Sentience in practice

Policy, legislation and ethical perspectives

Over 60% of hens are confined to cages and cannot even spread their wings

Cultural beliefs, history and prejudice have had an enormous impact on how humans view animal sentience. Most people have over history assumed that many animals feel pain, hunger, thirst, heat, cold, fear, anger and other basic emotions, because we have everyday evidence that they do.

Many societies now accept animal sentience implicitly or explicitly in their legal systems.

Free-range poultry have a much higher welfare potential than barren cages or sheds

Many of the laws and regulations for the protection of animals (apart from those concerned merely with conservation of species) clearly assume that at least all vertebrate animals (mammals, birds, fish, etc.) can experience suffering from a variety of causes, for example from pain, discomfort and hunger, as well as fear, anxiety and frustration.

In 1997 the concept of animal sentience was written into the basic law of the European Union. The legally-binding Protocol annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam recognises that animals are ‘sentient beings’, and requires the EU and its Member States to ‘pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals’.