The three pillars of applied farm animal welfare
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
There is an evident difference in the implementation level of animal welfare (AW) across the societies and countries worldwide. Although multiple factors contribute to these differences, we can summarize them into a three pillar concept, the three aspects of applied farm AW. The objective of this review is to analyse applied AW on farms from the ethical, economic and animal health aspects. Modern ethics emphasizes biocentrism against anthropocentrism, the modern ethical concept of bioethics. Additionally, beside the differences among the major ethical concepts, there is a consensus that AW deserves a respectful place. An animal’s economic value is not only limited by its material value determined by the inputs and outputs. Thus, rather than being simply considered as a “stock-good” machine, animals are valued as a sentient beings with “added value”, which has an impact on the final product price. Animal health and welfare are interconnected and are based on the impact of AW on health and vice versa. The implementation of higher welfare standards to farm animals is only possible if AW is accepted as part of the health of the animal. The applicability of this concept is presented through the European Union AW legislation, which is based on public opinion, economy and animal health. As a conclusion, applied AW is possible only at the level at which the three pillars are equally balanced, and the initiatives in this field should work and be focused on ethics, economics and health.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright of the published papers and grant to the publisher the right to publish the article, to be cited as its original publisher in case of reuse, and to distribute it in all forms and media. Articles will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0).
References
Bracke M. B. M. 2009. Animal welfare in a global perspective. In Rapport/Wageningen UR Livestock Research, No. 240, Lelystad: Wageningen UR Livestock Research.
Brambell F. W. R., Technical Committee to Enquire into the Welfare of Animals kept under Intensive Livestock Husbandry Systems. 1965. In Report of the Technical Committee. Animals Kept Under Intensive Livestock Husbandry Systems, London: HM Stationery Office.
Brook R. 2007. Deontology, paradox, and moral evil. Social Theory and Practice, 33(3):431-440. https://doi.org/10.5840/soctheorpract200733316
Broom D. M. 1986. Indicators of poor welfare. British Veterinary Journal, 142(6):524-526.
Broom D. M. and Johnson, K. G. 1993. Stress and Animal Welfare. Dordrecht: Springer.
Broom D. M. and Corke M. J. 2002. Effects of disease on farm animal welfare. Acta Veterinaria Brno, 71(1): 133. https://doi.org/10.2754/avb200271010133.
Broom D. M., Kirkden R. D. 2004. Welfare, stress, behaviour and pathophysiology. In Veterinary Pathophysiology. Eds. R. H. Dunlop and C. H. Malbert. Blackwell, Ames, Iowa, pp. 337-369.
Broom D. 2006a. Behaviour and welfare in relation to pathology. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 97(1): 73-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2005.11.019
Broom D. 2006b. The evolution of morality. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 100(1-2):20-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2006.04.008
Broom D. M., Fraser A. F. 2007. In Domestic Animal Behaviour and Welfare. CABI.
Bruijnis M. R. N., Beerda B., Hogeveen H., Stassen E. N. 2011. Assessing the welfare impact of foot disorders in dairy cattle by a modeling approach. Animal 6(06):962-970. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1751731111002606.
Coutinho A. E., Chapman, K. E. 2011. The anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects of glucocorticoids, recent developments and mechanistic insights. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 335(1):2-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mce.2010.04.005.
Cruz-Topete D., Cidlowski J. A. 2014. One Hormone, Two Actions: Anti- and Pro-Inflammatory Effects of Glucocorticoids. Neuroimmunomodulation, 22(1-2):20-32. https://doi.org/10.1159/000362724.
de Graaf S., Ampe B., Buijs S., Andreasen S., des Roches, A. D. B., Haskell M. J., Kirchner M., Mounier L., Radeski M., Winckler C., Bijttebier, J. 2018. Sensitivity of the integrated welfare quality® scores to changing values of individual dairy cattle welfare measures. Animal Welfare, 27:157-166. https://doi.org/10.7120/09627286.27.2.157.
des Roches A., Veissier I., Coignard M., Bareille N., Guatteo R., Capdeville J., Gilot-Fromont E., Mounier L. 2014. The major welfare problems of dairy cows in French commercial farms: an epidemiological approach. Animal Welfare, 23(4):467-478. https://doi.org/10.7120/09627286.23.4.467.
European Communities. 1997. In Treaty of Amsterdam amending the treaty on European Union, the treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
European Commission. 1998. Concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes. Council Directive 98/58/EC. Official Journal L, 221(08), 08.
European Commission. 2005. Attitudes of consumers towards the welfare of farmed animals. Special Eurobarometer, 229:45-46.
European Commission: Animal welfare. Available at http://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/welfare_en. Accessed 15.5.2021.
