THE LEGAL TREATMENT OF ANIMAL SENTIENCE IN BRAZILIAN LAW: ANALYSIS OF LEGISLATION AND JUDICIAL DECISIONS

The brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988, expressly foreseeing the protection of fauna and prohibiting cruelty to these beings, came to recognize that animal protection has an end in itself, and it's not only justified in the protection of the environment as a whole theme. Nevertheless, the Brazilian legal system has chosen to confer on animals the legal nature of "thing", resulting in a contradiction to be repaired by Brazilian doctrine and jurisprudence, which, although slowly, extends the constitutional command to include in its interpretation that animals are sentient beings. Thus, it is recognized that the exclusively anthropocentric bias towards fauna can not continue, which can be observed even from the legislative tendencies on the subject.