Animal welfare science is the scientific study of the welfare of animals as pets, in zoos, laboratories, on farms and in the wild. Although
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. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...
has been of great concern for many thousands of years in religion and culture, the investigation of animal welfare using rigorous
scientific method
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific m ...
s is a relatively recent development. The world's first Professor of Animal Welfare Science,
Donald Broom
Donald Maurice Broom (born 14 July 1942) is an English biologist and emeritus professor of animal welfare at Cambridge University.
Awards
* 2000: Honorary D.Sc: De Montfort University.
* 2005: Honorary Doctorate: Norwegian University of Life ...
, was appointed by
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
(UK) in 1986.
Historical legislation and guidelines
Early legislation which formed the impetus for assessing animal welfare and the subsequent development of animal welfare science include the
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
Parliament (Thomas Wentworth) ''"
"'', 1635, and the Massachusetts Colony (
Nathaniel Ward
Nathaniel Ward (1578 – October 1652) was a Puritan clergyman and pamphleteer in England and Massachusetts.
Biography
A son of John Ward, a noted Puritan minister, he was born in Haverhill, Suffolk, England. He studied law and graduated fr ...
) ''"Off the Bruite Creatures"'' Liberty 92 and 93 in the ''"
Massachusetts Body of Liberties
The Massachusetts Body of Liberties was the first legal code established in New England, compiled by Puritan minister Nathaniel Ward. The laws were established by the Massachusetts General Court in 1641. The Body of Liberties begins by establishin ...
"'' of 1641.
Richard Martin's act, the ''"
Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822
The Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822 (3 Geo. IV c. 71) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom with the long title "An Act to prevent the cruel and improper Treatment of Cattle"; it is sometimes known as Martin's Act, after the MP an ...
"'' is often considered to be the precursor of modern relevant legislation. One of the first national laws to protect animals was the UK ''"
Cruelty to Animals Act 1835
The Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 59), intended to protect animals, and in particular cattle, from mistreatment. Its long title is An Act to Consolidate and Amend the Several ...
"'' followed by the ''"
Protection of Animals Act 1911
The Protection of Animals Act 1911 (c. 27) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It received royal assent on 18 August 1911.
The act consolidated several previous pieces of legislation, among others repealing the Cruelty to Animals ...
"''. In the US it was many years until there was a National law to protect animals—the ''"
Animal Welfare Act of 1966
The Animal Welfare Act (Laboratory Animal Welfare Act of 1966, ) was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 24, 1966. It is the main federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research and exhibi ...
"''—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"''. In the UK, the ''"
Animal Welfare Act 2006
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 (c 45) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Overview
It is the first signing of pet law since the Protection of Animals Act 1911, which it largely replaced. It also superseded and consolidated more tha ...
"'' consolidated many different forms of animal welfare legislation.
Animal welfare science can be considered as the assessment of welfare. The first publication to include the term "assessment" appears to be a 1965 appendix by
William Homan Thorpe
William Homan Thorpe FRS (1 April 1902 – 7 April 1986) was Professor of Animal Ethology at the University of Cambridge, and a significant British zoologist, ethologist and ornithologist.Alan Costall, ‘Thorpe, William Homan (1902–1986)’ T ...
entitled ''The assessment of pain and distress in animals''.
[Thorpe, W.H., (1965). The assessment of pain and distress in animals. Appendix III in the report of the technical committee to enquire into the welfare of animals kept under intensive husbandry conditions, F.W.R. Brambell (chairman). H.M.S.O., London] This was followed 20 years later by a highly influential paper on assessing pain and distress in laboratory animals by Morton and Griffiths.
Methods of assessment
Animal welfare science uses a variety of
behavioural
Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as wel ...
or
physiological
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
measures or indicators. Integrated approaches to assess animal welfare include risk analysis and semantic modelling of animal welfare.
Animal behaviour
*Occurrence of
abnormal behaviours (e.g.
stereotypies,
feather pecking,
tail-biting,
facial expressions
A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial expressions are a ...
