Organic
Animal Welfare
By Jason Hubing
University of Wisconsin River Falls
ANSC 115 Animal Welfare
Dr. Kurt Vogel
Scientific Journal Report #2
12/16/2014
Introduction
Much can be said about animal welfare, many aspects are relatively new. New topics and avenues of potential research are constantly surfacing. For starters, one idea I’m going to attempt to tackle is an ethical one. Subjective at best in my opinion, it usually doesn’t warrant serious scientific research. The topics I’m suggesting are organic welfare and relative welfare. I’m talking about the range of emotions animals have and how they can be interpreted to best adapt an animal’s environment to maximize their welfare. Several institutions would
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A consumer could be more inclined to purchase/use a product if they can believe that their product lived a full and happy life. The same criteria can be said for a prospective pet, an owner would want an all-around healthy companion that can display a full range of emotion during the course of its life. Welfare can certainly be relative when you take into account the definition in context. I’m going to pose an argument that for instance an organically raised, grass fed cow can claim a higher quality welfare than a “stock” cow; one that has been raised in a warehouse, outside of a “natural” frame of reference (conditions the animal could exist in with minimal human intervention). I’ll even go so far as to say the physical presence of the sun may be a vital component in welfare. It has been documented that lack of sun exposure can lead to vitamin D, and calcium deficiency, various diseases because of that and even depression.[5] The definition of welfare can be measured by the accumulation of positive and negative experiences. Objectively weighing the satisfaction of every need (and possibly want) of the animal in question versus; illnesses, pain, abnormal behavior, and chronic stress, etc. Through these objective measures, an animal’s level of wellbeing can be properly gauged. [3] This makes it fairly easy to measure welfare since each of these events or categories probably has
Did you know that 56 billion animals are slaughtered each year? People believe that farmers are abusing and causing stress on the animals. Farmers use confined feeding operations to maximize the production. By having the confined feeding operations, it gives the animals no room to graze. When they can’t graze, it restricts the animal to move or to exercise (“On The Farm”). The animals are not given any pain relief during certain practices like castration or dehorning. Animal welfare is not needed in the farming aspect, because the animals are meant for food.
In “The Case for Animal Rights”, Regan explores different philosophical ideologies regarding the treatment of animals by humans. He finds flaws with each having done so he puts forth the idea of animal rights as the philosophy which solves the conundrum. The ideologies he discards are such:
There are arguments made that would support the eating or medical testing of animals, but there are also other arguments that do not support eating or medical testing of animals. When a person views these arguments using a virtue ethics position, the result would have to be in accordance with the view that the right actions are produced by the virtuous characteristic. The question asked is what would the moral status of animals be according to a virtue ethicist’s perspective; and if virtuous ethics is can be applied to the animal’s moral status? There are two types of moral statuses, a moral agent and moral patient: A moral agent is an individual whose actions can be established by moral reasons; a moral patient is an individual who needs
Where do happy cows actually come from? Most of our minds create an image of large fields where cows and other animals are free to roam and graze. In reality, however, most farms today are actually large corporate factories, not the vast fields and red barns that most Americans imagine. These consolidated operations known as CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) are able to produce meats in high volume but have little to no regard for animal or human welfare, the environment, or food safety. CAFOs in the United States are able to produce and process these large amounts of meat year-round by providing sheltered farms for a range of livestock such as cattle, swine, and sheep. However, within these farms animals are
“Hormone-free”, “organic”, “grass-fed”, and “natural” are labels that animal and plant producers use to inform consumers of what they are eating. These claims are misleading and usually increase the prices of those products. By increasing the price and sticking a label that reads “natural” makes consumers think that this product is better for them. Animal Welfare Approved gives an example of an egg carton boasting the statement that its eggs are “natural.” This statement can legally come from an industrial farm where the hens do not forage the way a chicken does “naturally.” According to the USDA, farms have to get organic certifications and accreditations in order to sell, label, and represent their products as organic. It is difficult to
Throughout history morality has been a topic of intense debate. Innumerable thinkers have devoted immense amounts of time and energy to the formulation of various ethical theories intended to assist humans in their daily lives. These theories set out guidelines which help to determine the rightness or wrongness of any given action and can therefore illuminate which choice would be morally beneficial. And while many of these theories differ substantially, most have at least one common underlying principle, namely that humans deserve to be treated with a certain level of respect. This idea comes from the belief that all humans have interests which are significant enough to be considered, hence no one should impede another
In the article “Animal experimentation up 73 percent, study says” Casey michael claims “the number of animals tested rose from 1,566,994 in 1977 to 2,705,772 in 2012”(par.2).The author states that most of the test done on animals does not translate into humans.There are programs like PETA (a program built to reduce animal testing) which are helping but “17 million to 100 million” (par.4) animals are still being tested on in laboratories.
