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The Welfare of Animals: The Silent Majority

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe their experiences investigating animal welfare in a vast range of different situations, from the Bedouins slaughtering sheep in the desert to livestock being transported overseas from Australia to the Middle East.
Abstract: The welfare of animals is a subject that challenges every one of us. We use animals for food, companionship, sport and clothing and even the welfare of wild animals is affected by human activities. We are increasingly questioning whether this is necessary, desirable and humane. This book provides a framework to make those difficult decisions. Aspects of welfare that are important to animals are considered, as well as their rights to different welfare standards.Provision for animal welfare depends as much on culture, gender and other societal influences as any scientific advances in management systems. The influence of intensification of animal use, especially in food production, on welfare is considerable and the international scale of welfare issues with different types of animals is discussed. The author describes his experiences investigating animal welfare in a vast range of different situations, from the Bedouins slaughtering sheep in the desert to livestock being transported overseas from Australia to the Middle East. This book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the welfare of animals, but especially veterinarians, animal owners and animal scientists.
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There were national and continental differences in European and Asian students' attitudes to animals' welfare and rights, which appear to arise as a result of the socio-political situation in regions rather than religious or other differences.
Abstract: A survey of attitudes towards the welfare and rights of animals was conducted in universities in 11 European and Asian countries, to improve understanding of cultural differences that might impact on trade and international relations. Collaborators' universities were recruited in each country to assist in the design, translation and administration of the survey via the internet in a convenient selection of the country's universities, providing 3,433 student responses from at least 103 universities. Respondents rated the acceptability of 43 major concerns about animals (focused on type of use, animal integrity, killing animals, animal welfare, experimentation on animals, changes in animal genotypes, the environment for animals and societal attitudes towards animals). Students from European countries had more concern for animal welfare than students from Asian countries, which may be partly explained by increased affluence of European students as there was a positive correlation between student expenditure and concern for animal welfare and rights. Southern and central European countries had most concern for animal rights and unnatural practices. Those in communist or former communist countries in Asia and Europe had most concern about killing animals and those in northern European countries the least. Regional similarities between neighbouring countries were evident in responses to animal issues and there were no differences between ethnic groups within a country. Thus, there were national and continental differences in European and Asian students' attitudes to animals' welfare and rights, which appear to arise as a result of the socio-political situation in regions rather than religious or other differences.

97 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
12 Aug 2014-PeerJ
TL;DR: Between species, sensitivity to others’ yawns was higher in humans than in bonobos when involving kin and friends but was similar when considering weakly-bonded subjects, indicating emotional contagion is not always highest in humans.
Abstract: In humans and apes, yawn contagion echoes emotional contagion, the basal layer of empathy. Hence, yawn contagion is a unique tool to compare empathy across species. If humans are the most empathic animal species, they should show the highest empathic response also at the level of emotional contagion. We gathered data on yawn contagion in humans (Homo sapiens) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) by applying the same observational paradigm and identical operational definitions. We selected a naturalistic approach because experimental management practices can produce different psychological and behavioural biases in the two species, and differential attention to artificial stimuli. Within species, yawn contagion was highest between strongly bonded subjects. Between species, sensitivity to others' yawns was higher in humans than in bonobos when involving kin and friends but was similar when considering weakly-bonded subjects. Thus, emotional contagion is not always highest in humans. The cognitive components concur in empowering emotional affinity between individuals. Yet, when they are not in play, humans climb down from the empathic podium to return to the "understory", which our species shares with apes.

78 citations


Cites background from "The Welfare of Animals: The Silent ..."

  • ...…also found that the rate of chimpanzee response to others’ yawns was similar when the stimulus came from an in-group chimpanzee and from a human subject, thus demonstrating that the chimpanzee involuntary empathic response goes beyond the species boundary, as it occurs in humans (Phillips, 2009)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A forced choice method, the Best–Worst Refined Values scale (BWVr), is introduced to assess the robustness of the refined theory to method of measurement and also assess the distinctiveness and validity of a new animal welfare value.
Abstract: The theory of human values discriminated 10 basic values arrayed in a quasicircular structure. Analyses with several instruments in numerous samples supported this structure. The refined theory of ...

63 citations

DissertationDOI
01 Jan 2019

36 citations


Cites background from "The Welfare of Animals: The Silent ..."

  • ...That is, an animal’s total welfare is equivalent to something like the weighted total of positive and negative mental states experienced (see e.g. Phillips, 2009)....

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  • ...This means welfare can be measured as something like the sum total of experiences over time (e.g. Phillips, 2009, pp. 8–9), rather than some sort of average of overall quality of experience20....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that conceptualizing animal welfare as a personal value and situating it within a system of values can lead to new insights into tourist behaviour, and they argue that animal welfare concerns should be viewed as situation specific attitudes rather than trans-situational guides.

35 citations