Animal identity no longer as a “mark on the loin”: biometric identification and authentication for the recognition of animal biological identity – towards the effectiveness of non human animals as legal persons

identificação e autenticação biométricas para o reconhecimento da identidade biológica animal – rumo à efetivação da pessoa física animal

Abstract

This article proposes the use of biometric science as a technique
and an argument to be considered for the inclusion and the recognition of the
individuality of nonhuman animals. It aims to correct the negative value
associated with the term “thing” and the alleged neutrality of a numeric label
which is often abrasive and humiliating. The goal is to identify each animal as a
unique and unrepeatable being using biological data. This proposal is currently
facilitated by a digital reading of the primary biometrics of the nose print of some
species, analogous to the identification of humans with fingerprints. It also
paves the way for the creating of a national animal identification system through
an Animal Physical Person Registry applicable to those animals with the
greatest circulation in the country’s economic and social environment: domestic
animals; those that fulfill the role of commercial exploitation in the production of
milk and beef; those used on scientific research; as well as those trained and
maintained for sports practices. In addition to the validation of this identity, these
measures constitute many advantages in creating of public policies,
undoubtedly collaborate with more forceful form of personification and would
place Brazil at the forefront of the normative construction of Animal Law.