1.1 Defining animal welfare
Animal welfare is a complex, multi-faceted subject and there are still ongoing discussions among researchers, scientists and other actors working on how to best define welfare, to provide a more balanced/universal mental framework. How welfare is defined and conceptualized in research and project work determines largely how welfare is then assessed and influenced, thereby making this a crucial first step.
You can find three approaches to defining welfare which include function, nature and feelings-based definitions.
a) Biological functioning-based approaches focus on the animal's ability to physically adapt to its environment and maintain normal functioning of physiological and behavioural systems, allowing for sufficient health and growth.
b) Nature-based approaches focus on the animal's ability to lead a natural life, performing innate, species-specific behaviours with minimal restriction and within a natural environment.
c) A feelings-based approach focuses on the animal's subjective, mental/affective states (emotions), regarding animal's as having high levels of welfare if they are free from long lasting negative emotions (e.g., pain / fear / distress) and can also experience pleasure.
In general animal welfare is addressed as the physical and mental state of an animal in the relation to the conditions under which it has lived and died. It is therefore considered that an animal experiences good welfare if it is healthy, comfortable, well nourished, safe, is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear and distress, and is able to express behaviours that are important for its physical and mental state. Good welfare is also described as the state of an animal that is both healthy and has what it wants.
The following video from Compassion in World Farming introduced the general concepts of animal welfare in the context of terrestrial animals - can you identify related issues in the context of aquatic animal farming?
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