The use of animals in the sport: the critical issues of expected and due legislation

Abstract

The legislative decree n. 36 of 28 February 2021 makes a cardinal change, although not unexpected, which has seen the regulatory hand decisively address the role of animals in sport for the first time. An opening that derives from scientific knowledge, European positions and interventions by federations and sports promotion bodies, which brings with it some substantial doubts about the concrete future implementation. The thesis deals with the changes in the doctrine and in the sector legislation in the light of the new knowledge in the field of animal welfare, placing the emphasis on the evaluation problems and on the legal condition of the animal understood not only as a sentient being but as an athlete. No longer a simple res, as our civil code still affirms today, rather the recognition of a subject with autonomous interests who is considered beyond the longa manus of the natural person who holds it.