Science Bar "Animal welfare and rights, a question of ethics?"

Live on the UM YouTube channel.

Animal welfare, protection and rights: a growing concern

From a legal point of view, the status of animals has evolved considerably over the centuries: from being just another item of property at the disposal of its owner, the animal has gradually become a sentient being, capable of reason and suffering.

While the law of January 28, 2015 modernized the status of animals by recognizing their nature as living, sentient beings, Parliament has just adopted the proposed law aimed this time at stepping up the fight against animal abuse. The text focuses in particular on banning the sale of dogs and cats in pet shops, breeding for fur, and the presence of wild animals in circuses.

However, pets, whether farmed or wild, are not equal, either in law or in people's minds. There are also major cultural differences from one country to another.

There also seem to be disparities in moral consideration, a hierarchy among species according to criteria of utility, domestication, aestheticism, nuisance or danger... Animal ethics is therefore globally re-interrogated.

Four multidisciplinary experts will be on hand to answer questions from the live audience:

• Marianne Celka, Doctor of Sociology, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the Université Paul Valéry Montpellier, researcher at the Laboratoire d'Etudes Interdisciplinaires sur le Réel et les Imaginaires Sociaux (LEIRIS);
• David Gomis, Zoological Director, Parc zoologique du Lunaret, Montpellier;
• Elise Huchard, researcher at the Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution (CNRS-Université de Montpellier);
• Claire Vial, Professor of Public Law, Director of the Institut de Droit Européen des Droits de l'Homme (IDEDH).

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