International humanitarian law (IHL) does not include protection for nonhuman animal species, considering animals as "objects", lacking legal status. This is increasingly at odds with the status progressively appointed to animals in some jurisdictions as living beings able of feeling pain and suffering, implying the opportunity for a legal humanitarian approach to the "animal turn". In this presentation, I will discuss how current geopolitical developments might present an opportunity to build strong foundations for an improved and more inclusive protection mechanism addressing structural interspecies' inequities.