)
*Departure from
ethogram
An ethogram is a catalogue or inventory of behaviours or actions exhibited by an animal used in ethology.
The behaviours in an ethogram are usually defined to be mutually exclusive and objective, avoiding subjectivity and functional inference as ...
of ancestral precursors
*Intra-specific variations in behavioural welfare indices
*Behaviour of captive animals upon release in a natural environment
*
Preference studies
*
Motivation studies
*
Cognitive bias in animals Cognitive bias in animals is a pattern of deviation in judgment, whereby inferences about other animals and situations may be affected by irrelevant information or emotional states. It is sometimes said that animals create their own "subjective soci ...
studies
*Self selection of
anxiolytics
An anxiolytic (; also antipanic or antianxiety agent) is a medication or other intervention that reduces anxiety. This effect is in contrast to anxiogenic agents which increase anxiety. Anxiolytic medications are used for the treatment of anxie ...
*Effects of
frustration
In psychology, frustration is a common emotional response to opposition, related to anger, annoyance and disappointment. Frustration arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of an individual's will or goal and is likely to inc ...
Animal physiology
*
Heart rate
Heart rate (or pulse rate) is the frequency of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions (beats) of the heart per minute (bpm). The heart rate can vary according to the body's physical needs, including the need to absorb oxygen and excr ...
*
Heart rate variability
Heart rate variability (HRV) is the physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between heartbeats. It is measured by the variation in the beat-to-beat interval.
Other terms used include: "cycle length variability", "R–R variabi ...
*
Corticosteroids
Corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex of vertebrates, as well as the synthetic analogues of these hormones. Two main classes of corticosteroids, glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids, are involve ...
in plasma, saliva, urine, faeces,
hair,
feathers
and eggs
*
Immune function
The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...
*
Neuorobiology[Lewis M.H., Presti M.F., Lewis J.B. and Turner, C.A. (2006). The neurobiology of stereotypy I: Environmental complexity. In ''Stereotypic Animal Behaviour: Fundamentals and Applications to Welfare'', G. Mason and J. Rushen (Editors). CABI pp. 190-226. ]
*
Eggshell
An eggshell is the outer covering of a hard-shelled egg and of some forms of eggs with soft outer coats.
Diversity
Worm eggs
Nematode eggs present a two layered structure: an external vitellin layer made of chitin that confers mechanical ...
quality
*
Thermography
Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video and/or thermal imaging, is a process where a Thermographic camera, thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are ...
including eye surface temperature
Organisations
Organisations interested in animal welfare science were set up before the subject became recognised as a science. The
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest an ...
(RSPCA) was founded in 1824 by a group of twenty-two reformers led by
Richard Martin MP (who would thereby earn the nickname ''Humanity Dick''),
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
MP and the
Reverend
The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...
Arthur Broome
Arthur MacLoughlin Broome (18 February 1779 – 16 July 1837) was an English clergyman and campaigner for animal welfare. He was one of a group of creators of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in 1824. Broome wa ...
. The
Universities Federation for Animal Welfare
The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW), is an animal welfare science society. It is a UK-registered scientific and educational charity.
UFAW works to improve animals' lives by promoting and supporting developments in the science ...
(UFAW) history can be traced to the founding in 1926 of the University of London Animal Welfare Society (ULAWS) by Major
Charles Hume. The name was changed to the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare in 1938, reflecting the increasingly wide range of people and institutions involved.
More recent organisations involved in animal welfare science include the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare (SCAW) and university departments specialising in this branch of science including the Animal Welfare and Anthrozoology Center at
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, the Animal Welfare Science Centre at
The University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and the Animal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre at
Massey University
Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...
in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
Although not limited to animal welfare science, many members of the
International Society for Applied Ethology
The International Society for Applied Ethology is the leading non-profit professional organization for academics and scientists interested in the behaviour and welfare of confined or domesticated animals, including companion, farm, laboratory and ...
work and publish research in this subject.
