regards to the welfare of pigs and calves. Moreover, Denmark performs particularly well with regards to the use of animals in experiments, since the country has banned the use of animals for cosmetic testing and has created the 3R-Centre, dedicated to increase attention on the Three Rs principles – Replacement, Reduction and Refinement – and developing alternative research methods than with using animals.

However, there is room for improvement in many domains related to animal welfare. Notably, it is common for pigs to be rendered unconscious before slaughter through Controlled Atmosphere Stunning using carbon dioxide (CO2). However, this method takes a long time and causes enormous animal suffering. Over 98% of piglets have been found to be tail docked, despite the EU prohibiting this mutilation. Moreover, though the majority of political parties have committed to banning the use of wild animals in circuses in 2018, such a ban has still not been enacted. However, a ban will be issued after amendment of the current Protection of Animals Act, which is to be presented to Parliament in November 2019. After amendment of the Act a prohibition on elephants, zebras and sea lions will issued warranted by the Act. Marine mammals are used in public display as a matter of dissemination.

In February 2020, a new Animal Welfare Act was passed in Denmark. However, as it does not come into effect until 2021, it has not been assessed as part of the 2020 iteration of the Animal Protection Index.

Overall, there is a good allocation of human and financial resources dedicated to animal welfare in Denmark. The Protection of Animals Act 1991 gives powers to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Environment and Food to make secondary legislation related to animal welfare, whilst enforcement powers are given to the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration and the Police Director. The Ethical Council for Animals provides the Minister with an ethical assessment of animal welfare issues regarding legislation to be introduced under the Act on the Protection of Animals and other laws. Two members of this Council are appointed following consultation with animal welfare organisations. The Danish Centre for Animal Welfare is also an example of a multi-stakeholder organisation intended to mainstream animal welfare by enabling politicians, industry and other stakeholders to decide on initiatives to improve animal welfare.

The Government of Denmark is urged to outlaw pre-slaughter stunning practices that cause animal suffering, as well as to ban mutilations in farming production systems. Following the examples of neighbouring countries such as the Belgium and the Netherlands, the Government of Denmark is invited to adopt a Positive List of animals who can be kept as companion animals, based on clear criteria including animal welfare. The Government of Denmark is also urged to fully ban fur farming, since the country currently has a large mink fur farming industry. Fur farming is inherently cruel and causes pain, distress and suffering to animals.  The Government of Denmark is furthermore strongly encouraged to totally ban the use of wild animals in circuses as soon as possible, as the majority of political parties committed to in 2018. Further legal and policy recommendations are associated with each Animal Protection Index (API) indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report.

Executive Summary

There is a lack of an overall animal welfare legislation in Belarus. The country’s legislation does not recognise animal sentience, and animals lack basic animal protection. For instance, animal cruelty is not prohibited, and there is no duty of care onto animal owners. With regards to farm animals, secondary legislation mandates the humane slaughter of poultry; however, the definition of ‘humane’ does not include mandatory stunning prior to slaughter. Furthermore, there is a lack of legislation surrounding the conditions for rearing and transport of farm animals. Belarus also authorises the culling of stray animals. Furthermore, the country allows for the use of animals for fur farming and entertainment purposes, such as circuses.

The Department of Veterinary and Food Control within the Ministry of Agriculture and Food is responsible for animal health in Belarus. 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 Belarus is urged to enact a comprehensive animal welfare legislative act that would enshrine animal sentience, define animal welfare in line with the OIE standards, and prohibit animal cruelty. Further animal welfare provisions will stem from this recognition of sentience. In particular, the Government of Belarus is urged to ban the worst forms of confinement for animals reared in farming, and to mandate humane slaughter for all livestock animal species. In addition, the Government of Belarus is strongly encouraged to fully ban fur farming, which is inherently cruel and causes pain, distress and suffering to animals. The Government of Belarus is urged to outlaw the culling of stray animal populations, and to implement spay-and-neuter campaigns as a tool to control stray animal populations. The Government of Belarus is also strongly encouraged to ban the use of all animals for entertainment, in circuses for instance. Overall, the Government of Belarus 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 Animal Protection Index (API) indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report.

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.

Executive Summary

The United Kingdom has a long tradition of animal welfare, being the first country in the world to enact animal welfare legislation. Animal welfare today remains a matter of priority for the British public and this is reflected in the fact that UK legislation goes beyond EU requirements in certain areas, for example, sow stalls are banned during the whole of a sow’s pregnancy, whereas they are still allowed for the first four weeks of pregnancy at the EU level. The UK also introduced voluntary bans of certain categories of animal experimentation before required to do so by EU regulations. Remarkably, the UK has also outlawed fur farming for all species. The UK should also be applauded for not following the pattern of states in North America and Canada which have introduced so-called ‘Ag-gag’ laws, which ban undercover filming on farms without the consent of the owner, thus reducing the incidence of whistleblowing. To the contrary in England, CCTV in slaughterhouses has become mandatory, thus increasing, rather than decreasing, visibility of conditions for animals at the most vulnerable time of their lives.

