The pet industry does not promote animal welfare. It promotes the impression of animal welfare to sell their products, just like many people promote the impression of animal welfare to sell their personal prejudices and religious views.

The idea is that they are selling a product that is alleged to improve the standards of living for animals, and it might. However behind this they will not support anything that isn't assumed to promote their idea of a standard of living, because doesn't sell their product.

So it's not really animal welfare, it's just a sales pitch to sell more products with an unintended consequence that it helps animals, even if the consequence of helping animals was somewhat intended. You get the idea, theyre intending to help animals just to help themselves. Its not really legitimate.

They might buy into false claims of animal abuse, obsessive neutering and spaying, helping to fight these other imaginary monsters just to look good for the public, just to sell their product. So instead of practicing animal welfare with a clean conscience, they are actually harming more animals and people in the processes of trying to profit and satisfy their personal prejudices. Even non-profit is not always really clean, because their profit may be the thrill of promoting ideas that hurt somebody.

When they can not care for that pet. We just got a Frenchton (French Bulldog mixed with a Boston terrier) from a family that just could not care for the sweet bundle of energy on their tiny beach property. We have fenced woods and she is delighted to run her ZOOMIES here and live in the woods with us. So it worked out well for all.

Thanks for the A2A,

The best advice I have is to weigh current needs vs. future change.

Current Needs are the animals that are in danger right now. Animals out on the streets, being abused. They are in need of charity; being given things just to stay alive.

• If you’re not willing to make a big commitment to animal welfare, and that’s okay, you can ask a shelter what routine jobs need to be done. Sweeping, hosing kennels, mopping, preparing dog food. All very important—someone needs to do it. But its thankless dirty work that only really perpetuates the problem. You won’t be respected for doing it. It tends to be a position for throwaway volunteers who need hours for school, but it does definitely help without too much commitment at all.
• Psychological Support. Animals need mental interaction and stimulation. You can’t just lock them up and leave them in a shelter kennel. Find out if you can walk them, train them, play with them etc… You’ll need extra training to learn how to handle the animals, so its only worthwhile if you’re going to do it often.

Future change is where things get interesting. Clearly, the current system is not doing so well for animals. Treat the cause not the symptoms.

• Political Lobbying. This is the least effective one. Government solutions take forever and tend to screw up in ways you didn’t think possible. But when you get a major victory, it can be a serious help. Learn how to testify on bills, call your congressmen etc…
• Grant Writing. I’ve never done this one, but its basically a formal way of asking companies, governments and organizations for money. A large donation could allow your shelter to build a new building or start new programs. Shelters aren’t going to let just anyone do this. You have to prove yourself a good writer.
• Education. It’s the best prevention, and what I did for years. A lot of people genuinely don’t know what issues animals face, and what they can do to prevent it. Many shelters hold classes for middle and high schoolers to take. You can even take it to the next level and hold big events at your school or community with posterboards and exhibits like I used to back in my animal welfare heyday.

Whatever you choose, its easy to get discouraged at your lack of progress. There comes a point when you have to choose if its right for you or not. Is the work its own reward? Or do you increasingly see it as a chore?

If on-the-ground work isn’t for you, you can focus on becoming rich and be a major sponsor of animal welfare groups too.

As Cheryl Bartlett has noted, even the best zoos (AZA, CAZA, etc.) that participate in the Species Survival Programs view their ‘collections’ as species rather than individuals and the genetic diversity programs are merely zoo inventory management and the hell with their breeding individuals.

Because the focus of my work is rescuing tigers from bad places in the US and getting them to good lives in 15 sanctuaries who provide exemplary care for abused or abandoned big cats, my issues with zoos have more to do with what they do not do:

