The purpose of this work is to identify the main problems in the modern international legal protection of animals and the theoretical justification of the need to change their legal status (regime). The main task of the paper is to study modern concepts that have already become the basis of international legal acts for the protection of various categories of animals, as well as ideas that have sufficient potential to lay the foundation for a more conscious attitude to other biological species. Furthermore, the research highlights significant shortcomings of the global legal policy on animal protection, which hinder the achievement of the main goals of international cooperation in this area. The article also suggests new approaches that can solve both ethical and environmental problems in relations between humans and animals in the very near future. In addition, this scientific work provides various philosophical and legal arguments that confirm the need to assign a special legal status to animals. The research examines the doctrinal positions of mainly non-Russian researchers and legal experts dealing with the issue of the international legal protection of animals. This study uses the norms of certain international legal agreements of a global and regional nature, as well as the provisions of recommendation documents. The research uses general theoretical approaches (analysis, synthesis, comparison, induction, deduction, abstraction, generalization, idealization, analogy, modelling, concretization, logical, systematic and comparative analysis) and special legal methods (historical-legal, formal-legal and the method of legal forecasting). Based on the results of the study, the author identifies the main problems in the international legal regulation of relations on the conservation of biodiversity in the framework of the implementation of the concepts of environmental protection and sustainable development. In addition, the study highlights the most important achievements and significant gaps in the EU’s legal policy on animal welfare. Through the synthesis and generalization of the main provisions of the concept of well-being and the concept of animal rights, this work forms an idea of the most successful model of international legal protection of animals. Based on the results, the study predicts the inevitable change in their legal status (regime) and the revision of the existing anthropocentric paradigm of modern legal science. The vast majority of existing international legal agreements on the protection and use of animals protect the secondary interests of modern consumer society, where animals have a rank based on their usefulness, without taking their immanent value into account. If the trends of recent decades continue, the environmental goals set by international environmental law will remain unattainable. In order to solve a layer of ethical and environmental problems, it is necessary to abandon the anthropocentric approach, which permeates the entire system of international law, in favour of a better organization of human relations with nature (for example, in favour of anthropocosmocentrism, cosmocentrism, biocentrism, etc.). In addition, the identification of animals with property does not correspond to modern ideas about animals as sentient beings. It is unacceptable to treat animals as “things” within the framework of national legal systems and international law. Regardless of whether they will have legal capacity or will lead a new, specific category of persons, animals must have a certain set of international legal guarantees.