ABSTRACT
The limitations and inadequate enforcement of legislative and regulatory measures to protect animal welfare has resulted in a number of initiatives to strengthen the legal and constitutional protection of nonhumans against abuse and maltreatment. The chapter investigates these, including a number of regional and international conventions. It considers several attempts to launch actions in the courts, which are inevitably unsuccessful on the ground that animals lack legal standing, although judges in India have been more receptive to such claims. The chapter suggests that there is a need for a statutory tort—based on the principle of ‘duty of care’—to redress the unequal relationship between humans and nonhumans.
