World Animal Day highlights unresolved gaps in Latvia's animal protection practices
On World Animal Day, the author of the "Animal is not a thing" initiative points to uncontrolled breeding and the law's continued allowance for euthanizing healthy animals, while a proposal to change animals' legal status awaits a third reading in parliament.
World Animal Day, marked on October 4th, coincides this year in Latvia with several recent cases exposing serious shortcomings in animal welfare. Marta Mackeviča, author of the "Animal is not a thing" initiative, argues that part of society still treats animals as mere property or profit-generating tools rather than sentient beings.
Recent examples are telling: more than 40 dogs were recently removed from a property in Dundaga where they had been kept in cruel conditions, while earlier this year, in January, 15 dogs were taken from a farm in Bauska municipality, where some animals could no longer be helped. According to the author, such discovered cases represent only a fraction of the real scale of the problem, since many similar situations remain unknown to the wider public.
Profit built on animal suffering
One major risk factor is uncontrolled breeding of pedigree animals for sale. Mackeviča warns that a suspiciously low price for a purebred puppy or kitten often signals that the breeder has cut corners on veterinary care, vaccination, or proper living conditions.
Not every self-declared "rescuer" truly helps
The author also calls for a critical eye toward those who call themselves animal rescuers, noting that the line between genuine rescue and harmful hoarding can be thin. The same caution applies when supporting shelters or animal welfare organizations — it is worth checking in advance how an organization actually operates, how it provides veterinary care, and whether it follows a "no-kill" approach rather than euthanizing healthy animals simply due to lack of space.
Law still permits euthanizing healthy animals
Mackeviča points out that Latvia's current Animal Protection Law still allows a healthy animal to be euthanized even when it is not sick or severely injured — for instance, when an owner is no longer willing or able to care for it.
Meanwhile, more than 35,000 people have already supported the "Animal is not a thing" initiative, which seeks to amend the Civil Law to state explicitly that animals are not to be treated as property. The proposal is currently awaiting its third reading in the Saeima.
