Resumo

DONADONI, Paolo. Animals, sentience and speciesism in the European supranational legal framework. Bol. Mex. Der. Comp. [online]. 2022, vol.55, n.164, pp.61-80.  Epub 14-Jun-2024. ISSN 2448-4873.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iij.24484873e.2022.164.18089.

The analysis of European supranational sources, the European Union and the Council of Europe, shows that the concept of animal is articulated on a plurality of legal categories that require the need to use the plural: there is no "animal", as unitary and compact category, but rather "animals", each with its own specific characteristics, recipients from time to time, of particular disciplines and protections. Over time we can see the emergence of awareness, borrowed from the increase in scientific knowledge, of the ability of some animals to feel pleasure, pain, fear, anguish, etcetera characteristics that make them "sentient beings" and require a growth of attention and protection. The overall picture, however, is still sometimes ambiguous and in any case in progressive evolution. The European Union has planned to prepare a new and coordinated discipline on the subject by the end of 2023.

Palavras-chave : Animals; law; the European Union; the Council of Europe; sentient beings; animal welfare.