Advancing Animal Law in Poland

When I began the Animal Law LLM Program at Lewis & Clark Law School’s Center for Animal Law Studies, it was hard to single out one course as the most important from such an enriching program. Still, one course resonated with me more than any other: Emerging Topics in Animal Law, taught by Dr. Raj Reddy. That course did not merely add new threads to my understanding of animal protection, it fundamentally expanded the map. It showed me how many distinct strands are woven into animal protection: how animal law intersects with environmental law, international law, public health, social justice, and applied sciences, to name just a few. The course also strengthened my conviction that lawyers working for animals must adopt an interdisciplinary approach, build meaningful alliances in solidarity with other intersecting struggles, and look beyond narrow categories when addressing animal protection. That intellectual shift is the starting point for my Global Ambassador Project (GAP): to bring those broader, global, and often underexplored conversations into Polish legal and academic discourse.

Poland has seen important progress in animal protection over the recent decades. NGOs, scholars, and activists have pushed companion animal welfare into public debate, advanced discussions about farmed animals, and strengthened enforcement of existing laws. Yet much of the conversation remains framed domestically and within limited categories - companion animals, farmed animals, and traditional conservation-focused discussions about wildlife. Issues that are well-established and the subject of serious debate elsewhere, such as public, legal, academic, and policy considerations, remain marginal or absent in Poland. This means that important topics such as rewilding, One Health, the welfare and ethical concerns relating to exotic pet keeping, rights of and to nature or recognizing animal protection as part of broader social justice movements are not being brought into the conversation in Poland.

My GAP project aims to facilitate changing this siloed approach to animal law, step by step. The project includes writing accessible articles in Polish that introduce and contextualize specific emerging topics; developing a university-level syllabus that can be offered as a course across Polish law and interdisciplinary programs; and using outreach and partnerships to seed conversations that can grow into research agendas, advocacy campaigns, and curricular reform. The articles, each focused on a single emerging issue, are intended both for academics and for a broader audience of students, advocates, and policy-makers. Both articles, Towards Multispecies Justice: Animal Rights as a Social Justice Issue and Legal, Ethical and Welfare Dimensions of Exotic Pet Keeping, will be made widely available and promoted via academic networks and professional channels, and where possible presented at conferences to spark debate and invite feedback.

An important part of the project is also the creation of a syllabus introducing emerging animal law topics into Polish animal-law education. Legal education on animal law in Poland is still limited, and where programs exist they often focus on domestic law. Therefore I have developed a modular syllabus on contemporary animal law and ethics, one that Polish universities can adapt and offer as a semester course or as a module within interdisciplinary programs to expand the breadth of animal law.

Starting discussion and reflection on these emerging topics is not a matter of curious novelties from abroad. They offer new legal tools, comparative perspectives, and conceptual frameworks that strengthen our ability to respond to pressing problems. As in the case of exotic pets kept as companions, the issue brings together concerns of local law but also international law, ethical questions, and animal welfare science. Similarly, viewing struggles for animal rights as part of social justice movements is essential to progress - animal rights are not merely a theoretical consideration, but has practical consequences for how we approach animal advocacy, which alliances we build, where we see intersections of oppression, and how we can act together and in solidarity to address them more effectively. Bringing these perspectives into Polish scholarship and teaching equips future lawyers with the conceptual resources they need to craft better laws and better advocacy, ultimately improving legal protections for animals.

This GAP year is a start, not an endpoint. My great wish and hope is to see an expansion of animal law education in Poland: more course offerings across universities, more master’s and postgraduate programs with robust curricula, and a community of lawyers and scholars who bring global comparative perspectives to domestic problems, and to contribute to that development. I would like to gradually broaden the range of topics to focus upon and introduce further important perspectives and threads into the debate, drawing on the experience and wisdom of colleagues from the international scene. This would result in better research, better-informed advocacy and, ultimately, more sophisticated legal tools to protect animals in all their contexts.

I am deeply grateful to CALS and Lewis & Clark Law School for the educational foundation, and I am extremely proud to be an alumni of this extraordinary community for any animal lawyer who wants to learn and belong to a vibrant international community of experts. Thank you as well to everyone in Poland and beyond who has shared time, ideas, and feedback. I look forward to sharing my upcoming work and to continuing the conversation about how animal law in Poland can grow and strengthen.

About the author: Iga Glazewska Bromant is an animal lawyer and policy expert committed to advancing interspecies and social justice. A strong supporter of an interdisciplinary approach to animal and environmental advocacy, she studied philosophy and comparative psychology, prior to obtaining her Animal Law LLM from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2022. As Country Director for Humane World for Animals in Poland, she leads various programs aimed at strengthening animal protection through systemic change. 

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) was founded in 2008 with a mission to educate the next generation of animal law advocates and advance animal protection through the law. With vision and bold risk-taking, CALS has since developed into a world-renowned animal law epicenter. In addition to JD study, CALS offers an advanced degree program in-person and online. CALS’ Alumni-in-Action from more than 30 countries are making a difference for animals around the world. CALS is a self-funded Center within the law school operating under the Lewis & Clark College 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and is able to provide these educational opportunities through donations and grants.