1. How to define animal welfare
An animal's well-being is defined as "the positive mental and physical state linked to the satisfaction of its physiological and behavioral needs and expectations. This state varies according to the animal's perception of the situation" (Anses, 2018). It's a multifactorial concept that takes into account good health, absence of stress or even comfort while focusing on what the animal feels. More specifically, unpleasant or pleasant subjective perceptions result in the expression of negative or positive emotions.
In practice, assessing animal welfare in the field involves evaluating 5 freedoms:
2. These five freedoms cannot be offset against each other
This means, for example, that an injury cannot be compensated for by a supply of water, or a lack of food by comfortable bedding. The scientific community is currently considering the addition of a sixth principle (or 6th freedom), which would be the possibility for animals to express positive emotions (e.g. sunbathing in chickens).
Various indicators are used to assess animal welfare (behavioral, physiological, health, zootechnical). Behavioral indicators, which can be assessed by ethologists, are the most sensitive, i.e., their early detection enables us to detect a state of ill-being and then anticipate possible impacts on other indicators, such as zootechnical ones, at a later stage.
Please note: animal welfare refers to the state in which the animal finds itself. It is therefore a subjective perception of external elements.
However, the interpretation of the data collected is objective, based as it is on scientifically validated measurements and protocols.
An article in Campagne & Environnement magazine explores the issue of objective assessment of animal welfare.
| Here are a few practical illustrations of animal welfare: On livestock farms, protocols are put in place to measure animal welfare on a farm-wide scale. Measurements are taken on the animals (presence of injuries, body condition score, comfort behaviors, etc.) and on the environment (m2 per animal, access to an outdoor run, etc.). Animals kept in zoos very often suffer from not being able to express natural behaviors. A lion will express its discomfort by stereotypic movements, such as walking along the fence, always in exactly the same place. Worrying about whether your cat is eating properly and is not injured, means thinking about its well-being and therefore being in a position to treat it well. For optimum well-being, your cat needs to live in a comfortable environment and express its natural behaviors, such as hunting. |
"Our relationship with farmed animals is widely questioned in our society: between media coverage of often intolerable living, transport and slaughter conditions, and new scientific knowledge that makes us aware of the many intellectual and emotional capacities of animals. Numerous opinions are expressed, not all of them well-founded, and the point of view of abolitionists, who campaign for an end to all animal exploitation, is very often put forward. However, this is not the only response that can be made to the excesses of factory farming: animal welfare, supported by welfarist associations, has its place."
This paragraph introduces an article entitled "Animal welfare: another way of thinking about our relationship with farm animals".
3. Differentiate between well-being, benevolence and well-treatment
- Bientraitance: "the desire to satisfy the physiological and behavioral needs specific to each species and each of their living environments, with the aim of achieving in the animal a state imagined as comparable to the state of well-being in humans". It is therefore an obligation of means. It is necessary, but does not guarantee well-being, which depends on the animal's perception, and is therefore an obligation of result.
- Benevolence: "intentions and speeches intended to signify sympathy, even empathy, towards animals, a respect, a willingness to take their needs or interests into account, without prejudging the effects these speeches and intentions may have on the animals". Benevolence is therefore necessary for good treatment, but does not guarantee it.
