Defining Animal Welfare
Emily Tronetti from Coexistence Consulting goes over animal welfare.
Exploring Animal Welfare
By Nikki Phillips
Emily Tronetti, anthrozeologist, humane educator, and an animal behavior and welfare consultant, co-owns Coexistence Consulting and is cofounder of Humane Alliance of Rescue Trainers, which is a non-profit that matches shelters and rescues with behavior support.
Defining Animal Welfare
Animal welfare can take on a variety of meanings depending on the context surrounding its use. Generally, animal welfare refers to some aspects of an individual animal’s state and experience from their perspective, not ours. This truly requires us to put ourselves in their place in situations to see and feel the environment as best we can from their perspective.
| Pro Tip: We may think we know what good dog play looks like, but animal welfare awareness would lead us to ask, “What is the experience for these two dogs? Are they experiencing positive welfare in these moment of play?” |
For people involved in animal welfare, including those in shelters or rescues, the main focus is on preventing negative welfare. This means minimizing suffering and avoiding negative states such as hunger, thirst, pain, and discomfort. These are historically the focus of animal welfare and are vital areas to address and monitor. However, when animal welfare assessment stops with that checklist, that does not mean you are automatically creating positive welfare.
| Pro Tip: Fulfilling basic needs is important but is not complete in the field of positive animal welfare. |
Going beyond fulfilling biological needs requires awareness of tools to promote positive welfare. This looks like giving a comfortable, pleasurable enriching experience to the animal, increasing confidence, choice, and control.
Preventing negative welfare answers the needs of survival for the animal, while promoting positive welfare creates opportunities for positive experiences. This helps us connect to their motivations and helps us provide them with activities and interactions they enjoy.
Animal welfare is complex because it is influenced by the animals physical health, mental health, behavior, and external interactions (humans and other animals).
Tronetti highlights Mellor’s Five Freedoms:
- Freedom from thirst, hunger, and malnutrition. This requires us to provide easy access to food and hydration.
- Freedom from discomfort and exposure. Animals need a safe, appropriate shelter or resting area.
- Freedom from pain, injury, and disease. When the animal caretaker sees an issue they should take the time to get a proper diagnosis and provide recommended treatment.
- Freedom from fear and distress. This is achieved by ensuring the conditions and treatment of the animal does not cause mental anguish.
- Freedom to express normal behavior. This requires proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind in a sufficient, safe environment.
Using these as a baseline, scientist have been able to better reflect the findings on animal behavior and cognition. Mellor revised the freedoms into an active, evolving list of five domains, which focus on welfare in the context of human animal interactions.
Tronetti has broken the complex outline of domain aims into a manageable list of focus points. First, she highlights the importance of good nutrition by providing fresh water and a healthy diet for the animal. Next, the animal should have access to a good environment with suitable housing and a comfortable rest area. Third on the chart is good health, which refers to minimizing exposure to situations that could cause harm to the overall health of the animal. Fourth is encouraging appropriate behavior by eliminating threats and unpleasant restrictions as much as possible and instead promoting rewarding activities. Finally, positive animal welfare awareness providing a variety of comfort space that appeal to the animal’s interest in an effort to build confidence. The goal is not just to help your pet survive, we should help them thrive in various contexts.
| Pro Tip: Paying attention to the pet’s body language is another tool that can be helpful in promoting positive animal welfare. |
Tronetti provides a useful chart that is free to access on fearfreehappyhomes.com to help gauge the general meaning of typical animal behaviors. Once basic needs are met, it is important to provide the unique positive animal welfare techniques that best serve the animals in your life.
Defining Animal Welfare - References
Mellor, D. J. (2016). Moving beyond the “Five Freedoms” by Updating the “Five Provisions” and Introducing Aligned “Animal Welfare Aims.” Animals, 6(10), 59. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani6100059
Mellor, D. J. (2017). Operational Details of the Five Domains Model and Its Key Applications to the Assessment and Management of Animal Welfare. Animals : An Open Access Journal from MDPI, 7(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/ani7080060
Mellor, D. J., Beausoleil, N. J., Littlewood, K. E., McLean, A. N., McGreevy, P.D., Jones, B., & Wilkins, C. (2020). The 2020 Five Domains Model: Including Human–Animal Interactions in Assessments of Animal Welfare. Animals, 10(10), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10101870
Rault, J.-L., Hintze, S., Camerlink, I., & Yee, J. R. (2020). Positive Welfare and the Like: Distinct Views and a Proposed Framework. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00370
Rooney, N., Gaines, S., & Hiby, E. (2009). A practitioner’s guide to working dog welfare. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 4(3), 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2008.10.037 Yeates, J. W., & Main, D. C. J. (2008). Assessment of positive welfare: A review. The Veterinary Journal, 175(3), 293–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2007.05.009
This information is intended solely as a general educational aid and is not a substitute for medical or other professional advice.
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