About Us

A team of lawyers, experts and volunteers united to build a future of respect for animals.

Animal Law Italia ETS (ALI) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2016 by a group of lawyers active in animal protection, together with experts in animal welfare and bioethics, to bring to Italy a new, innovative approach to animal protection and to advance the ethical debate on the treatment of animals within society. Our team is still composed almost entirely of volunteers and independent researchers.

2016 – 2026

Ten years of Animal Law Italia

Our organisation was founded on 27 June 2016. We have come a long way since then! Discover our journey and the impact we have made.

View the timeline

why we exist

Animals are sentient beings

Science has shown that other animals are far more similar to us than we like to admit, and bioethics argues for their inclusion in the sphere of moral consideration: we should grant them at the very least a life worth living.

Yet in reality animals are exploited, mistreated and killed without any valid reason. Almost always in a perfectly legal way. All of this is unjust and must urgently change.

VISION

Moving beyond the anthropocentric view

We believe it is both possible and necessary to define a new relationship with other species based on respect rather than exploitation.

We want the law to fully recognise and protect the needs, interests and dignity of other animals, building a fairer society for all.

MISSION

How We Act

We work every day to bring the animal question to the centre of public debate and the political agenda, in order to achieve fair laws for animals, in step with the evolution of scientific knowledge and adequate to today’s social reality.

What we do

Our Tools

Innovative legal actions

We work to ensure that the laws protecting animals are correctly applied in courtrooms.

Research and outreach

Educational initiatives to broaden the cultural foundations of the debate on how animals are treated in society.

Advocacy and lobbying

We put forward concrete proposals to advance the legal protection of animals, from the municipal level up to the European one.

Transparency

Values and Transparency

Our organisation is secular and non-partisan, democratic, egalitarian and entirely non-profit, as set out in our Statute (in Italian).

Our 2024 financial report is available. You can consult previous reports and all other organisational data on the portal of the Italian National Register of the Third Sector (RUNTS) (no registration required).

Since 2022, ALI takes part in Italy’s 5×1000 tax-donation scheme. We receive no contracted funding from the State, the European Union or other public bodies.

The people