Farm Animals Are Long Away from Natural Behavior: Open Questions and Operative Consequences on Animal Welfare.

Alberto Cesarani,Giuseppe Pulina

doi:10.3390/ani11030724

Alberto Cesarani, Giuseppe Pulina

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030724

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Abstract

Simple SummaryAnimal welfare is a very important issue. One of the tasks of researchers is to provide explanations and possible solutions to questions arising from non-experts. This work analyzes part of the extensive literature on relationships between selection and domestic, mainly farm, animals’ behavior and deals with some very important themes, such as the role of regulations, domestication, and selection.The concept of welfare applied to farm animals has undergone a remarkable evolution. The growing awareness of citizens pushes farmers to guarantee the highest possible level of welfare to their animals. New perspectives could be opened for animal welfare reasoning around the concept of domestic, especially farm, animals as partial human artifacts. Therefore, it is important to understand how much a particular behavior of a farm animal is far from the natural one of its ancestors. This paper is a contribution to better understand the role of genetics of the farm animals on their behavior. This means that the naïve approach to animal welfare regarding returning animals to their natural state should be challenged and that welfare assessment should be considered.

Highlights

Ethics in animal production is a hot topic and a huge amount of literature has been published [1]
Under an operational point of view, as needed for scientific purposes, the concept of welfare applied to farm animals has undergone a remarkable evolution until it reached a formulation that includes the following fourfold aspect: (a) biological and technical definitions, that emphasize the basic needs of animals and the freedom that should be given and the possibility of coping with environmental challenge; (b) regulation approaches, according which animals are sensitive creatures so they must be reared in the environment compatible to the biological needs of the species
Domestication, firstly, and genetic selection subsequently, are shown to be effective tools to change the temperament of farm animals orienting it towards the desired behavioral characteristics

Summary

Introduction

Ethics in animal production is a hot topic and a huge amount of literature has been published [1]. Under an operational point of view, as needed for scientific purposes, the concept of welfare applied to farm animals has undergone a remarkable evolution until it reached a formulation that includes the following fourfold aspect: (a) biological and technical definitions, that emphasize the basic needs of animals and the freedom that should be given and the possibility of coping with environmental challenge; (b) regulation approaches, according which animals are sensitive creatures so they must be reared in the environment compatible to the biological needs of the species This leads to the translation of the concept into a legal framework; (c) philosophical approach, discussing the role of animals in the humans’ societies; (d) interactive approach, that considers communication between farmers and animals and its impact on livestock systems [6]. The hypothesis we want to demonstrate in this review is that the naive approach to animal welfare that brings it back to a natural state is not completely right and that welfare assessments must necessarily consider that the behaviors of farm animals have been partially, but consistently, constructed by humans

Domestication Changed Animal Traits

Questions and Answers about Modern Farm Animals

Conclusions

The Future of Animal-Sourced Foods