Animals are sentient beings. They feel pain and pleasure. They have wants and needs, likes and dislikes, hopes and fears. This all seems so obvious, yet in most of the world, animals are not legally recognized as “sentient beings” — instead, they’re often relegated to the realm of objects and property. This just changed for British animals though, now that the UK government is officially recognizing animals as sentient beings under the law! Dogs, cats, farm animals, wild elephants, sharks, and more can suddenly enjoy a wide range of legal protections to keep them safe, happy, and healthy.
Unfortunately, these laws are rare in Europe. That’s why we’re caling on the nearby European Union (EU) to pass similar legislation! If the EU were to declare animals as sentient beings, that could mean a number of things. For starters, animal cruelty would be taken more seriously. It could also increase well-being for livestock like pigs, chickens, cows, and horses. Even now, some facilities in the EU are known to heinously abuse their animals, overcrowding and maltreating these critters to the point where they crush each other to death or even resort to cannibalism to stay alive. Sign the petition to demand that the European Union show how much it cares about animal welfare by providing animals with legal protections as “sentient beings”!