Humane Legal Protection of Homeless Animals

Elżbieta Zębek

Abstract


Animal rights at the international level have been defined in the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare, which has become a guiding principle for many EU countries in shaping animal protection legislation. The subject of this article is the humane protection of homeless animals, which is the responsibility of the municipality in terms of maintaining cleanliness and order. The study assumes that by carrying out tasks regarding the protection of animals from homelessness, municipalities contribute to the effective protection of animals by providing them with appropriate care. The analysis found that the provisions of the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare have been fully incorporated into Polish legislation. However, the effectiveness of the provisions on the protection of homeless animals executed by municipalities is not entirely satisfactory as evidenced by the post-inspection data and selected jurisprudence. In order to improve this state of affairs, the following de lege ferenda postulates were formulated, which in part are also guidelines of the Supreme Audit Office extending the catalog of activities in municipal homeless animal protection programs, introducing the requirement to inspect animal shelters by municipalities, changing the location requirements of animal shelters and also clarifying sanitary requirements concerning the conditions in which animals live in to improve their welfare. The above changes in legislation may contribute to more efficient humane protection of homeless animals in Poland and may serve as an example for other EU countries.


Keywords


protection of animals; municipality; homeless animals; municipal homeless animal protection programs; animal shelters

References


LITERATURE

Białocerkiewicz J., Status prawny zwierząt. Prawa zwierząt czy prawna ochrona zwierząt, Toruń 2005.

Elżanowski A., Pietrzykowski T., Zwierzęta jako nieosobowe podmioty prawa, [in:] Sprawiedliwość dla zwierząt, eds. B. Błońska, W. Gogłoza, W. Klaus, D. Woźniakowska-Fajst, Warszawa 2017.

Gibson M., The Universal Declaration of Animal Welfare, “Deakin Law Review” 2011, vol. 16, DOI: https://doi.org/10.21153/dlr2011vol16no2art112.

Habuda A., Radecki W., Przepisy karne w ustawach w ochronie zwierząt oraz o doświadczeniach na zwierzętach, “Prokuratura i Prawo” 2008, no. 5.

Mikulewicz K., Kierejsza A., Zębek E., Zasady utrzymywania zwierząt gospodarskich – kontrowersje w materii sztuki legislacyjnej i wiedzy specjalistycznej, “Prawo i Środowisko” 2010, no. 1.

Najwyższa Izba Kontroli, Zapobieganie bezdomności zwierząt, Warszawa 2016.

Neumann J.-M., The Universal Declaration of Animal Rights or the Creation of a New Equilibrium between Species, “Animal Law” 2012, vol. 19.

Prawna ochrona zwierząt, ed. M. Mozgawa, Lublin 2002.

Radecki W., Ustawy o ochronie zwierząt. Komentarz, Warszawa 2015.

Radecki W., Ustawy o ochronie zwierząt, o doświadczeniach na zwierzętach – z komentarzem, Warszawa 2007.

Radecki W., Danecka D., Prawo łowieckie. Komentarz, Warszawa 2019.

Rakoczy B., Stec R., Woźniak A., Prawo łowieckie. Komentarz, Warszawa 2014.

Rejman G., Ochrona prawna zwierząt, “Studia Iuridica” 2006, vol. 46.

Rudy M., Program opieki nad zwierzętami bezdomnymi oraz zapobiegania bezdomności zwierząt jako podstawowa forma realizacji zadania gminy z zakresu opieki nad zwierzętami, “Samorząd Terytorialny” 2018, no. 9.

Węgrzynowicz R., Ochrona zwierząt poddawanych doświadczeniom w świetle prawa i norm etycznych, “Eko i My. Poradnik ekologiczny” 2000, no. 9.

Zębek E., Kulbacka N., International and National Legal Standards for the Protection of Wild Animals, [in:] Legal Protection of Animals, eds. E. Kruk, G. Lubeńczuk, H. Spasowska-Czarny, Lublin 2020.

LEGAL ACTS

Act of 13 September 1996 on maintaining cleanliness and order in communes (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2020, item 1439).

Act of 21 August 1997 on the protection of animals (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2020, item 638).

Act of 11 March 2004 on the protection of animal health and combating infectious animal diseases (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2020, item 1421).

Regulation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration of 26 August 1998 on the principles and conditions of catching homeless animals (Journal of Laws 1998, no. 116, item 753).

Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of 23 June 2004 on detailed veterinary requirements for running animal shelters (Journal of Laws 2004, no. 158, item 1657).

CASE LAW

Judgement of the Court of Appeal in Łódź of 22 May 2015, I ACa 1733/14, LEX no. 1771324.

Judgement of the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Lublin of 10 July 2014, II SA/Lu 909/13.

Judgement of the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Opole of 31 July 2014, II SA/Op 325/14.

Judgement of the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Łódź of 11 March 2015, II SA/Łd 999/14, LEX no. 1792973.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/sil.2021.30.3.265-276
Date of publication: 2021-09-16 22:47:02
Date of submission: 2021-01-12 17:45:04


Statistics


Total abstract view - 1444
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 0 PDF (Język Polski) - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2021 Elżbieta Zębek

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.