1. They do not provide lifetime care. You get old, creaky, cranky, or obviously not in perfect shape you are dumped — out the back door to some desperate roadside zoo — or worse. A zoo in Maryland had a young white tiger who was getting glaucoma and it got so bad that zoo visitors kept asking what was wrong with her (white tigers have many eye issues as well as other physical problems because they have been inbred for 60 years). Luckily, a zoo vet who we work with got her to a sanctuary where she got the best of care even though she is blind but can navigate by hearing the sound of water falling in the waterfall in her habitat. Otherwise they were talking about euthanizing her.
2. AZA zoos, with the exception of Oakland (to my knowledge) do not and will not provide homes for tigers rescued from entertainment and private ownership. They are viewed as mutts, generic tigers with unknown bloodlines (as opposed to pure Amur, Malayan, Bengal, etc. tigers) who have No Conservation Value.
3. Zoo animals from the SSPs NEVER go back to the wild. Maybe a bird here or there and a few famous exceptions, but for tigers this is not gonna happen. There are 7000 tigers in private hands in the US; there are maybe 3800 tigers in the wild. For a tiger to be successful in the wild, it needs to be raised by a successful wild tiger mother for between 2 and 3 years. Plus, the unintended consequences of releasing Zoo tigers into the wild, besides the obvious ones, are the vaccinations and various bugs they have been given or picked up here could potentially wipe out a wild tiger population. Zoo tigers get vaccinated for canine distemper - this is often fatal to cats in the wild. and who knows what carrier potential a zoo tiger might have?
4. If you want to know the best places to see tigers in the US, message me and I will give you a link to the best sanctuaries. We evaluated 130 places claiming to be big cat sanctuaries and 20 or so are excellent, another 10 are trying to be good, and 100 of them are breeders, roadside zoos, cub petting exploiters and so on. Choose carefully who you donate to. The big NGOs have presided over a radical decline of wild tigers while raising money for tigers to the tune of hundreds of millions of $$ in the last 20 years. We prefer to help tigers we can see as they thrive in their new homes, not fancy lunches in Thailand and a few more camera traps and radio collars for grad students to ‘analyse.’

We need animal welfare because there are too many cruel, sadistic, ignorant people who abuse animals and make them suffer and be neglected, etc. As long as some people have no compassion, empathy, kindness and respect for all living creatures everywhere, there will be a need to protect them. Some people were brought up to be mean and not care and they must somehow be educated and taught what is right - but that is a nearly impossible job. As long as there are humans and there are animals, animal welfare is a full-time job and I am personally proud to say I have devoted 50 years of my life to animal welfare and I will continue until my last breath.

What a wonderful thought. You may get associated with any NGO working for animal welfare or do something for them at your own. One thing anyone can do is to be kind and sensitive towards animals. I was attending a seminar on World animal day this year and wrote something on Facebook. I am posting it here again.

Today is 'World Animal Day'. While attending the workshop on sensitising people, specially children about preventing cruelty against animals I am thinking about my childhood days. I feel present day children are more sensitive towards animal. During our childhood days pelting stones on dogs was like a sports for us. The days when we didn't had money to buy cricket ball will often be spent chasing dogs. We were to be blamed for the dogs walking on three legs. Nobody would even bother to stop us from such misadventure. Now, if I see a kid doing this, I will be first to scold him. This remained a big issue in our childhood, 'if we had stone in our hands, there was no dog in sight and when we saw a dog nearby there was no stone in sight.

Can anyone even imagine feeding tobacco to snakes. I have witnessed it in my childhood. The snake used to squirm and everybody said he is on a high. Now I can figure that it was a cruelty.

One more cruelty related to dog I remember from my childhood days is tying a mat cracker (chatai bomb) on the tail of a dog and lighting it. The way the dog ran was a some scene for us.

Even more cruel was to put petrol in dogs from behind. I saw it many times during my childhood and most recently while I was posted at a dispensary as a veterinarian. The dog was running like anything in block campus in which my dispensary is also located. The story didn't end here. While the dog was running like anything in block campus few people came to me for more entertainment. They asked me, ' when will the dog stop?' I was already very irritated and replied, ' how much mileage the did will give. When the petrol will get exhausted, it will stop.'

God forgive me for my childhood stupidity. This world animal day let us take a pledge to make this world a better place for animals.

Yes, you can indeed.

First for all, I'm so glad that you chose to help an animal in need :)

You could start helping animals around you by feeding them ,getting them vaccinated & dewormed and get them sterilized too.

