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In the past, different concepts have been used to define animal
welfare. In the United Kingdom, the “Five Freedoms of Animal
Welfare” go back to the Report of the Technical Committee to
Enquire into the Welfare of Animals kept under Intensive Livestock
Husbandry Systems mandated by the UK Minister of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food (Brambell, 1965
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), and stating that farm
animals should have freedom “to stand up, lie down, turn around,
groom themselves and stretch their limbs”. They were taken up
and formalized by the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), an
independent advisory body established in 1979, and subsequently
served as a base for ensuring animal welfare also in other English-
speaking countries.
The five freedoms as publicized in a FAWC Press Statement of
December 5, 1979
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, had the following wording:
(1) freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition
(2) appropriate comfort and shelter
(3) prevention, or rapid diagnosis and treatment,
of injury and disease
(4) freedom to display most normal patterns of behaviour
(5) freedom from fear
While this original concept was simple and striking it was not quite
correct, e.g. animals need to be hungry or thirsty in order to search
for food and water, and fear or alertness of predators is a constant
companion of many wild animals. Consequently, it was refined by
the Farm Animal Welfare Council and currently reads as follows
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:
(1) Freedom from Hunger and Thirst - by ready access to fresh
water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour
(2) Freedom from Discomfort - by providing an appropriate
environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area
(3) Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease - by prevention or
rapid diagnosis and treatment
(4) Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour - by providing
sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the
animal‘s own kind
(5) Freedom from Fear and Distress - by ensuring conditions
and treatment which avoid mental suffering
In the German-speaking countries, animal welfare legislations are
based on three principles:
(1) Animals shall be treated in the manner which best complies
with their needs
(2) Anyone who is concerned with animals shall, insofar as
circumstances permit, safeguard their wellbeing
(3) No one shall unjustifiably expose animals to pain, suffering,
physical injury or fear..
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The new Animal Welfare Act of Switzerland
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provides a definition
of wellbeing:
Wellbeing is ensured if, in particular,
(1) keeping conditions and nutrition are so designed as not to
disturb the physical functions and behaviour of the animals,
and not to overcharge their adaptability,
(2) the species-specific behaviour is ensured within the biological
adaptability of the animals,
(3) the animals are clinically healthy,
(4) pain, suffering, physical injury and fear are avoided.
More sophisticated than the previous concepts and avoiding some
weaknesses of the Five Freedoms, thus more helpful for developing
animal welfare standards also for wild animals in human care, is
the approach of the Conference „Delivering Animal Welfare and
Quality: Transparancy in the Food Production Chain“, held from 8
to 9 October 2009 at Uppsala, Sweden
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:
Good animal welfare can mean different things to different
people, thus it became clear early in the Welfare Quality
®
project
that the choice of measures had to reflect these differing scientific
and societal views. For some, that the animal is able to show
natural behaviour is a prerequisite for good animal welfare. For
other people, animal welfare is mainly defined in terms of physical
health, while yet others emphasize the importance of the mental
or emotional state of the animal. Welfare Quality
®
decided upon
12 criteria that covered all the key dimensions of animal welfare
and each of these three different views of welfare is reflected in
one or more of these. The 12 criteria are: absence of prolonged
Short History of Animal Welfare Policy in Europe
Peter Dollinger
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| Short History of Animal Welfare Policy in Europe