Introduction

Abstract

During the last decades human/non-human animals relationships have been under increased interest of scientists and under growing scrutiny of the general public. At the beginning of the 70s of twentieth century the new field of animal ethics was established as a systematic philosophical inquiry about the moral status of animals and the ethics of various types of human/animal relationships. Also thanks to the work of leading scholars of animal ethics animal advocacy activism became a social phenomenon of growing importance, resurrecting from the oblivion in which it rested during great part of the twentieth century after its birth and flourishing during the nineteenth century. In the last decades a greater awareness of the moral relevance of non-human animals has brought legislators and scientists to promote changes in the way humans and non-human animals interact in different contexts, such as, animal companions, farming animals, animal experimentation, animal-assisted interventions in health care and wild animals threatened by human impact on ecosystems. Examples of this developing situation are the increasing number of lawyers who dedicate time and effort to deal with animal issues, the publication of the Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used in scientific procedures, as well as the growing urge in the field of animal-assisted interventions for developing (mandatory) legislation, procedures and best practices.