Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics.[1][2] Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity, disease, immunosuppression, behavior, physiology, and reproduction,[3] although there is debate about which of these best indicate animal welfare.
This article is about the treatment of animals. For the journal, see Animal Welfare (journal). For current laws on animal welfare around the world, see Animal rights by country or territory. For a timeline of animal welfare, see Timeline of animal welfare and rights.
Respect for animal welfare is often based on the belief that nonhuman animals are sentient and that consideration should be given to their well-being or suffering, especially when they are under the care of humans.[4] These concerns can include how animals are slaughtered for food, how they are used in scientific research, how they are kept (as pets, in zoos, farms, circuses, etc.), and how human activities affect the welfare and survival of wild species.
There are two forms of criticism of the concept of animal welfare, coming from diametrically opposite positions. One view, held by some thinkers in history, holds that humans have no duties of any kind to animals. The other view is based on the animal rights position that animals should not be regarded as property and any use of animals by humans is unacceptable. Accordingly, some animal rights proponents argue that the perception of better animal welfare facilitates continued and increased exploitation of animals.[5][6] Some authorities therefore treat animal welfare and animal rights as two opposing positions.[7][8][9] Others see animal welfare gains as incremental steps towards animal rights.
The predominant view of modern neuroscientists, notwithstanding philosophical problems with the definition of consciousness even in humans, is that consciousness exists in nonhuman animals;[10][11] however, some still maintain that consciousness is a philosophical question that may never be scientifically resolved.[12] Remarkably, a new study has managed to overcome some of the difficulties in testing this question empirically and devised a unique way to dissociate conscious from nonconscious perception in animals.[13] In this study conducted in rhesus monkeys, the researchers built experiments predicting completely opposite behavioral outcomes to consciously vs. non-consciously perceived stimuli. Strikingly, the monkeys' behaviors displayed these exact opposite signatures, just like aware and unaware humans tested in the study.
Legislation[edit]
European Union[edit]
The European Commission's activities in this area start with the recognition that animals are sentient beings.[73] The general aim is to ensure that animals do not endure avoidable pain or suffering, and obliges the owner/keeper of animals to respect minimum welfare requirements.[73] European Union legislation regarding farm animal welfare is regularly re-drafted according to science-based evidence and cultural views.[74][75] For example, in 2009, legislation was passed which aimed to reduce animal suffering during slaughter[76] and on 1 January 2012, the European Union Council Directive 1999/74/EC came into act, which means that conventional battery cages for laying hens are now banned across the Union.
There are many different approaches to describing and defining animal welfare.
Positive conditions – Providing good animal welfare is sometimes defined by a list of positive conditions which should be provided to the animal. This approach is taken by the Five Freedoms and the three principles of professor John Webster.
The Five Freedoms are:
John Webster defines animal welfare by advocating three positive conditions: Living a natural life, being fit and healthy, and being happy.[97]
High production – In the past, many have seen farm animal welfare chiefly in terms of whether the animal is producing well.[2] The argument is that an animal in poor welfare would not be producing well, however, many farmed animals will remain highly productive despite being in conditions where good welfare is almost certainly compromised, e.g., layer hens in battery cages.
Emotion in animals – Others in the field, such as professor Ian Duncan[98] and professor Marian Dawkins,[99] focus more on the feelings of the animal. This approach indicates the belief that animals should be considered as sentient beings. Duncan wrote, "Animal welfare is to do with the feelings experienced by animals: the absence of strong negative feelings, usually called suffering, and (probably) the presence of positive feelings, usually called pleasure. In any assessment of welfare, it is these feelings that should be assessed."[100] Dawkins wrote, "Let us not mince words: Animal welfare involves the subjective feelings of animals."[101]
Welfare biology – Yew-Kwang Ng defines animal welfare in terms of welfare economics: "Welfare biology is the study of living things and their environment with respect to their welfare (defined as net happiness, or enjoyment minus suffering). Despite difficulties of ascertaining and measuring welfare and relevancy to normative issues, welfare biology is a positive science."[102]
Dictionary definition – In the Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary, animal welfare is defined as "the avoidance of abuse and exploitation of animals by humans by maintaining appropriate standards of accommodation, feeding and general care, the prevention and treatment of disease and the assurance of freedom from harassment, and unnecessary discomfort and pain."[103]
American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has defined animal welfare as: "An animal is in a good state of welfare if (as indicated by scientific evidence) it is healthy, comfortable, well nourished, safe, able to express innate behavior, and if it is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress."[104] They have offered the following eight principles for developing and evaluating animal welfare policies.
Terrestrial Animal Health Code of World Organisation for Animal Health defines animal welfare as "how an animal is coping with the conditions in which it lives. An animal is in a good state of welfare if (as indicated by scientific evidence) it is healthy, comfortable, well nourished, safe, able to express innate behaviour, and if it is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress. Good animal welfare requires disease prevention and veterinary treatment, appropriate shelter, management, nutrition, humane handling and humane slaughter/killing. Animal welfare refers to the state of the animal; the treatment that an animal receives is covered by other terms such as animal care, animal husbandry, and humane treatment."[105]
Coping – Professor Donald Broom defines the welfare of an animal as "Its state as regards its attempts to cope with its environment. This state includes how much it is having to do to cope, the extent to which it is succeeding in or failing to cope, and its associated feelings." He states that "welfare will vary over a continuum from very good to very poor and studies of welfare will be most effective if a wide range of measures is used."[106] John Webster criticized this definition for making "no attempt to say what constitutes good or bad welfare."[107]
Criticisms[edit]
Denial of duties to animals[edit]
Some individuals in history have, at least in principle, rejected the view that humans have duties of any kind to animals.
Augustine of Hippo seemed to take such a position in his writings against those he saw as heretics:
"For we see and hear by their cries that animals die with pain, although man disregards this in a beast, with which, as not having a rational soul, we have no community of rights."[123]