Definition of Animal welfare and Ethics Human Animal welfare in relation .

1.  Definition of animal welfare and ethics.
 Human and animal welfare in relation to ecosystem and
environmental factors
Dr. Bhushan Subhashrao Sadar
Amravati

2. “It shall be the fundamental duty of every citizen of India to protect and
improve the natural environment including forest, lakes, rivers and wildlife,
and to have compassion for all living creatures.”
- The constitution of India Article 51-A (g)

3.  As per the Indian tradition and culture, animals always had
respect and a special place in society.
 With population explosion, urbanization and consumerism
catching up, animals are easy prey for human greed.
 They are soft targets for any one trying to make a quick buck,
and prime candidates for exploitation. Today even healthy,
young animals are killed for leather, meat and tallow.

4.  Calves are kept hungry and emaciated, while the cow's milk
is sold in the markets for human consumption.
 Chicken are kept in cramped batteries, either
for the eggs or for slaughter.
 Rhesus monkeys and Dancing Bears performing on the streets, with
hordes of people watching them, is another eye sore in India.

5. Slaughter animals are made to walk thousands of miles to slaughterhouses, or
Carted in trucks / tempos with the result some of them die of suffocation before
they reach their destination.
- The fear of the baton falling on their backs is clearly visible in their eyes.
-Same is the case with thousands of animals
performing in the circuses (occasionally).

6.  Animal welfare means how an animal is coping with the conditions in
which it lives.
 An animal is in a good state of welfare if (as indicated by scientific
evidence) it is healthy, comfortable, well nourished, safe, able to express
innate behaviour, and if it is not suffering from unpleasant states such as
pain, fear, and distress.
 Good animal welfare requires disease prevention and veterinary
treatment, appropriate shelter, management, nutrition, humane handling
and humane slaughter.
 Animal welfare refers to the state of the animal; the treatment that an
animal receives is covered by other terms such as animal care, animal
husbandry, and humane treatment. Protecting an animal's welfare means
providing for its physical and mental needs.

7.  Animal Welfare: Animal welfare means the avoidance of abuse
and exploitation of animals by humans by maintaining appropriate
standards of accommodation, feeding and general care, the
prevention and treatment of disease, and the assurance of
freedom from harassment, and unnecessary discomfort and pain.
(Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary)
(completely ignoring the pschycological and emotional needs)
 Animal Welfare is however, not only about ensuring an animal is not
treated cruelly or caused unnecessary pain or suffering, it is about
ensuring that an animal’s physical state, its mental state and its ability
to fulfill its natural needs and desires are considered and attended to.

8. Physical State Mental State Naturalness
Five Freedom Animal Enjoy’s ;
Hunger and
thirst
Discomfort
Pain, Injury and
Disease
Fear and
Distress
Restriction
(freedom for
naturalness)

9. Animal ethics is a term used to describe human-animal relationships
and how animals ought to be treated.
The subject matter includes;
 Animal rights,
 The moral status of nonhuman animals,
 The history of animal use, and theories of justice.
 Speciesism
- Animal welfare,
- Animal law,
-Wildlife conservation
-Animal cognition

10.  Ecosystem
A biological community of
interacting organisms and their
physical environment.
 Includes relationship in a habitat
between the living organism as well
as the non living things that interact
with each other in a given
environment or area.
Biodiversity: The variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a
particular habitat, a high level of which is usually
considered to be important and desirable. Biodiversity is
the component of the ecosystem..

11.  Animal welfare is the physical and mental fitness and wellbeing
of non-human animals.
 Biodiversity conservation aims to minimize biodiversity loss
through the preservation, sustainable use and restoration of the
environment and its component species.
 International development works to increase the quality of life
for humans and overcome poverty worldwide through
improvement of livelihoods.

12.  Due to increased human encroachment into natural habitats, as
well as rapid population growth.
 Diminishing resources and new opportunities result in animals
searching for food in areas occupied by people, which sometimes
leads to human-wildlife conflict.

