The landmark Animal Welfare Act promised proper protection for animals when it was passed by Parliament twenty years ago. But it is now clear that the act’s potential is still being undermined by the way it is being interpreted.

The law prohibits unnecessary suffering, yet what counts as necessary has often been applied too loosely. 

Read: Animal rights and legal wrongs

The law is clear: financial gain or tradition cannot justify cruelty. Yet profit and tradition continue to justify cruel practices. Chickens bred to grow unnaturally fast, companion animals bred for extreme appearances, and animals used in sport or entertainment suffering stress and deprivation. 

Commitment

The law requires that animals’ welfare needs be met, which includes appropriate environments, diets, social contact, and the ability to express normal behaviour.

Yet too many animals live in confined, barren, or isolating conditions, deprived of the basic care they are legally entitled to. Foie gras was banned precisely because it failed to meet dietary standards, proving that better interpretation of the law is possible.

At The Animal Law Foundation, we have shown that legal interpretation matters. 

In Scotland, we secured government guidance for farmed fish throughout their life cycles to ensure the law that protects them is applied in practice. 

We gained the government’s commitment to work with vets on pig tail docking to ensure vets are not authorising unlawful mutilations, and achieved a landmark victory ending the live boiling of lobsters and crabs, all by demonstrating that current law was being ignored and needs to be interpreted correctly. 

Thrive

These victories demonstrate an important truth: just because something is common practice does not make it legal. 

The UK government has just published its Animal Welfare Strategy, which makes a significant number of commitments, including banning cages for hens and crates for pigs. 

The interpretation and enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act will be crucial in implementing them. Whether it be phasing out cages or banning live boiling, the strategy's path to improving welfare standards relies on properly interpreting current law or relying on powers under the current law. 

As we celebrate 20 years of progress, we must also recognise the work still to do. Animals cannot wait another two decades for the protections they are entitled to legally. 

Now is the time to put animals back into the Animal Welfare Act, to ensure that every creature lives free from unnecessary suffering and can thrive according to their needs.

This Author

Edie Bowles is the executive director of The Animal Law Foundation. Read its latest report here.