-Feeding is important as they hardly get any food around and when you will start feeding, they will start gtting enough nutrition so that they could stay healthy (if you stay in a bungalow, feed them in front of your bungalow, if you stay in a society, feed them a bit away from the main entrance, same logic applies when you stay in building /apartment so that no nuisance is created while you feed them) .

-Vaccination & Deworming is important as they would also stay away from all kind of illnesses and of course the people around you too would stay safe if dogs are vaccinated .

-Sterilization is of utmost importance as the less they litter (giving birth to puppies) the less they suffer. For sterilization purpose you could get in touch with you local ABC centre (Animal Birth Control) which is partially run by the local municipality and NGO meant for welfare of street dogs.

Last but not the least, let me know if you need any kind of help further, I may guide you accordingly!

People’s attitudes toward animals are changing. In the USA alone, 62% believe that animals should have some protections, and 32% believe that animals should have the same rights as people. Many people are just animal lovers, and with the advent of the internet, social media, and news organizations, people are now more exposed to animal cruelty, animal exploitation, animal welfare, abuse in factory farms, slaughter houses, puppy mills, fur farms, and the list goes on and on.

Many people get involved in animal advocacy to take action on an issue they care about. The action could be volunteering at your local shelter, passing out leaflets to educate the public, getting involved with animal advocacy organizations, or donating to the causes that they feel will make the most impact. Many people perceive activism as a nourishing and satisfying experience that enhances their sense of accomplishment, and provides opportunities for personal growth and fulfillment.

There may be a spiritual aspect to participation in animal advocacy for it allows an individual to bond with like-minded people with shared values and support that resembles the community-bonding function of churches in many ways. Animal welfare is also an important way to promote public good health and improve protection against health threats. Reinforcing the protection of livestock, for example makes it possible to reduce health risks related to viruses or illegal trade, improving food quality, limiting chemical-related threats linked to the massive use of antibiotics, etc.

Caring for the animals is important to improve management and avoid the overexploitation of natural resources, recognizing the value of the ecosystem and sustainability. Taking care of animal welfare can also help to protect the environment.

Handled properly, livestock can be an important part of land management, including eating vegetation unsuitable for human consumption and fertilizing the soil. By contrast, intensive farming is often inhumane to animals, and is environmentally unsustainable.

Intensive farms need huge supplies of feed and water to be transported in from elsewhere in the country or even abroad, much of which could otherwise have been used for people. Water shortages are widely predicted to be one of the major problems of the current century. Intensive farms produce huge quantities of manure, with dangerous concentrations of minerals and biologically active compounds, and all too frequently these result in soil and water pollution.

Methods used in intensive farming may also increase the chance of diseases that are bad for both animals and people, and add to pressures on the viability of farming. Such methods contributed to the development of Mad Cow Disease (BSE). Keeping large numbers of animals close together increases spread of organisms causing food poisoning. For example, there are about 73,000 human infections and 60 deaths from E. coli in the USA each year, many from infected animal products, when diseases such as Foot & Mouth or Avian Influenza do break out on large farms, they affect a very large numbers of animals.

Giant factory farms also destroy the job structure and social stability of agriculture-based societies, causing small farms to close because they cannot compete with the factory farms. This leads to massive unemployment and the social decay that accompanies it.

http://www.veterinaria.org/revistas/redvet/n121207B/BA016ing.pdf

Thanks for the A2A

I tend to believe your efforts and money goes the farthest at the local level. For me that would be the Hawaiian Humane Society or the Oahu SPCA. (They are distinctly NOT part of the Humane society of the United States or the American SPCA) I don’t know what state or area you live in, so obviously they vary. The benefits of a small, local organization, typically a shelter but sometimes an advocacy group, is that they are more in-tune with the issues facing the community and better equipped to deal with the problem straightaway, which often includes advocating on laws at your local legislature, not just federal congress. These can be found with a simple “animal shelters near me” in google.

If you’re looking to donate your time or money somewhere, I recommend the places that have enough resources and outreach to make a difference, but not so big that they could care less about you as an individual.