13.  As the final goal of every economic activities is
providing and raising human wellbeing, it’s worth to
examine the connections between human and animal
well-being.
 The idea of environment has changed a lot recently.
Moral aspects Health aspects Economic aspects

14.  Being responsible means being morally involved, and it
also means, that there became an interdependency between
human wellbeing and the condition of the environment,
including animals.
 A statistically significant negative correlation was found
concerning environmental degradation and well-being
(around 81% of the individuals demonstrate concern for the
ozone layer) and a statistically significant positive
connection between caring for animal extinction and well-
being (about 85% of the individuals revealed concern for
the extinction of species) (Ferrer-i-Carbonell et al., 2007).

15.  So a system that results in poor welfare is unsustainable
because it is unacceptable to many people (Broom, 2010).
 It is moral to protect animals given that they are capable of
experiencing pain or of feeling pleasure, therefore there is no
moral justification for causing anyone pain, including animals
(Singer, 1985).
 In developing countries, concern for animal welfare is based on
self-interest rather than moral responsibilty.
 Having a higher level of animal welfare concludes to a higher
dimension of human moral stage.

16.  About 75 percent of the new diseases that have recently affected
humans are caused by pathogens originating from animals or from
products of animal origin (FAO, 2009, 84.).
 Moreover, the causality between animal welfare problems and
animal diseases has also been proven.
 Like humans, when experiencing severe stress, animals can
succumb to disease or fail to reproduce or develop properly
(Moberg, 1985).
 One of the Five Freedoms is freedom from fear and distress
(legislative, 6).

17.  These harmful effects of stress highlights the importance
of stress to an animal's wellbeing (Biology of animals
stress).
 If we look at the production side, animal healthcare
statistics prove that the large majority of losses in
livestock breeding (mortality, compulsory slaughtering,
diseases, poor reproduction and body mass index (BMI)
results, medical expenses, etc.) are not caused by
obligate pathogens.
 Most losses are the direct result of diseases due to
unfavorable conditions related to animal breeding,
feeding and raising or other external factors (power
failure, damages from hail, etc.) (Vetter et al., 2014).
 In summary, animal health and welfare is inextricably
linked to human health.

18.  The third connection is the economic link, which refers to the
first dimension of human wellbeing directly.
 Animal welfare regulations generally jolt enterprises from the
usual minimum cost-maximum return intersection, so animal
protection may appear costly at first.

19. 1) Direct effect of high temperature on animals
2) Direct effect of Humidity on animals
3) Direct effect of Solar radiation on animals
4) Direct effect of length of day light on animal
5) Indirect of climate on animals
Maine factors as;

20.  Pollution, which has a strong link to the wellbeing of animals at individual
level as well.
 Environmental pollutants can adversely affect animal health and
reproductive function, through either direct or indirect effects on
numerous organs and systems.
 These effects are not generally reflected in visible reductions in animal
performance but subclinical effects may result in reductions in animal
performance, with associated economic consequences (Rhind, 2010).
 Correlation of housing air environment to swine diseases and productivity
were investigated.
 Several air contaminants (dust, ammonia carbon dioxide, and microbes)
were found to be correlated with serious swine health problems, such as
pneumonia, pleuritis and neonatal pig mortality (Donham, 1991).

21.  Besides pollution, degradation of biodiversity is also a possible
factor of alternative economic indicators.
 According to some authors, massive losses of biodiversity are also a
form of animal abuse (Bekoff, 2009).
 Moreover, recent trends in animal husbandry raise serious
sustainability issues, affecting both animal welfare and biodiversity.
 The extension of markets and economic globalization have
contributed significantly to the loss of domestic breeds, especially
livestock (Tisdell, 2003).

22.  The link between animal and human welfare can be regarded
not only through measureable factors like health or economic
issues, but as strong ethical connection as well.
 Because of these interfaces, it would be advisable to
incorporate animal welfare more prominently in alternative
indicators.
 Moreover, an animal welfare indicator itself could provide
useful information in the light of human wellbeing and our
future.