European Commission. 2007. In Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, A new Animal Health Strategy for the European Union (2007–2013) where “Prevention is better than cure”. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. 2012. In Communication from the commission to the european parliament, the council and the european economic and social committee on the European Union Strategy for the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2012-2015. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. 2014. Discussion paper on Progress under the Animal Health Strategy for the European Union (2007-2013) where “Prevention is better than cure” and possible future steps. Brussels: European Commission.
European Union. 2009. Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, OJ C 306: 1–271
Fearing J., Matheny G. 2007. The state of the animals 2007. In The role of economics in achieving welfare gains for animals. Eds. D. J. Salem, A. N. Rowan. Humane Society Press, Washington DC, pp. 159-173.
Fraser D., Weary D. M., Pajor E. A., Milligan B. N. 1997. A scientific conception of animal welfare that reflects ethical concerns. Animal welfare, 6: 187-205.
Fraser D. 2008. The role of the veterinarian in animal welfare. Animal welfare: too much or too little? In 21st Symposium of the Nordic Committee for Veterinary Scientific Cooperation (NKVet). Acta veterinaria Scandinavica, 50, Suppl 1: S1. https://doi.org/10.1186/1751-0147-50-s1-s1.
Fraser D. 2012. A “Practical” Ethic for Animals. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 25(5):721-746. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-011-9353-z.
Galindo F., Broom D. M. 2002. Effects of lameness of dairy cows. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 5(3):193-201. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327604jaws0503_03.
Hewson C. J. 2003. What is animal welfare? Common definitions and their practical consequences. The Canadian veterinary journal, 44(6):496-499.
Hobson A. 2004. The Oxford Dictionary of Difficult Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Husu-Kallio J. 2008. Animal health and animal welfare – is it the same thing? Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, 50(1):1-3. https://doi.org/10.1186/1751-0147-50-S1-S2.
Kagan S. 1998. Normative Ethics. Routledge: Westview Press.
Kahn S. 2020. Animal welfare in the context of World Trade Organization dispute settlement. Revue scientifique et technique (International Office of Epizootics), 39(1):69-79. https://doi.org/10.20506/rst.39.1.3063.
McInerney J. 2004. Animal Welfare, Economics and Policy. Report on a Study Undertaken for the Farm & Animal Health Economics Division of Defra. Exter, UK.
Meehan M. C. 1975. Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Harvard University Press . https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1975.03260090072033.
Miele M., Bock B., Horlings L. 2015. Animal welfare: The challenges of implementing a common legislation in Europe. In Handbook of the international political economy of agriculture and food. Eds. A. Bonanno, L. Busch. Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 295-321.
Mill J. S. 1863. Utilitarianism. London: Parker, Son, and Bourn.
OIE. 2005. Terrestrial Animal Health Code, (14th edition). Paris, OIE.
OIE (2016a): Animal welfare at a glance. Available at: http://www.oie.int/en/animal-welfare/animal-welfare-at-a-glance/. Accessed 07.10.2016.
OIE (2016b). Chapter 7, Animal Welfare. In Terrestrial Animal Health Code (25th edition), Paris: OIE.
OIE (2016c). Chapter 7, Animal Welfare. In Aquatic Animal Health Code (19th edition), Paris: OIE.
Pryce J. E., Veerkamp R. F., Thompson R., Hill W. G., Simm G. 1997. Genetic aspects of common health disorders and measures of fertility in Holstein Friesian dairy cattle. Animal Science, 65(3):353-360. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1357729800008559.
Radeski M., Janevski A., Ilieski V. 2015. Screening of selected indicators of dairy cattle welfare in Macedonia. Macedonian Veterinary Review, 38(1):43-51. https://doi.org/10.14432/j.macvetrev.2014.11.031.
Radeski M., O’Shea H., De Meneghi D., Ilieski V. 2018. Positioning animal welfare in the one health concept through evaluation of an animal welfare center in Skopje, Macedonia. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 4, 238. https://doi.org/ 10.3389/fvets.2017.00238.
Rojek-Podgórska B. 2016. EU animal welfare strategy, 2012-2015, State of play and possible next steps. European Parliamentary Research Service.
Song C., Leonard B. E. 2000. Fundamentals of Psychoneuroimmunology. John Wiley and Sons.
Veissier I., Butterworth A., Bock B., Roe, E. 2008. European approaches to ensure good animal welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 113(4):279-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2008.01.008.
Vetter S., Vasa L., Ózsvári L. 2014. Economic aspects of animal welfare. Acta Polytechnica Hungarica. 11(7):119-134.
Zachariae R. 2009. Psychoneuroimmunology: A bio‐psycho‐social approach to health and disease. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 50(6):645-651. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00779.x.