Animal welfare

Animal welfare is the well-being of nonhuman animals. The standards of 'good' animal welfare vary considerably between different contexts. These standards are under constant review and are debated, created and revised by animal welfare groups, legislators and academics worldwide. Animal welfare science uses various measures, such as longevity, disease, immunosuppression, behavior, physiology, and reproduction, although there is debate about which of these indicators provide the best information.Think about the animals that the meat you eat comes from. Are you at all concerned about how they have been treated? Have they lived well? Have they been fed on safe, appropriate foods? Have they been cared for by someone who respects them and enjoys contact with them? Would you like to be sure of that? Perhaps it's time to find out a bit more about where the meat you eat comes from. Or to buy from a source that reassures you about these points.Consider the following (too minimal) position about the treatment of animals. So that we can easily refer to it, let us label this position 'utilitarianism for animals, Kantianism for people.' It says: (1) maximize the total happiness of all living beings; (2) place stringent side constraints on what one may do to human beings. Human beings may not be used or sacrificed for the benefit of others; animals may be used or sacrificed for the benefit of other people or animals only if those benefits are greater than the loss inflicted. Animal welfare is the well-being of nonhuman animals. The standards of 'good' animal welfare vary considerably between different contexts. These standards are under constant review and are debated, created and revised by animal welfare groups, legislators and academics worldwide. Animal welfare science uses various measures, such as longevity, disease, immunosuppression, behavior, physiology, and reproduction, although there is debate about which of these indicators provide the best information. 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. 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. Some authorities therefore treat animal welfare and animal rights as two opposing positions. 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. However, some still maintain that consciousness is a philosophical question that may never be scientifically resolved. Early legislation in the Western world on behalf of animals includes the Ireland Parliament (Thomas Wentworth) 'An Act against Plowing by the Tayle, and pulling the Wooll off living Sheep', 1635, and the Massachusetts Colony (Nathaniel Ward) 'Off the Bruite Creatures' Liberty 92 and 93 in the 'Massachusetts Body of Liberties' of 1641. Since 1822, when Irish MP Richard Martin brought the 'Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822' through Parliament offering protection from cruelty to cattle, horses, and sheep, an animal welfare movement has been active in England. Martin was among the founders of the world's first animal welfare organization, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or SPCA, in 1824. In 1840, Queen Victoria gave the society her blessing, and it became the RSPCA. The society used members' donations to employ a growing network of inspectors, whose job was to identify abusers, gather evidence, and report them to the authorities. In 1837, the German minister Albert Knapp founded the first German animal welfare society. One of the first national laws to protect animals was the UK 'Cruelty to Animals Act 1835' followed by the 'Protection of Animals Act 1911'. In the US it was many years until there was a national law to protect animals—the 'Animal Welfare Act of 1966'—although there were a number of states that passed anti-cruelty laws between 1828 and 1898. In India, animals are protected by the 'Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960'. Significant progress in animal welfare did not take place until the late 20th century. In 1965, the UK government commissioned an investigation—led by Professor Roger Brambell—into the welfare of intensively farmed animals, partly in response to concerns raised in Ruth Harrison's 1964 book, Animal Machines. On the basis of Professor Brambell's report, the UK government set up the Farm Animal Welfare Advisory Committee in 1967, which became the Farm Animal Welfare Council in 1979. The committee's first guidelines recommended that animals require the freedoms to 'stand up, lie down, turn around, groom themselves and stretch their limbs.' The guidelines have since been elaborated upon to become known as the Five Freedoms.