Animals have always been one of the faithful companions of man through life. Whichever country in the world we look at, there will always be some connection with animals. They follow us through teachings, biology, science, movies, books and games. We are surrounded by thousands of species of animals, tame or wild, exotic or unexplored, and our world is actually made up of a community of humans and all other living beings. Although the beginnings of man's relationship with animals began cruelly, through time and changes in consciousness and moral principles, the relationship changed and progressed. Animals have become something more than the beings we feed on - they have become an active part of human life, companions, friends and family members. The aim of this paper is the Criminal protection of animals in the Croatian legal system, but this analysis would not be possible without other references. To understand how long it took for the issue of animal protection to become important, it was necessary to have a brief look at the historical periods of the Old, Middle and New Ages, in which animals were only an object. Before the real fight for the protection of animal rights, there were always famous people who advocated animal rights with their works and way of life, such as Pythagoras, Leonardo da Vinci, David Bentham, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, Mahatma Gandhi, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein and many others. At the beginning of the twentieth century, during the first decades and the realization that the survival of mankind is not possible without a healthy and preserved environment, a large number of international conventions of universal and regional scope were adopted, dealing with various environmental issues. Thus, through the adoption of conventions in the field of ecology, the international community has placed under protection many plant and animal species. The purpose of these conventions was not to protect animals as such, but to contribute to the realization of environmental and economic interests of people. Nevertheless, they represent a significant foundation on which the current international regulations in the field of animal protection are being developed. In addition to international conventions, the paper also presents European conventions, regulations and directives that are the basis for the adoption of a quality national animal protection program. Although the states of Anglo-Saxon law were the first to start the struggle for the protection of animal rights, in Europe at the end of the 20th century this struggle took the form of a revolution. Many countries, such as Germany and Switzerland, have incorporated into their constitutions the importance of animals as sentient beings. However, the question arises as to whether this is really the case in practice. Unfortunately, it turned out that theory and practice were not always in harmony, so the issue of law enforcement came to the fore. Apart from the Republic of Croatia, which does not have bad laws, but they are not implemented, the same is true for many other developed European countries. Therefore, the problem is not the lack of laws, but the institutions of supervision, ie supervisory mechanisms. To make it easier for courts to understand the significance of the crime of killing and torturing animals, animals should be in a separate chapter, not in the chapter on environmental protection, simply because animals are sentient beings. The paper also analyzes the persons who are the most common perpetrators of the crime of killing or torturing animals, and the criminological - psychological profile of the perpetrator and the cause - effect relationship between the perpetrator and the crime itself. The hypothesis of the fact that there is an unacceptable gap between the legal regulations on animal protection and the application of their provisions in practice by the criminal courts of the Republic of Croatia has been proven throughout the paper. In Croatian criminal law, only man and other basic social values have the status of objects of protection, and animals can only be objects of action of individual criminal offenses, but not objects of protection that need to be changed. It is extremely important that through the education system and media, with the support of competent state bodies, but also through the activism of various social, non- governmental and humanitarian organizations dedicated to animal protection, efforts are organized to raise public awareness of the consequences of illicit animal treatment. The community has an obligation to develop zero tolerance for all forms of abuse and raise the level of environmental and bioethical awareness of children and citizens, and that society in general is educated on the bioethical principles of strict defense of