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Farm Animal Welfare: The Interaction of Ethical Questions and Animal Welfare Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

P Sandøe ,
S B Christiansen  and
M C Appleby
P Sandøe*
Affiliation:
Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Groennegaardsvej 8, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
S B Christiansen
Affiliation:
Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Groennegaardsvej 8, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
M C Appleby
Affiliation:
The Humane Society of the United States, Washington DC, USA
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: pes@kvl.dk
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Abstract

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Farm animal welfare has now been studied, within a scientific framework, for several decades. The framework does not include ethical issues, but unless measurements of animal welfare at farm level are embedded in an ethical context, there is a danger that these measurements will not be properly utilised. This paper considers the relationship between ethical questions and animal welfare assessment. In it, the following four key ethical questions are identified. What is the baseline standard for morally acceptable animal welfare? What is a good animal life? What farming purposes are legitimate? What kinds of compromise are acceptable in a less-than-perfect world? The authors suggest that animal welfare scientists need to reflect carefully on these questions if welfare assessments are to be properly interpreted and put to practical use. Such reflection will lead to a more transparent appreciation of the values underlying welfare assessment. In this way, it will both offer welfare scientists a greater awareness of their own value-assumptions and enable the same scientists to communicate effectively with the wider audience — farmers, consumers, pressure groups, policy-makers and so on — for which the results of animal welfare assessments are of concern.

Keywords

animal welfareassessmentethicsfarm animal welfarepublic debatetransparency
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 12 , Issue 4: Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on the Assessment of Animal Welfare at Farm and Group Level , November 2003 , pp. 469 - 478
Copyright
© 2003 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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