Animal Welfare: Defining and Assesing it

Animal welfare

State of faring well; well-being

Physical and emotional well-being

How an animal is copying with the conditions in which it lives

What kind of animals are referred to when speaking of animal welfare?

Sentient animals

Cognitive species

Analyzing the welfare of an animal results in….

Scientific evaluations of conditions

Welfare is a _____ between good and bad

Good

Ensuring good animal welfare is a _______ responsibility

Human

What is considered when analyzing an animals welfare?

Proper housing

Management

Nutrition

Disease prevention and treatment

Responsible care

Humane handling

Humane euthanasia when necessary

What are some of the main categories that will inflict a person’s values and experiences on animal welfare?

Producer

Consumer

Non-consumer

What changes in society have altered the perception of animal welfare?

Shift from farm to city

Good economic times

Sources of animal information

What percentage of the US population is at least 3 generation off the farm?

95%

What percentage of the us population is involved in foo production?

2%

Good economic times has increased what, allowing people to spend more money on their pets?

Disposable income

Where do most people get their animal information from?

Tv programs

Movies

Books

Zoos

Internet

Intensified agriculture

More animal units/acre

Less importance to individual animals

Decisions affected by costs

How have human-horse relationships shifted?

They have become pets and are treated like big dogs

Expensive status symbol

Laws are based on working livestock status

How have human-dog/cat relationship shifted

Treated like children but discarded at will

Fads in breeds, appearance over purpose

How have human-exotic relationship shifted?

Their welfare is not considered

Discarded at will

Some become invasive

Changes in general public?

More willing to challenge old beliefs

Less willing to have a blanket acceptance of science

Do not understand research

Know less and less about more and more

Changes in clients

Shift to corporate has made it hard to criticize practices with an increased emphases on herd health

Pet owners have less time

Increased emphasis on alternative therapies

More likely to blame others for problems

California proposition 2 —- passed 2008

Addressed the housing of laying hens

Veal calves kept in crates

Pregnant sows kept in gestations stalls

What role do vets play in animal welfare?

Understanding of health, behavior, and physiology

Understanding of science and its limitations

Routinely interact with animals and people

Recognized as the animal experts

Vets are _____ and need to understand where the public is coming from while staying true to scientific facts

Educators

What do vets guide?

Changes in industry

Research needs

What are the 3 things we analyze to measure welfare?

Health/production

Behavior

Physiology

What are the 3 things we can change to optimize welfare?

Training

Housing/environment/diet

Animal (breeding)

Why is assessment of welfare complex?

Multiple ways to view the subject

Varies by time of day, weather, state of hunger, etc.

It can never be 100%

When do we consider an animals welfare to be bad

The tipping point and beyond at which the negative things in its life outweigh the good

Approaches to assessing welfare

Performance standards

Prohibited practices (something’s are not acceptable, or only allowed under certain circumstances)

Input-based standards (based off pre-established parameters)

Specific frameworks

Record-based standards (usually invasive)

Subjective evaluation

Organizations that assess livestock welfare

PAACO (professional animal auditor certification organization)

American Humane Certified

Assessment tools should include….

A combination of methods

What are examples of specific frameworks utilized for assessing welfare

Three orientations (Body, nature, mind)

The 5 freedoms

The 3 R’s (replacement, reduction, refinement)

The five domains