[The laboratory animal - measuring device and/or fellow-creature?]

The Animal Protection Law is oriented anthropocentrically and is trying to preserve human interests in animal utilisation, as well as doing justice to the indisputable responsibility towards the animals. The law is using the term "fellow-creature" but at the same time, it is regulating the objectification and exploitation of the animals. Both views can be derived largely from the Judeo-Christian tradition in the West. Today, the ambivalent attitude towards animals has reached extreme proportions. Large numbers of animals are being valued as man's companion or even as members of the family and, at the same time, are being utilised on a massive scale as industrial products or instruments of research. The conflicts arising out of this ambiguous contact with animals are being dealt with by those concerned, scientists in animal experimentation or animal keepers, in various ways. They are developing individual strategies and, in this, are being supported by the animal protection legislation. The question remains if true fellowship between humans and animals wouldn't be - finally - more beneficial and salutary for mankind, even if animal exploitation certainly has some advantage.