I was interested and pleasantly surprised to see this bill come up for debate before Parliament.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...593460-d8df-11eb-8c87-ad6f27918c78_story.html
Although the debate will undoubtedly degenerate into absurd hyperbole and silliness (on both sides), the core of the issue is simply this:
“The big picture has changed,” said
Donald Broom, a Cambridge University authority on animal welfare.
“I think of the new idea as ‘one biology.’ That human animals and other animals are extraordinarily similar,” he said, “and that sentient animals are individuals who feel pain and suffering and all sorts of other things, and that should be taken into account.”
Broom said he was “not against eating or exploiting animals, but we should think about them as individuals.”
Anyone who has spent any time observing animals ( whether elephants, horses, dogs, mice, whatever) must agree that they are individuals, with their own unique personalities. This bill, in its intent, strikes me as a simple act of decency. I don't doubt, however, that any implementation may be cumbersome, burdensome, and occasionally silly.