Legal recognition of animals is evolving globally, with growing movements to grant animals legal standing, personhood, or specific rights that move beyond their current status as property under most legal systems.
Legal reform offers a potentially transformative avenue for animal welfare improvement by changing the fundamental status of animals from property to beings with their own legal interests. Current property status means animals are protected only instrumentally, as property owners see fit or as legislation requires, rather than having standing to assert their own interests. Legal personhood or rights would allow welfare interests to be asserted independently, creating stronger protections against welfare compromise for economic convenience. The movement faces significant opposition from agricultural and biomedical industries whose practices depend on animal property status.