Welfare Definitions, Concepts & Frameworks
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What is animal welfare based on?
Whether we believe it is sentient or not
Define sentience?
Having the awareness and cognitive ability necessary to have feelings
Why is welfare different to most other sciences?
It focuses on the individual animal
Why is it hard assume an animals experience?
They have different sensory capacities to humans They’ve evolved to different environments to humans They have different behavioural properties to humans
Because we cannot assume animals experience something the way humans do what does this mean?
That non-human animals will suffer in a situation which humans would enjoy and vice versa.
To say what is good welfare we need evidence to decide what?
How we keep animals How we treat animals How we look after animals How we monitor whether or not the welfare is good
Evidence of good welfare can then be used to change what?
Societal views Policy Practices Teaching Legislation Monitoring/assurance
Why is it hard to get enough scientifically useable evidence of good welfare?
Welfare is based on an individual organisms internal experience
What 3 viewpoints do welfare definitions usually fall into?
Functioning Feeling Natural living
Which welfare viewpoint does the earliest welfare research usually fall into?
Functioning
Because animal welfare was being developed in a scientific environment what happened?
This meant that unless someone could measure the “thing” that it doesn’t exist. So for animal welfare they needed to be able to measure welfare
What did functioning researchers measure to measure welfare?
Biological aspects they believed reflected an animals welfare state.
What is Broom’s 1991/1998 definition of functioning?
The welfare of an animal is its state as regards to it’s attempts to cope with the environment
What did Broom mean by state?
How much energy/effort an animal must invest in something to allow it to cope with environmental challenges and whether or not the coping mechanism worked
What does Broom mean by welfare?
How much effort an animal invests in overcoming environmental challenges and whether the coping mechanism works
What is the the second part of Broom’s functioning welfare viewpoint definition?
The state includes how much it [the animal] is having to do to cope, the extent to which it is succeeding in or failing to cope, and it’s associated feelings
What is Broom’s full functioning welfare viewpoint definition?
The welfare of an animal is its state as regards to it’s attempts to cope with the environment. The state includes how much it is having to do to cope, the extent to which it is succeeding in or failing to cope, and it’s associated feelings.
What does Broom define as coping?
Having control of mental and bodily stability
Broom’s functioning definitions are based off of what?
A conceptualisation of welfare as a homeostatic approach The animal is at a neutral state and the environmental challenges alter the animals state The animal will then use/develop coping mechanisms to try and regain its neutral state
What did Broom believe would reflect the animals inability to adapt to a challenge?
The animal can’t cope The animal needs to invest lots of energy to the coping mechanism
What did Broom later relate an animals coping ability to?
An animals fitness
What does Broom mean by fitness
The animals ability to pass on it’s genes to the next generation
If maintenance of bodily and mental stability was too hard or failed then what does Broom say will happen?
Then there would be an associated impairment in a biological function that can be measured
In functioning inadequate adaption compromises what?
Welfare