This article seeks to highlight defects in the EU's protection of animal welfare standards and proposes methods of addressing these defects. The first section examines the Protocol on the protection and welfare of animals, and the provision of Article 30 EC referring to the life and health of animals. The article highlights how both of these provisions have been interpreted in ways, which have made them, respectively, ineffective and unsuitable for the purposes of protecting animal welfare. The article then looks at possible methods of strengthening the protection of animal welfare within EU law, with particular focus on the proposed addition of an article on animal welfare through the Lisbon Treaty, should it be ratified. Finally, the article discusses the adoption of the Community Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals as the most recent tangible development advancing the protection of animal welfare throughout the EU.