- "Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals."
The treatment of animals used for food production, including ethical debates over animal welfare and rights, the impact of animal agriculture on the environment, and ways to promote humane and sustainable practices.
Animal Rights: Refers to the belief that animals have moral and legal rights equal to those of humans, including the right to life, liberty, and protection from harm.
Animal Welfare: Refers to the protection of animal health, safety, and quality of life. This includes protecting animals from cruel and inhumane treatment.
Factory Farming: The practice of farming animals in confined spaces, often with little or no access to sunlight, fresh air, or space to move around.
Veganism: A lifestyle and dietary choice that avoids any animal products or by-products.
Animal Testing: The use of animals for scientific or medical research, including cosmetics and drug testing, which can often be cruel and inhumane.
Wildlife Conservation: The protection and management of wild animals and their habitats to ensure the survival of species.
Animal Cruelty: Intentional harm or neglect of animals, including abuse, neglect, or mistreatment.
Animal Experimentation: The use of animals in scientific experiments, often involving pain, distress, or harm.
Humane Slaughter: The use of humane methods for killing animals for food production or other purposes.
Animal Rescue: The act of rescuing animals from abusive or neglectful situations and providing them with medical care, shelter, and a new home.
Pet Overpopulation: The problem of too many pets without enough homes to take them in, leading to euthanasia and a burden on animal shelters.
Companion Animal Welfare: The protection of domestic animals, such as cats and dogs, from neglect, abuse, and abandonment.
Animal Behavior: The study of animal behavior, including their social interactions, communication, and cognition.
Sustainable Agriculture: Farming practices that are environmentally responsible and economically viable, including the ethical treatment of animals.
Environmental Ethics: The study of ethical decision-making in relation to the environment and its impact on animals, both wild and domestic.
Veganism: This is a lifestyle that involves avoiding animal products, including food, clothing, and other household items, due to concerns about animal welfare and environmental impact.
Vegetarianism: This is a dietary choice that involves eliminating meat, poultry, and fish from the diet for health or ethical reasons.
Organic farming: This is a method of agricultural production that avoids the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), emphasizing crop rotation and the use of compost and natural pesticides.
Free-range farming: This is a farming system that allows animals to roam freely outside rather than being confined to cages or indoor pens.
Ethical slaughter: This is an approach to animal farming that emphasizes humane treatment of animals and ethical practices during slaughter, such as minimizing pain and suffering.
Grass-fed farming: This is an agricultural practice that involves allowing livestock to graze on natural grasses rather than feeding them grains and other processed feeds.
Biodynamic farming: This is an organic farming system that uses holistic and spiritual principles to cultivate healthy soils and plants, and to promote animal welfare.
Animal Welfare Approved (AWA): This is a certification program for farmers who meet high standards of animal welfare and environmental sustainability, including free-range living conditions and access to natural resources.
Humane Society of the United States (HSUS): This is an animal protection organization that advocates for the rights of animals, including those used for food production.
Animal Rights Movement: This is a social and political movement that advocates for the rights of animals to live without human exploitation, including those raised for food production.
- "Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics."
- "Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity, disease, immunosuppression, behavior, physiology, and reproduction."
- "Respect for animal welfare is often based on the belief that nonhuman animals are sentient and that consideration should be given to their well-being or suffering."
- "These concerns can include how animals are slaughtered for food, how they are used in scientific research, how they are kept (as pets, in zoos, farms, circuses, etc.), and how human activities affect the welfare and survival of wild species."
- "There are two forms of criticism of the concept of animal welfare, coming from diametrically opposite positions."
- "One view... holds that humans have no duties of any kind to animals." "The other view is based on the animal rights position that animals should not be regarded as property and any use of animals by humans is unacceptable."
- "Some animal rights proponents argue that the perception of better animal welfare facilitates continued and increased exploitation of animals."
- "Some authorities therefore treat animal welfare and animal rights as two opposing positions."
- "The predominant view of modern neuroscientists, notwithstanding philosophical problems with the definition of consciousness even in humans, is that consciousness exists in nonhuman animals."
- "However, some still maintain that consciousness is a philosophical question that may never be scientifically resolved."
- "In this study conducted in rhesus monkeys, the researchers built experiments predicting completely opposite behavioral outcomes to consciously vs. non-consciously perceived stimuli."
- "Strikingly, the monkeys' behaviors displayed these exact opposite signatures, just like aware and unaware humans tested in the study."