Chapter 2 - Ethics and Animal Welfare

Abstract

The term animal welfare is commonly used to describe both a branch of science and to describe a concept. As a science, it involves a measurable state in an animal and is often related to the adequacy of an animal's ability to cope with its environment. This chapter will briefly discuss some greatly different opinions about the role of ethics in animal welfare science. Organizations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association and the World Organization for Animal Health refer to animal welfare as more of a concept where the state of the animals' welfare is influenced by human action(s) and may be looked upon as what we “owe” animals. This chapter will focus on this second use of the term animal welfare. Those involved in trying to assure animal welfare are often faced with ethical dilemmas where conflicting obligations must be considered when making decisions about the care and use of animals. How those obligations are viewed will be influenced by the moral status/standing we allocate to animals. Both uni-criterial and multi-criterial approaches to determining moral status/standing and possible different levels of obligation will be explored. Several common ethical theories will be highlighted. Reflective review of the approaches to moral status/standing, along with an understanding of key aspects of common ethical theories, will help those concerned with assuring animal welfare consider ethical dilemmas in a thoughtful, purposeful manner. Understanding some of the various theories of animal ethics can also lead to better understanding of different viewpoints and help lead to civil discourse about the issues. The goal of this chapter is not to provide the answers to the ethical questions surrounding animal welfare but to introduce some tools to help derive one's own answers.