| Country | Key Legal Advancements | |---------|------------------------| | | Bans battery cages, gestation crates, and cosmetic testing. Treats animals as “sentient beings” (Lisbon Treaty). | | UK | Animal Welfare Act 2006 (duty of care). Recognizes cephalopods and decapods as sentient. | | USA | Animal Welfare Act (covers some animals in labs, zoos, dealers). No federal farm animal welfare law for common species (except at slaughter). Humane Slaughter Act is inconsistently enforced. | | Switzerland | Requires social animals (e.g., guinea pigs, goldfish) to have companions. Bans boiling live lobsters. | | India | Constitution includes duty of compassion. Bans factory farming of some species? (No, but prohibits cow slaughter in many states). |
As the philosopher Jeremy Bentham said over 200 years ago: "The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" Recognizes cephalopods and decapods as sentient