Journals, articles and books
Veterinary journals carrying articles on animal welfare have been published for many years, for example, the ''Veterinary Record'' has been published weekly since 1888. Peer-reviewed scientific journals have been launched more recently, e.g. ''Applied Animal Behaviour Science'' in 1974, ''
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. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...
'' in 1992, the ''Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science'' in 1998, and ''Frontiers in Veterinary Science—Animal Behavior and Welfare'' in 2014.
Many books on animal welfare science have been written, for example those by Professor
Marian Stamp Dawkins
Marian Stamp Dawkins One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born Marian Ellina Stamp; 13 February 1945) is a British biologist and professor of ethology at the University of Oxford. H ...
,
[Dawkins, M.S., (1980). ''Animal Suffering: The Science of Animal Welfare''. Chapman and Hall, London] Professor David Fraser,
[Fraser, D., (2008) ''Understanding Animal Welfare: The Science In Its Cultural Context''. John Wiley and Sons] Michael Appleby, Barry Hughes and Joy Mench,
[Linda J. Keeling, Jeff Rushen and Ian Duncan. Understanding animal welfare. Animal Welfare. 2011 Page 13. edited by Michael C. Appleby, Barry O. Hughes, Joy A. Mench](_blank)
/ref> John Webster, and David Mellor et al.[Mellor, D., Patterson-Kane, E. and Stafford, K.J., (2009). ''The Sciences of Animal Welfare''. UFAW/Wiley-Blackwell]
Teaching
In 2011 in an article on the history of animal welfare science, Donald Broom
Donald Maurice Broom (born 14 July 1942) is an English biologist and emeritus professor of animal welfare at Cambridge University.
Awards
* 2000: Honorary D.Sc: De Montfort University.
* 2005: Honorary Doctorate: Norwegian University of Life ...
wrote "The numbers of animal welfare scientists is increasing rapidly. The subject is now being taught in all European countries and the number of university courses on animal welfare in Brazil has increased from one to over 60 in 15 years. The diversity of animal welfare science is increasing and the expansion is likely to continue. The decision by the American Veterinary Medical Association to promote the teaching of the subject in all American veterinary schools will have a substantial effect."
See also
* 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. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...
* Animal consciousness
Animal consciousness, or animal awareness, is the quality or state of self-awareness within a non-human animal, or of being aware of an external object or something within itself. In humans, consciousness has been defined as: sentience, aware ...
* Fish welfare at slaughter
* Pain in amphibians
* Pain in animals
Pain negatively affects the health and welfare of animals. "Pain" is defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or descri ...
* Pain in crustaceans
Pain in crustaceans is a scientific debate which questions whether they experience pain or not. Pain is a complex mental state, with a distinct perceptual quality but also associated with suffering, which is an emotional state. Because of this ...
* Pain in fish
Whether fish feel pain similar to humans or differently is a contentious issue. Pain is a complex mental state, with a distinct perceptual quality but also associated with suffering, which is an emotional state. Because of this complexity, t ...
* Pain in invertebrates
Pain in invertebrates is a contentious issue. Although there are numerous definitions of pain, almost all involve two key components. First, nociception is required. This is the ability to detect noxious stimuli which evokes a reflex response th ...
* Welfare biology
Welfare biology is a proposed cross-disciplinary field of research to study the positive and negative well-being of sentient individuals in relation to their environment. Yew-Kwang Ng first advanced the field in 1995. Since then, its establishme ...
* Wild animal suffering
Wild animal suffering is the suffering experienced by nonhuman animals living outside of direct human control, due to harms such as disease, injury, parasitism, starvation and malnutrition, dehydration, weather conditions, natural disasters, an ...
References
Further references
* Broom, D.M. (1991). "Animal welfare: concepts and measurement". ''Journal of Animal Science
The ''Journal of Animal Science'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of animal science. It is published by the American Society of Animal Science.
External links
*
Monthly journals
Publications established in 1910
Englis ...
''. 69 (10): 4167–75. doi:10.2527/1991.69104167x. PMID
PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain the ...
1778832.
*
*
{{ethology
Animal welfare
Ethology
Zoology