362 | Law and Animals: European Union legal relationships between private people Criminal law covers the punishment of animal torturers, and people who have committed other acts contravening animal welfare provisions Administrative law regulates the appropriate interaction between people and animals with the help of enforcement measures Legal animal welfare is a fundamental part of protecting animals, and provides a decisive weapon in ensuring that this protection is ensured every day Animal welfare law in Europe is a mixture of primarily administrative law with some criminal law provisions Actual Animal Welfare Law Animal welfare laws directly regulate interaction with animals, and usually apply to domestic animals (such as agricultural food-producing animals, pets, and sport animals), those used in experiments, and wild animals To a greater or lesser degree, they prescribe, among other things, how animals should be kept, cared for, fed, stimulated, transported or slaughtered, and specify when a public license is required, for example, for animal experiments or to keep particularly difficult animals Animal protection in Slovenia and some German-speaking countries is regulated by the national constitution The majority of European nations have their own animal protection acts that apply to the country as a whole, or in the very least have animal protection laws on a regional level, or through relevant provisions on a national level States like Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands have a comparatively advanced level of animal welfare Here is a glimpse into some regulated areas: Germany Just as in Switzerland, Germany has also had an animal welfare act applicable throughout the country for several decades This underwent a thorough revision in 1998, and was amended in 2001 to include the keeping of dangerous dogs German animal welfare received a decisive boost when the principle of animal welfare was incorporated into the country’s constitution in 2002 The new article, Article 20a, stipulates that: Mindful also of its responsibility toward future generations, the state shall protect the natural foundations of life and animals by legislation and, in accordance with law and justice, by executive and judicial action, all within the framework of the constitutional order Thus, animal protection, just as in Switzerland since 1973, is something that the state is supposed to legislate on, and is considered to be an extremely important community asset This is a significant decision on the value of animal protection as far as constitutional law is concerned, which the lawmaker while legislating, as well as the administrative authorities and courts during the interpretation and application of the law, has to take into account This new clause within a state’s objectives does not, however, lead to protecting animals without limits, but it does mean that henceforth this consideration must be weighed with other constitutional provisions and cannot be avoided when it comes to the unfettered exercise of art, religion, science, or teaching Rather, animal protection represents, in principle, a legal equivalent to basic human rights and, therefore, must be respected in cases involving artists or researchers, for example, who invoke their own en-