Uzbekistan drafts animal welfare law after public outcry

Lawmakers have begun drafting legislation to protect animals from cruelty following a collective public appeal, the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis said.


The draft law, titled “On the Protection of Animals from Cruelty,” will incorporate public input, including calls to toughen penalties for abuse. A working group has been set up to review and systematize the proposals.

One of the central demands is to reclassify animal cruelty from an administrative violation to a criminal offense. Backers of the appeal, which gathered thousands of signatures nationwide, say existing penalties, including detention of up to 15 days, fail to act as an effective deterrent.

The initiative follows a spate of reported killings and poisonings of stray animals that drew widespread reaction on social media and in domestic media.

Parliament said citizen input would be reflected in the drafting process.

According to petition initiator Yaroslava Finogeeva, the campaign ran for several weeks and mobilized hundreds of volunteers. More than 16,000 signatures were collected online and over 6,000 offline.

She said the push was driven by high-profile cases of abuse, including the killing of cats and mass poisoning of dogs.

Finogeeva added that weak accountability for pet owners contributes to a growing stray animal population and their subsequent culling, and warned that cruelty toward animals may signal broader risks to society.