Animal rights by country or territory

Animal rights vary greatly among countries and territories. Such laws range from the legal recognition of non-human animal sentience to the absolute lack of any anti-cruelty laws, with no regard for animal welfare.

As of November 2019, 32 countries have formally recognized non-human animal sentience. These are: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It has been proposed that the United Nations (UN) pass the first resolution recognizing animal rights, the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare, which acknowledges the importance of the sentience of animals and human responsibilities towards them.

The Great Ape Project is currently campaigning to have the United Nations endorse a World Declaration on Great Apes, which would extend to non-human great apes the protection of three basic interests: the right to life, the protection of individual liberty, and the prohibition of torture. Six countries currently ban the use of great apes for scientific research, and Austria is the only country in the world to ban experiments on lesser apes.

In 2009, Bolivia became the first country to banish animal abuse and harm in circuses. The United States of America is the only country in the world that has banned killing horses for consumption, and India have banned killing cows for consumption in some of its states.

Cow is the national animal of Nepal and cow slaughter is a punishable offense as per the prevailing law.

In 2014, the Jain pilgrimage destination of Palitana City in Indian state of Gujarat became the first city in the world to be legally vegetarian. It has banned buying and selling meat, fish, and eggs, as well as related jobs, such as fishing and animal farming.

Global animal rights maps

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