Until the nineteenth century animals were legally protected only in their capacity as items of private property. Things began to change in Northern Europe in the nineteenth century. In the first animal welfare laws passed the need to protect animals could be equated with the need to protect animals against pointless cruelty. This equation underpinned most legislation aimed at protecting animals until at least the 1950s. After that legislation was passed and other initiatives were taken which place limits on the use of animals for purposes to which most people agree, not least in agriculture. Such initiatives fall under the heading of ‘protecting animal welfare’ and may be distinguished from initiatives that are ‘anti-cruelty’. Since the 1970ies new trends have emerged which are closely linked to the keeping of companion animals and a growing interest in wild animals. According to these trends companion animals are viewed as family
members and wild animals as beings with a right of their own to exist.