Animal Welfare

Question 1

give the AVMA definition of welfare

Answer 1

1. The state of the animal
2. How the animal is coping with the conditions in which it lives
3. An animal in a state of good welfare is: healthy, comfortable, able to express normal behaviors, not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, distress

Question 2

describe the 3 circles of assessing animal welfare

Answer 2

1. Body: physical health/functioning/homeostasis
2. mind: affective/subjective state
3. Nature: natural behaviors/activities

Question 3

describe the 5 domains of animal welfare

Answer 3

1. Nutrition: consumption of nutritious foods is pleasurable; availability and quality of food/water
2. Environment: benign conditions: safe, physical comfort; offer adaptive choice and variety for interest
3. Health: uninjured, disease free, production normal
4. Behavior interactions (environment, animals, people): environment focused for interest, social activities are satisfying and engaging
5. Mental state (affective): experience

Question 4

describe the continuum of animal welfare

Answer 4

Animal welfare is: an individual animal condition, a continuum (optimal to bad), not static, multifactorial and complex

But we frequently assess welfare for populations as it makes logistical sense and improvement goals are for populations

Question 5

what does the overall welfare of a population depend on?

Answer 5

The overall welfare of a population depends on population conditions (affect all animals) and individual conditions (only affect some animals)