The Conversation

ACT's new animal sentience law recognises an animal's psychological pain and pleasure, and may lead to better protections

Author: Jane Kotzmann, Lecturer in Law, Deakin University

The ACT is the first Australian jurisdiction to recognise animal sentience, but many other countries have already done so. Shutterstock

After a chimpanzee named Flint recently lost his mother, renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall wrote:

the last short journey he made, pausing to rest every few feet, was to the very place where Flo’s body...

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