Since the API was first published in 2014, several laws have been passed to improve animal welfare. Notably, secondary legislation has been passed in England and Wales which substantially updates the licensing regime for certain activities using animals, such as the sale of animals as pets, dog breeding and the keeping and training of animals for exhibition and there has been a complete ban on the sale of puppies and kittens under eight weeks of age. Scotland has proposed to introduce new regulations for the licensing of dog, cat and rabbit breeding activities. In England, the Government has also shown a commitment to stamping out illegitimate trade in puppies and kittens bred under poor welfare conditions (so called ‘puppy mills’ or ‘puppy farms’) by banning the sale of puppies and kittens by third parties, i.e. anyone other than the breeder or an animal shelter. This is a bold step and the devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales have announced a similar third-party ban on the sale of puppies and kittens.

The Animal Welfare (Service Animals) 2019 has strengthened the capability of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to deal with offenders causing ‘unnecessary suffering’ to an animal on duty in public service. The so-called ‘Finn’s Law’ means that anyone injured by an animal on duty cannot rely as a defence upon the fact that they were acting to protect themselves whilst trying to evade the law.

As for international wildlife, the Government should also be applauded for enacting the Ivory Act 2018, which introduced a near-total ban on dealing in items containing elephant ivory, regardless of their age, within the UK, as well as export from or import to the UK. In other respects, with regards to wild animals within the UK, various pieces of legislation at national and EU levels provide a "patchwork" style protective framework which is overly ripe for revision.

There is room for improvement in other domains related to animal welfare. Notably, as the UK has voted to leave the European Union, there is a risk that successive governments will water down the regulatory protection afforded animals across sectors such as research and farming and/or will sign trade deals which permit exports of animal products produced to lower animal welfare standards. There is also a risk that governance systems around animal welfare will be weakened. Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union is at risk of not being transposed (properly or at all) in UK legislation post-Brexit, so as to retain the current recognition of animal sentience in law and, more importantly, the duty to have regard – in a meaningful way – to the welfare needs of sentient animals when making or implementing public policy. The scope of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 has not been reviewed for some time, and there is concern that it does not reflect scientific evidence that has emerged about the sentience of some invertebrate species, such as cephalopods and decapod crustaceans.

In contrast to farming, where measures have been taken to increase transparency (at the time of slaughter), the regulatory regime in Britain for animals used in research still suffers from a lack of openness and there has been inertia around the repeal of Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, which has been acknowledged as out of step with modern society and potentially impeding progress towards reducing the number of animals used in research. The number of live animals used for research purposes in the UK remains significantly high.

In farming, the UK allows the confinement of farm animals in cages. There are also several areas where the law protecting farmed animals could be strengthened, and enforcement should be a priority, particularly around transport. Furthermore, Northern Ireland allows for higher stocking density of broiler chickens than that required at the EU level. The UK also permits the slaughter of non-stunned animals for religious purposes. With regards to animals used in entertainment, the UK still allows the exploitation of greyhounds and horses for races. Additionally, the private keeping of wild animals is permitted though sometimes regulated through a licence scheme. The UK and devolved Governments are strongly encouraged to enact legislation recognising animal sentience and imposing a duty upon public bodies to have regard to animal welfare when making policy decisions. To make this meaningful, legislation should include the power to establish an Animal Welfare Advisory Commission to provide animal welfare impact assessments to Government on policy and legislation– including individual departments and public bodies – and assistance in discharging its duty to animals, providing independent and transparent advice. Scotland is already leading the way in setting up an Animal Protection Commission to advise the Scottish Government. The Government should also use this opportunity to review the legal protection afforded invertebrates and to recognise the sentience of those species in respect of whom new scientific evidence has emerged. Furthermore, the UK Government is strongly encouraged to expediently enact legislation to increase sentencing for animal cruelty offences from six months to five years. Regarding farm animals, the UK is urged to ban the slaughter of animals who are not stunned, as well as to ban the confinement of farm animals in cages. The UK Government is also strongly encouraged to ban the import of fur products. Other cruel practices which should be banned include the exploitation of animals for entertainment, such as greyhound or horse racing. The UK Government is encouraged to adopt a Positive List of species, specifying which animals can be kept as companion animals, based on clear criteria including animal welfare. Further policy and legislative recommendations are associated with each Animal Protection Index (API) indicator and detailed in the relevant sections of this report.

Executive Summary

Since the API was first published in 2014, the Russian Federation has adopted for the first time an overarching animal welfare act, Federal Law No. 498-ФЗ ‘On Responsible Handling of Animals and on Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation’ (17 December 2018). This new law, in conjunction with the Penal Code of the Russian Federation (1996, amended 2012), are the main legal instruments through which animal welfare can be safeguarded and enforced in Russia. Federal Law No. 498-ФЗ recognises that certain animals should be treated as being capable of experiencing emotions and physical suffering. The Act states that the fate of animals is a human responsibility; that the Russian population should be educated in moral and humane attitudes towards animals, and that animal welfare is a scientifically-based combination of moral, economic and social interests of a person, society and the State. Provisions are made within the Act to safeguard the welfare of companion animals and stray animals. Of particular significance is the legislation prohibiting the killing of stray animals and the duty of care endowed upon animal owners of companion animals, and penalties associated with a failure to act in case of animal cruelty. Furthermore, this new legislation bans animal fights and restricts physical contact between wild animals and spectators during cultural and entertainment events, thus outlawing petting zoos and wild animal ‘cafés’.

