This chapter argues that animals, as part of the environment, benefit from the protection afforded by the direct and indirect environmental safeguards offered by principles and rules of international humanitarian law. However, it also reveals that the pertinent norms are weak and largely unclear, especially in the context of non-international armed conflicts. For this reason, the chapter contends that the said rules need to be read in conjunction with the growing body of international norms, standards and mechanisms that seek to prevent and redress environmental harm during peacetime. Indeed, international environmental law has the potential to protect animals from suffering from the general deterioration of natural habitats and ecosystems caused by humans. However, the protection offered by the relevant instruments and unwritten principles is severely constrained by their narrow substantive, personal and territorial scope of application.

After recalling the context and purposes of the research, the chapter introduces the main challenges raised by the legal protection of animals during warfare: the silence of international humanitarian law on the issue, the difficulty in identifying which animals should be safeguarded, the inaptitude of international humanitarian law to adequately protect animals, and the ambivalent nature of the violence inflicted upon animals in wartime. The chapter then introduces the principal paradigms on which the legal protection of animals is grounded: animal species conservation regimes, animal welfare norms and animal rights. It subsequently emphasises three specific difficulties posed for animals by the current state of international law: the animal welfare gap in international law, the tension between species conservation and concern for individual animal welfare, and the fact that notably international trade and financial law has stymied animal welfare and protection efforts. The chapter then explores options to face these challenges while making best use of the legal strategies available within the existing normative framework. Potential new directions for developing international law on armed conflict are finally identified.