Also bear in mind that just because they are a small, local shelter doesn’t mean they are automatically good. We once found an animal shelter in absolutely horrible condition and had to rescue some 300+ dogs, so visit the place yourself, talk to people and make the choice first.

Animal Welfare is, broadly speaking, the idea that animals used for the benefit of humans should be treated well. Regardless whether they are pets or food, they should be made to live good, natural lives.

I’ve seen in course material I’ve taught that the treatment of animals is on a spectrum from animal exploitation, e.g. 19th century circuses, to animal liberation, e.g. breaking into farms and freeing chickens. Obviously both ends are unreasonable, but animal welfare tends towards the “liberation” end. That’s why I’m quite particular about using the term “animal welfare” as opposed to “animal rights,” considering how taking it too far can quickly lead to some pretty strange stuff.

The best codified rules of animal welfare were established by the U.K Farm Council in 1965 and do a good job as a rule of thumb for what animals are entitled to.

1. Freedom from hunger or thirst by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour
2. Freedom from discomfort by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area
3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment
4. Freedom to express (most) normal behaviour by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal's own kind
5. Freedom from fear and distress by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering

If you liked this answer, why not follow me?

Nick Chang

Thanks for the A2A

There isn’t a single, definitive answer. I’m not a philosopher nor an ethicist by any measure. What I do know is that animals, like people, are living, feeling beings who, being capable of perceiving both suffering and happiness, ought to be made to have as good a life as possible. That’s what I believe is the ultimate goal of life on Earth. In recent times, we’ve seen that, in fact. Poverty, disease, war and malnutrition are all showing a steady, negative trend as the development of technology, humanitariansm and human rights continues to progress, and it is up to everyone to do their part, except I don’t think we ought to draw an arbitrary line at helping humans and nobody else.

If you find it worthwhile to take a little time to brighten someone’s day, or do something nice to help others, it would stand to reason that you would seek to extend that kindness to animals as well. The great thing about us is that we are made to feel good by helping others. Call it selfish, but I think that’s just awesome.

Thanks for the A2A.

I’m going to be blunt here and say that no, we as a species would not be terribly worse off if we abandoned all kindness to animals. It is an issue that we don’t have much of a stake in aside from overpopulation making the streets less sanitary.

HOWEVER, it is one of the greatest fallacies peddled to our generation that because an issue does not affect us specifically, we should not care about it. I have said before that animals, being incredibly feeling beings capable of emotion and awareness should, like people, be made to have as good a life as possible during their short time on Earth. After all, we don’t have much time here on Earth either, so we should strive to make each other’s lives as happy as possible. Logically, we should extend that kindness to animals.

I remember reading The New Ecological Order by Luc Ferry,

The author was basically afraid that if we go too far with environmentalism, human freedom is endangered as nature will have higher status. This view was adopted by Nazi and Hitler did got environmentalist as it suits with totalitarianism, at least in how this book was written. We need to protect the nature and honour all of its beings because we need them to be well.

And so we came to animal welfare. We need the animals to be happy so that we are happy. If animals are happy, they produced more milk, more eggs, more quality meat, win the horse race, whatever. Thus, scientific endeavour on animal welfare was really supported. My favourite classic on this is Professor Temple Grandin

On a higher meaning, animal welfare is a proof of our very conscience on the living rights of other beings. We need to keep it to treat or high moral ground on humane treatment of all living beings.

The question is always, are we using the correct standard? When we treat their emotions and conscience in the same way with humans, do we do them justice? Is it too much for them or is it not enough?

My friend often argues with me that it is difficult to get the standard of natural animal happiness because their very nature in the wild is full of stress. Stress of not getting food. Stress of predators. Stress from caring for their youngsters.

“Nature is cruel but we don't have to be”
― Temple Grandin, The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism & Asperger's

Footnotes

One of the most important and first steps I would suggest is if one has a pet, spay and neuter them to cut down on the animal population of unwanted offspring. Second, take care of the animals you have properly in every way - make them a part of your family. Take part in every opportunity that allows you to educate others and sign petitions and send letters and make phone calls to the legislators and such people to enforce laws to protect animals. If you see an abandoned or abused animal, immediately take action to help that animal. Don’t just walk away. Teach young children that animals are precious. This is just a tiny tip of the iceberg but I hope this will get people thinking about how wonderful and special animals are and that they deserve our respect and compassion. I will write more on this subject later as I have to run right now.

