Episode 013: Time To Assign Rights To Our Furry Friends

Nomosphone: A Global Law Podcast

Throughout history, law has been reactive to scientific developments and new social movements. Could the next monumental shift be the transformation of a nonhuman animal from a mere thing with no rights to a person with legal protections? And should it? Various judicial systems indeed show increasing receptiveness to arguments maintaining that at least some animals should become the bearers of such fundamental rights as bodily liberty and bodily integrity. The movement is spurred by a growing consensus in the community of cognitive sciences that most animals including all mammals and birds possess the neurological substrates necessary to generate consciousness, as well as philosophers such as Peter Singer who have long argued that all animals have intrinsic value and that their wellbeing should be independent from homocentric needs. Most legal advocacy has been directed towards animals with higher cognitive abilities, but the main focus of this podcast is on another type of animal who probably have endured one of the worst fates of any lifeform since the advent of the agricultural revolution, namely farm animals. The welfare legislation protecting these creatures in the EU is a far cry away from granting them any rights, but we judged it important to understand what one of the world’s most comprehensive legal frameworks on animal welfare offer them. The results are unsurprisingly disappointing. The listener will also gain insight in the thoughts of the management of a slaughterhouse regarding some of the abuse cases that have emerged and brought attention to the mistreatment of animals in many abattoirs across Europe. Additionally, Pascal Durand, a member of the European Parliament shares his reflections on why the EU’s overall response to the multitude of these cases has been so weak. Our podcast does not comprise all facets of this profound topic. However, it does present the fundamentals of a legal movement that might change the way humans interact with all life around us. Many thanks to PH.D. Researcher Jennifer Dubrulle (Tilburg Law School), Mr. Pascal Durand and ESA Foods for their generous contributions to the episode; and Dr. Phillip Paiement and Dr. Anna Marhold for their research guidance. We would also like to acknowledge Dr. Yuval Norah Harari whose books ‘Sapiens’ and ‘Homo Deus’ have provided valuable insights on current scientific findings concerning nonhuman animal cognition. This episode was produced and narrated by Maria Dommer Nielsen and Lilia Nguyen. Be sure to subscribe to our Soundcloud and Facebook pages to stay up to date on our most recent episodes. And if you like what we do, please leave us a review in iTunes - it really helps get the word out about Nomosphone! We acknowledge the following image and audio clips were used in original format in accordance with Creative Commons licensing and / or Fair Use: ‘crime scene,’ ‘the mystery,’ and ‘misconception’ by Myuu (CC BY 3.0) 'Mariage D'amoure’ performed by Toms Mucenieks Photos: Chimp: Stefanie WIebach Pixabay; Pig: Bernhard Stärck Pixabay