The Instigation Of The Scope Of Animal In Animal Protection Legislation Of China

Since the "People's Republic of China Wildlife Protection Law"was promulgated in 1988, a relatively independent legal system of wildlife conservation has been formed through the continuous development of central and local legislation. However, as time pass by, the standards of social development and human living were rising while the ecological problems were serious increasingly. The narrow and irrationality of protection scope, as well as the lag in animal protection legislation are also increasingly obvious. Thus, current legislations are no longer able to meet the demand for effective protection of the ecological balance, which incorporate in following aspects: first of all, due to the impact of anthropocentrism, the scope of animal protection in Environmental Protection Law and Wild Animal Protection Law of China and other related animal protection legislation is very narrow, which only includes species of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife which are rare or near extinction and the species of terrestrial wildlife which are beneficial or of important economic or scientific value, and less concerned about other species. This kind of legislation violates the concept of sustainable development and the precautionary principle in environmental legislation; Secondly, the disregard to animal welfare in Chinese animal protection legislation has led to the legislative gaps in this field and the strange social situation that incidents of cruelty to animals happened frequently and no corresponding punishment, which not only goes against the spirit of building a harmonious society, but also makes our country disadvantaged when facing the challenge of animal welfare international trade barriers. In this study, the author starts with the perspective that expanding the scope of animal protection, on the basis that clarify the concept of animal and the scope of protection in legislation, discusses the value at different levels of animals and the practical significance of animal protection, analyzes and studies the shortage and improvement of wildlife resources national ownership system, national compensation system for the damage caused by wild animal, hierarchical protection system and nature reserve protection system stipulated current legislations of China, such as environmental law, civil law and other related legal department, while focusing on the experience and legislative concepts and ideas of animal welfare system in United Kingdom, which can be learned by China. Finally, for the purpose of complementing and improving the animal protection legislation in China, the author suggests that the scope of legal protection for animals should be extended and clarified, the current legal system improve should be improved, and the comprehensive animal welfare system should be established in order to achieve the objective of effective protection of animal, furthermore to build the civilized society which promote the harmony among human, environment and society.