Sure should you so wish

Animal rights is a far bigger issue than animal welfare. Animal rights is the belief that all animals have a place in this world for their own purpose. Animal rights advocates lobby for better and more humane conditions in factory farming, entertainment and vivisection. Buy what we really want is for all that to just stop.

Animal welfare is defined as the movement that seeks to ensure dogs, cats, horses, pigs and other companion animals are being well-cared for, have homes and are treated well.

Most of us are both. We get involved in helping animal shelters see to the welfare of animals. But we are much more involved in stopping the industrial killing of animals. We do that through protests, civil disobedience, undercover videos, lobbying and challenging industry norms.

If what they are doing to beagles in labs were to be done by an an individual they would be arrested and charged with a felony.

Most of us, when we talk about animal welfare tend to talk about five freedoms and relate that with animal welfare needs. However, five freedom theory doesn’t capture all the welfare issue. The relatively new theory that defines animal welfare need is 5 domain, which includes:

survival related factors: 1. Nutrition, 2. Environment, 3. Health

Situation-related factors: 4. Behavior

Affective Experience (defines welfare state of animal): 5. Mental state

So, while talking about the welfare needs of animals, these 5 domains give us great ideas to think. You can read full paper in the following link:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5575572/pdf/animals-07-00060.pdf

If you talk about farm animal welfare, Sweden is often considered to be ahead than other countries. However, it may not be true in all cases. For example, castration without anesthesia is still permitted in Sweden but completely banned in Austria. Sweden still allows farmings for fur but not Austria and the UK. In the case of poultry, battery cages are completely banned in countries like Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Initiatives are going on in many EU countries to ban all form of cages. So, it is difficult to say that any particular country(s) is(are) best for animal welfare. Overall, Switzerland comes to the top and followed by countries like Norway, Austria, and Sweden. Countries like Canada, Australia, and the USA are still trailing behind EU countries. This is probably because EU consumers are more aware of animal welfare compared to Canada, Australia, and the USA.

I think that strictly speaking, we don't need animal welfare but popular opinion demands it. Therefore, the answer I offer is that we need animal welfare to satisfy the demands of popular opinion.

I think that it's safe to say that in the developed world we would not tolerate the kind of treatment of our animals that was routinely meted out on slaves 200 years ago. We also will do all sorts of things for our pets that would not have been considered, if available, when I was a child in the 1970s. I had a cat who had a urinary obstruction. Veterinary insurance paid for that cat to have an MRI and a CT scan, as well as surgery. Leaving aside the fact that neither of these scans were available in the 1970s, no one would have thought of paying £2500 at today's prices to save a cat's life. Yet now it's quite routine. I was even told by a vet that until 1970 tomcats were castrated without anaesthetic! They would stick the cat head first into a Wellington and quickly excise the testicles. So ideas about what is and isn't considered acceptable behaviour towards animals has altered radically even in my lifetime.

Then there are differences between countries. In the US many people declaw their cats. In the UK and most of Europe it is de facto illegal because any vet carrying out the surgery will be struck off. Thus, animal welfare is a fluid concept with different interpretations. Animal welfare is basically humans deciding what is kind treatment to animals and without it perhaps we wouldn't have human welfare either, so no Child Services, no Meals on Wheels etc.

I support animal rights rather than animal welfare. Welfarists applaud bigger cages or the abolishment of farrowing crates for example. Animal rights advocates on the other hand are pushing for no exploitation of other animals, which goes beyond just eliminating cages or crates. It means not using any animals for a human’s personal gratification, such as zoos, circuses, rodeos, and wearing animal skins (including shoes and purses), food (of course) and using products that have been tested on animals. It means freeing the animals currently held captive in these venues. We don’t need to eat, wear, or be entertained by other animals to survive and thrive.

Welfarism is quite anemic in its approach and can be compared to taking baby steps to reach a solution. In the meantime, babies continue to die.