3R for Farmed Animals – A Legal Argument for Consistency

Abstract

This article aims to present reasonable arguments for an extension of the 3R principles used in research to the regulation of farm animal welfare. It aspires to expound the level of legal protection in the field of research and to analyze whether these means of protection have contributed to a perceptible amelioration of animal welfare in the respective field. In the same course, it pays attention to exploring the reasons for the emergence of 3R in research. The article then seeks to identify the existing levels of protection in the field of farming. Most notably, it aims at presenting the differences of legal protection for animals in research and for animals in farming and at depicting the reasons for according such different means of protection to the animals in question. This analysis shall form the basis of exploring the reasonable possibility of applying the principles in research to the animals used for farming purposes and of establishing a common underlying legal maxim. Finally, it aspires to exemplify specific applications of the principle of 3R to farmed animals.