The interesting law in the world

 In the world, there are many kinds of laws related to animal because of their religion, welfare, ethics and the protection of ecosystems and environment. This time, I am going to introduce some laws I found.

In India, it is prohibited to kill cows and sell beef except some states. It is because Hindus recognize cow as sacred animals, and they think people should not kill them. This kinds of law exists in Nepal and poke can not be treated in Islamic states. Also, there are some countries protecting animals excessively. In Switzerland, it is banned to have a guinea pig and a parakeet as a pet. It is said that they are social animals, so having one means isolation from their society and recognize as abuse. Moreover, the constitution defines animals are lifely existence and prohibit to give painful discipline for them. As a concrete example, it is illegal to cut dogs’ tails and ears.

↑my dog 

I thought those things were defined as their religion but I found those rules were established as official laws. Though I can’t understand why they believe those things, it is also the fact that there are many believers in the world and those law are kinds of their protection to keep following their beliefs. I also surprises at the law in German because I have a German dog, which their official name is Miniature Pinscher, and her ears and tail were cut. I had heard that they are cut their ears and tails because they were working as rat catchers and needed to do that. Learning those things I mentioned before, I feel Japan is unfamiliar with animal protections and so on, of course it is not illegal or unethical.

Pork in Pakistan. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_in_Pakistan

Cattle slaughter in India. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_slaughter_in_India

Poole, J. (2025, July 2). Swiss government mandates transparency for animal suffering in animal product labeling. Food Ingredients First. Retrieved from https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/news/switzerland-animal-welfare-labeling-law-food

Docking ban. (n.d.). Deutscher Tierschutzbund e.V. Retrieved December 18, 2025, from https://www.tierschutzbund.de/en/animals-topics/pets/dogs/docking-ban

ジェトロ. (2025, October 27). ディスカウントスーパー大手アルディ、最低基準の畜産飼育ラベル製品の販売を中止へ. Retrieved from https://www.jetro.go.jp/biznews/2025/10/ebab47c2fad23f0d.html

"Animal right" historical persons mentioned

” Animal rights” in Edo period 

The Edict of Compassion for Living Things, known in Japanese as Shorui Awaremi no Rei, was a set of law established in Japan during the Edo period by the 5th Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. These edicts were notorious for their extreme and often quaint protection of animals, particularly in dogs. Not only in Japan, but those things were also mentioned by better-known historical persons for long.

 According to the YouTube channel, history of animal rights goes back to almost the beginning of human history. It is said that historical heroes, like Budda, Kant, Thomas Edison and Gandhi mentioned about animal rights. One of them, Abraham Lincoln said "I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being" in 1845. Like this, it can be said that the necessity of animal rights has been discussed for a long spell.

I'm sure that it is difficult to recognize animals' lives as much important as our lives because they cannot talk and complain with the languages we understand. Moreover, it is also true that the concept of animal right is built by human and not by them. Thus, it is hard to define "Animal right" but the way of thinking like this enables us to rethink about today's mass consumption lifestyle and the pet industry. By caring about those concepts, we may be able to remind that we coexist. 

Moby. (2021, November 22). History of Animal Rights | Moby's Veganniversary [動画]. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNaeIjsQ2QE

生類憐みの令. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. 2025年12月11日閲覧, https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%9F%E9%A1%9E%E6%86%90%E3%81%BF%E3%81%AE%E4%BB%A4

How we should do to stop animal testing?

In these days, most products surrounding us like cosmetics, medicines or cleaning products were made based on the data and experiments of a great number of animal testings. The necessity of animal testing, however, is called into question now. For one reason, there is a fact that not all of the tests can be adopted or accurate for human experiments. It is said that more than 115 tests are conducted per year but only 43% of them are accurate for human experiments. Moreover, we need to sacrifice many animals for getting data, so some people are concerning and proposing protections and charity for animals. From these points, governments in some countries started to stop animal testing. In EU and several Asian countries, they banned and change the laws related to animal testing in cosmetic developments.

To solve this problem, we should find alternatives for animal testing. Now, it is said that computer testing based on massive databases or experiments using human cells may be effective, but the development of vaccines of COVID-19 was produced using the data of animal testing. Thus, it is also true that animal testing is necessary for us in the future too even if another way is possible for us to do that. On the other hand, I think we can not treat animal subjects’ lives as much as human or pets’ life ( like dogs or cats etc.) I’m sure and acknowledge the necessity of animal testings, but they can’t speak their pain like humans. Of course we can fail and get wrong in experiments particularly in medical field, but it can not be the reason for sacrificing animal’s lives. This is the biggest and most seductive points of this theme, I think.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). (n.d.). *Panic, terror, and near drowning: The forced swim test* [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/nNKRgwHJumM

What If. (n.d.). *What if we stopped animal testing?* [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Gqi6_mOTiBQ