Did you know that farmed animals actually have very much of the same characteristics that we love in our dogs?
Did you know that sheep will tap you with their leg to tell you that they want more pats or that they wag their tags when they are happy? Or that chickens can actually count?
Did you know that goats can shake hands like a dog? Or that cows do zoomies?
Did you know that pigs can recognise themselves in a mirror or that they can turn on the tap to have a shower when it is hot, or that they can sit for a treat?
The chances are you probably did not know much of this and the reason for this is because the law simply prohibits these animals from expressing their natural behaviours.
In fact, some of the cruellest practices, confinement, mutilation, separating mothers from babies, are entirely legal. However, just because something is legal, does it make it right?
Aleesha Simoncini got the chance, thanks to the Centre for Law as Protection, to attend a research conference with Oxford’s Centre for Animal Ethics on the Ethics of Animals in Captivity and attended the University of Antwerp’s ‘Animal Law, Rights and Representation’.
On 22 October, Aleesha presented a seminar to the law school, exploring case studies and her learnings from these summer schools and bringing them into the Australian context.
Aleesha ended her seminar with hope and with examples of how other countries are evolving in the area of animal law. She believes that Australia actually has the capacity to lead, if we are willing to learn from the progress and mistakes of others. Although we may be on the other side of the world, we are not isolated and we have the ability to shape a future that protects animals and doing this through the law is where it needs to start.
You can watch the recording of Aleesha’s seminar here.
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