Demanding higher standards for animal welfare legislation into exiting law in Sri Lanka: with special reference to Domestic Animals in Sri Lanka

Abstract

We live in a society where human rights are highly considered to be valuable. However, the requirement of higher standards of animal welfare remains as a loophole in the current legal framework. Many stories in relation to animals’ welfare remain appalling. Animal welfare Law requires to be more alive today as it is as a burning Sociolegal problem. Sri Lanka has seen its last amendment to law which addresses cruelty to animals in 1995 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal’s Ordinance 1907 under which welfare of animals is taken into consideration. The recent past is evidence of many unpleasant news relating to degrading treatment of domesticated animals. The society love animals yet simultaneously perpetrate extreme violence against them. Animals though domesticated should be adequately given freedom within boundaries. The issue is whether this is allowed in Sri Lanka. Cruelty against animals has become a key issue today for Sri Lanka. The published incidents of animal cruelty are just the tip of a large iceberg. A few could have happened due to a lack of awareness but majority of them are deliberately done. These incidents have left a question to think whether the current Law is adequate to secure the innocent lives of pet animals in Sri Lanka. Adopting the qualitative method, the researcher intends to build and elaborate on this research critically, based on Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance No 13 of 1907.