However, there is room for improvement in many areas related to animal welfare. Notably, all farm animals (including aquaculture and fur farming), animals used for scientific research and wild animals are explicitly excluded from the scope of application of Federal Law No. 498-ФЗ. Much legal work remains to adequately safeguard the welfare of animals not covered by this Law. Federal Law No. 498-Ф neither defines ‘animals’ nor explicitly recognises animals as sentient; restricting them to being considered as things or property in law. Furthermore, Russian laws only offer basic provision safeguarding the welfare of certain species under certain conditions (e.g. the provision of bedding, food and water to pigs transported over six consecutive hours by road). The exploitative use of animals for fur production is still allowed in the country. Moreover, only anti-cruelty provisions are applicable to animals used in scientific research.

There is no evidence of responsibility for animal protection being allocated to an individual body of the government. The Ministry of Agriculture is in charge of enacting regulations for animals used in farming.

The Government of Russia is urged to formally recognise animals as sentient in legislation, given the scientific evidence which has proven that all vertebrates, cephalopods and decapod crustaceans are sentient. Furthermore, the Government of Russia is strongly encouraged to expand the scope of application of Federal Law No. 498-ФЗ to all animals. The Government of Russia is urged to ban the confinement of farm animals – for instance, in sow stalls and farrowing crates for pigs, and in cages for egg-laying hens – and the Government is urged to mandate the humane slaughter of all farm animals, with stunning prior to slaughter. The Government of Russia is furthermore urged to ban fur farming, which is inherently cruel, causing pain and distress to animals. The Government of Russia is urged to outlaw forms of entertainment which cause animal suffering, such as the use of captive marine mammals in shows for the public. Further legal and policy recommendations are associated with each Animal Protection Index (API) indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report.

Executive Summary

The Animal Welfare Act 2004, amended in 2017, is the main animal protection legislation in Austria. This Act defines animals as ‘fellow creatures’ to humans and is largely applicable to all vertebrates, cephalopods and decapod crustaceans. The Animal Welfare Act 2004 prohibits the infliction of unjustified pain, suffering or injury to an animal, or exposing the animal to ‘extreme anxiety’, which illustrates that the mental wellbeing of animals is taken into consideration. In 2013, the Austrian Constitution was amended to include animal protection as one of its objectives. With regards to farm animals, Austrian legislation goes beyond EU requirements in some instances, notably through mandating a phase-out of the use of farrowing crates by 2033; limiting the stocking density of broiler chickens to 30kg/m2; and banning the tethering of dairy cattle and calves. Austria should also be commended for outlawing fur farming and foie gras production. The use of wild animals in circuses is forbidden.

Since the API was first published, Austria has banned the tattooing and the dying of an animal’s skin, fur or feathers. In 2017, the online advertising of pets for sale was banned. On 16 May 2017, the Minister for Hunting and Rural Affairs in the Austrian province of Lower Austria announced a ban on the hunting of captive-bred wild animals in enclosures.

However, there is still room for improvement in many areas related to animal welfare. Austria still allows animals to be slaughtered without prior stunning on religious grounds. Furthermore, the stunning of pigs using CO2 is carried out, which causes acute animal suffering. In addition, entertainment events causing animal cruelty such as horse and dog racing are allowed. Though animal protection is legislated at the federal level since 2004, hunting is still regulated at the state level, which creates some disparities in hunting seasons and hunting methods allowed. Some of the cruellest forms of hunting, such as hunting with dogs, are still allowed in Austria.

The Federal Ministry of Health is responsible for animal welfare in Austria and cooperates with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management to work on animal welfare issues concerning farm animals. Each of the nine Austrian states appoints an Animal Protection Ombudsperson to act as independent, non-governmental representative of the interests of animal welfare. Furthermore, there are three animal welfare bodies at the federal level: the Animal Protection Commission directly advises the Ministry of Health on animal welfare issues, in particular with regards to its animal welfare working plan; the Animal Protection Council drafts position papers using the latest scientific evidence available; and the Animal Protection Enforcement Advisory Board monitors compliance with animal welfare legislation.

The Government of Austria is urged to ban the confinement of farm animals – for instance, in sow stalls for pigs, and in cages for egg-laying hens – and the Government is urged to mandate the humane slaughter of all farm animals, with stunning prior to slaughter. The Government of Austria is also encouraged to ban all piglet mutilations conducted without anaesthesia. The Government of Austria is furthermore urged to outlaw entertainment events which cause animal suffering, such as horse and dog racing. Further legal and policy recommendations are associated with each Animal Protection Index (API) indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report.