Italy

Our Impact

Italy follows the EU’s requirements for animal welfare. The country also has its own protections in place, including legislation prohibiting the mistreatment of animals. And an annual National Plan on Animal Welfare guides Italy’s compliance with EU regulations on farm animals.

Top animal welfare issues include intensive cage and crate confinement and extreme crowding on farms, the import of animal trophies, dogfighting and the use of animals for testing in laboratories.

What we are working on

Humane World for Animals is working hard to help. We’re persuading corporations to adopt policies that give farmed animals room to move while also advocating for a more plant-forward food system. We’re ending the cruel practice of trophy hunting. We’re raising awareness about dogfighting while working to eradicate it. And we’re finding alternative ways to test products without harming animals.

Humane World for Animals

#NotInMyWorld

Stopping trophy hunting

Between 2013 and 2022, Italy imported 492 hunting trophies from protected species—including elephants and polar bears. Italy is also one of just five countries to have imported a trophy from the critically endangered black rhinoceros. We're pressure the Italian government—and the Parliamentary majority supporting it—to ban the import of hunting trophies.

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young piglets Patsy & Saffron play in Summer sunshine in their enclosure at Pigs In The Wood sanctuary for pigs

Tom Woollard/We Animals Media

We're working to prevent suffering by farmed animals.

Improving the lives of farmed animals

We are focused on creating better living conditions for farmed animals. As of 2020, some 300 million animals were confined to cages in the EU, 45 million of those in Italy. Humane World for Animals is committed to reducing those numbers and giving pigs, chickens, and other farmed animals more room to move.

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Oikeutta eläimille

Animals need their fur—we don't.

Going Fur-free

To promote fur-free policies, we continue collaborating with the fashion industry. We encourage brands to adopt cruelty-free practices and shift away from using fur.

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Chiara Muzzini/Fondazione Cave Canem

Rescued from dogfighting.

Stopping dogfighting

We’re continuing efforts to combat dogfighting by providing law enforcement with the skills to identify and address this cruel practice. We also contribute to expert research on dogfighting, deepening understanding of its prevalence and impact. And we actively engage public opinion, raising awareness about the issue and encouraging communities to recognize and report signs of dogfighting.

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