Ethical Foundations of Public Policies for Animal Responsible Guardianship and the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Main Authors: Luciano Rocha Santana, Thiago Pires-Oliveira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. Facultat de Dret 2020-11-01
• Series: Derecho Animal
• Subjects: guarda responsable; políticas públicas; derecho animal; naturaleza; pandemia.
• Online Access: https://revistes.uab.cat/da/article/view/536

<p>This work deals with a new proposal that is the concept of the responsible guardianship of nature and animals - a concept that is an evolution of the concept of responsible pet ownership. The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic point to the importance of establishing this new expansion of the responsible guardianship concept which, having as a theoretical premises not only pathocentric ethics, but also a biocentric ethics of care, would therefore seek to extend the circle of protection offered by the concept of responsible pet care that would advance from companion animals to encompass other sentient beings and finally encompass nature in general. It is an expansion that would be carried out under the holistic perspective of one health, that is, environmental, animal and human. Thus, responsible guardianship would be understood from a double perspective in which it would be considered as much a set of legal duties that guardians would have towards animals and the environment that would be under their protection, as a set of public policies that the State should carry out in favour of these animals and of nature as a whole. </p>