Features of the Practical Application of the Institute of Forced Buyout of Animals

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the institution of force buyout of animals provided for under Art. 241 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The practical application of the buyout under consideration is associated with a number of difficulties, in particular, with the lack of a normatively fixed concept of a humane attitude towards animals and with the difficulty of determining the balance between inhuman attitude and cruelty. To analyze these concepts, the author turns to the Russian doctrine, judicial practice and European regulation, studies the concept of welfare and the fundamental five freedoms of animals. The paper also examines the relationship between the two elements of the institute of forced buyout named in the provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation as the establishment of a violation by the owner of regulatory requirements in the field of handling pets and inhuman treatment. A separate issue, raised in the paper, is the procedure for determining the value of the repurchased animal by the court that must take into account all the applicant’s costs associated with the treatment of the animal after the buyout.