Peter Singer argues, in regard to animal rights, that equal beings with equal interests should be considered equally. Singer makes three claims about equality to support his position; equality is based on equal consideration, speciesism is unjustified, and the ability to feel pain makes one worthy of moral consideration. He believes equal interests deserve equal treatment, and guidelines for having interests concern sentience; the ability to experience suffering. Comparing to the ideas of Mill, both are utilitarians and have a similar ideology around interests and moral consideration around the treatment of animals. Singer’s position on not eating meat is based on the utilitarian principle that ethical
2). Although humans are completely different species from birds, rats, and mice, animals have feelings much similar to us. Both humans and animals can feel and express psychological emotions, and are even able to experience anxiety and depression. Since these animals are most likely locked away in cages for the majority of their lifetime, they also have the ability to experience loneliness much like humans do. Animal testing is a worldwide controversial issue that has sparked subtopics such as veganism, the practice of not using any form of animal products, “adopt don’t shop”, the movement to end puppy mills across the world by adopting dogs and other animals from shelters instead of pet stores, and making animal neglect illegal. All of these subtopics inspire the average human to understand that animals have feelings, and that using their products for our own personal use isn’t
“When I look at animals held captive I think of slavery. Animals in circuses represent the domination and oppression we have fought against for so long. They wear the same chains and shackles.” The United States Animal Welfare has standards of care. When looking at the major circuses, they have all been cited for violating the standards. Animals feel just as much, if not more emotions and humans. Circuses should be eliminated completely because of the animals dangerous living conditions, the long term damage it does to the animals, and the mammals could pose a potential threat to the spectators.
The Animal Welfare Act, passed in 1966, establishes guidelines for the protection of animals used for research and other purposes, defines the requirements for facilities housing those animals, and outlines the procedures for inspection and maintenance of those facilities by government entities. This paper explores the pros and cons of the act as well as the effectiveness of the guidelines and their enforcement. Finally, it makes several recommendations based on the evidence presented.
Animal welfare issues exist everywhere in the world, some places more so than others. In saying that, over the years thanks to organizations like PETA, SSCS, SAFE and IDA and so many more amazing groups have led society to become more aware of the problems that exist when it comes to issues relating to the proper care of animals. One very important example of animal cruelty is animals that are brutally skinned for their fur, whether it's dogs in China or seals being culled for their fur, it's inhumane. This is mostly because of the lack of compassion the fashion industry has when it comes to fur. No matter how you look at it, there is no way to make a fur coat in a humane way. Whether fur comes from animal farms or from wild animals, it is simply a barbaric action. Animals killed for their fur in animal farms are normally electrocuted by having an electrical cable attached to their mouths and another cable inserted into their rectum. Wild animals that are caught for their fur are usually trapped in a steel leghold trap, a device that has been proven to be completely inhumane and has, in fact, been banned in 65 countries, but is still allowed in the United States.
Caring for animals is the ultimate question in my research paper, this is meant for the people who have taken in a stray animal or two; and who has given love care and support to those needy animals. Whether running a kennel or catteries out of your own home would be the ethical question in detail.
Health, benefit, well-being, progress, care, profit, thriving, all words that are synonyms to welfare. Animal welfare has been an agricultural issue for several decades. Animal welfare refers to the physical, emotional, and mental state an animal is in. There are several organization in the United States along with other corporations around the world that have the same mission; to promote animal welfare. This issue has a deep-rooted history, various legislative acts being voted on and passed, as well as many effects from these organizations, and legislative bills.
“The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi. These famous words still ring true in today’s society as we struggle to overcome the scientific experimentation on animals. Animals have acted as the archstone of human civilization since the dawn of man, from a source of food, to companionship. However, in the past century, we have been blurring the line between environmental entitlement and environmental rape. Every member of the human race interacts and depends on animals, and we owe them a certain level of respect in our society. Animal Experimentation should be banned in all forms within the borders of the United States; prohibited under an expansion of the Animal Welfare Act. This paper will explore the problems, causes and solutions pertaining to animal experimentation.