Animal

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

and

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

is about the treatment of and laws concerning non-human animals in France. France has moderate animal welfare protections by international standards.

Legislation

France passed its first animal protection law in 1850, though this law prohibited only public cruelty towards animals. In 1959 France issued a decree incriminating the mistreatment of domestic or captive animals. In 1976, France passed an animal welfare law which recognizes the

sentience Sentience is the capacity to experience feelings and sensations. The word was first coined by philosophers in the 1630s for the concept of an ability to feel, derived from Latin '':wikt:sentientem, sentientem'' (a feeling), to distinguish it fro ...

of domestic animals (making it one of the first countries to recognize animal sentience) and requires that alternatives to

animal testing Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...

be used where it is deemed possible. France's main regulations on animal cruelty fall under the Penal Code and the Rural and Maritime Fishing Code, which protect domesticated, tamed, and captive animals. The Penal Code makes it an offense to seriously physically abuse or sexually abuse, commit and act of cruelty towards, or abandon a domesticated, tamed, or captive animal.

Bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...

and

cockfight A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...

ing are exempt from this provision where an "uninterrupted local tradition" can be invoked. The Rural and Maritime Fishing Code gives more detail on what constitutes cruelty. Force-feeding geese and ducks to produce

foie gras Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding). Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy ...

is exempted from anti-cruelty legislation, and law requires that product labelled as foie gras must come from force-fed animals. And, as these statutes apply only to domestic, tamed, and captive animals, there are no basic criminal sanctions for cruelty towards wild animals. France's farmed animal protections comply with the minimum standards set by the European Union (EU). As for animals used in research, the Rural and Maritime Fishing Code sets out licensing and welfare requirements, founded on

The Three Rs The three Rs (as in the letter ''R'') are three basic skills taught in schools: reading, writing and arithmetic (usually said as "reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic"). The phrase appears to have been coined at the beginning of the 19th century. Th ...

: ''reduce'' the number of animals used, ''refine'' methods to cause less suffering, and ''replace'' animals where it is deemed scientifically appropriate. In 2005, the French government resisted the EU's ban on

testing cosmetics on animals Cosmetic testing on animals is a type of animal testing used to test the safety and hypoallergenic properties of cosmetic products for use by humans. Since this type of animal testing is often harmful to the animal subjects, it is opposed by an ...

, taking its case to the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...

, where it was defeated. In 2014 and again in 2020, France received a C out of possible grades A, B, C, D, E, F, G on

World Animal Protection World Animal Protection, formerly The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is an international non-profit animal rights organization that has been in operation since 1981. The charity describes its vision as: A world where animal ...

's Animal Protection Index. In 2015, the French parliament amended the French Civil Code to change the classification of non-human animals from "moveable property" to "living beings gifted sentience". However, the law does not specify what protections, if any, animals have as "living beings gifted with sentience", so it is unclear whether this will lead to changes in animal welfare policy.

Animal issues

Animals used for food

Animal agriculture

Animals raised and killed for food in France each year include: *13.3 million pigs (herd size) (2014) *19.25 million bovine animals (herd size) (2014), the highest in the EU *7.17 million sheep (herd size) (2014) *0.94 million goats (herd size) (2014) *745 million chickens (total killed) (2014) *76 million ducks (total killed) (2014) *46 million turkeys (total killed) (2014) *51.3 million egg-laying hens (herd size) (2010) *205,000 tons of

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

animals (2012) *529,000 tons of wild-caught marine animals (2013) France is the EU's largest egg producer. In late 2011, French animal activists obtained images from several farms of egg-laying hens on in barren battery cages, despite the fact that EU rules require larger "enriched" cages. On one farm, five birds on average were in cages designed for three. The group monitored the birds over time, finding that many lost their feathers and had their beaks trimmed, and that dead hens were left in cages. France is a major producer of the highly controversial delicacy foie gras, which involves enlarging the livers of geese and ducks by force-feeding them for several weeks. Several European countries, including Britain, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland, and well as the American state of California have banned foie gras production. In a 2014 survey by a French animal protection group, 47% of respondents said they would support a ban on force-feeding. In 2016, French animal activist group

L214 L214 (also known as L214 éthique & animaux) is a French animal rights organization. It was founded in 2008 by the action group "Stop Gavage" (stop force-feeding) for the abolition of foie gras, which now continues its actions within L214. The ...

released undercover video of an "organic" French slaughterhouse in which animals are seen to be tortured by slaughterhouse staff and slaughtered while still conscious. The video prompted authorities to close the slaughterhouse for two months.

Veganism

Figures on the number of

vegans Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet (nutrition), diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is kn ...

in France are not readily available, though surveys have estimated that roughly 1.5-2% of French identify as

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

. A 2011 decree by the French government effectively outlawed the serving of vegan meals at French schools, and similar decrees have been proposed for kindergartens, hospitals, prisons, and retirement homes.Renato Pichle
"The French Government Outlaws Vegetarianism in Schools"
, European Vegetarian Union (EVU), 14 October 2011. *Also se
"The French Government Outlaws Vegetarianism in Schools"
European Vegetarian and Animal News Alliance (EVANA).
"Having Banned the Burqa, French Now Ban Les Veggies"
, Vegetarians' International Voice for Animals (Viva!), 19 October 2011

Animals used for research

According to the EU's latest statistical report on animal testing, French researchers performed tests on roughly 2.2 million animals in 2011, the most of any EU country.

Animals used for clothing

Fur farming Fur farming is the practice of breeding or raising certain types of animals for their fur. Most of the world's farmed fur is produced by European farmers. In 2018, there were 5,000 fur farms in the EU, all located across 22 countries; these ...

is legal in France. There are dozens of fur farms in France, where

mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...

rabbits Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit specie ...

, and other animals are raised. In 2013 a proposal to ban new farms was formulated by a member of parliament, but no such proposal has been passed as of 2016.

Animal activism

is a French animal activist group founded in 2008 which focuses on animals used for food, given the fact that they account for the vast majority of animals used by humans. Their activities involve informational outreach about the conditions of animals on farms, undercover investigations of animal use operations, promoting veganism, and "rais ngthe question of

speciesism Speciesism () is a term used in philosophy regarding the treatment of individuals of different species. The term has several different definitions within the relevant literature. A common element of most definitions is that speciesism involves t ...

". The organization's namesake is the article of the 1976 French rural code which first recognized animals as sentient beings. One Voice is another major animal protection group active in France, founded in 1998. Their activities include campaigns against animal experimentation, fur farming, bullfighting, animal abuse in circuses, and for the welfare of farm animals and whales and dolphins.

References

{{Animal welfare by country

Foie gras