He animal welfare is defined as a positive state, both mental and physical, related to the satisfaction of the physiological and behavioral needs of each being, as well as your expectations. And it is a state that can vary depending on the perception each animal has of its situation.
We have to start from the basics Animals have needs (eating, resting, pooping, peeing, breathing), but also expectations. Depending on the responses to these expectations and needs, they may experience both positive (pleasure, satisfaction) and negative (fear, pain) feelings. Your degree of animal welfare.
This is why the idea of animal welfare It includes on the one hand the physical condition, but also the psychological condition of the animal. And it strives for both to be positive, even though the two states are interdependent on each other. Therefore, An animal that is in a welfare situation will be an animal that is physically and mentally well..
An animal also has freedoms
He animal welfare it is based on the individual freedoms of animals. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) uses this concept as a guideline, trying to highlight what the essential basic needs are to declare that an animal lives in a state of well-being.
To do this, it lays out a series of conditions that people must create for this to happen ensure that all those beings who depend on himthey live in a real and traceable state of animal welfare. No animal can experience hunger, thirst, malnutrition or malnutrition. To achieve this, they must have access to water and food, in quantities and qualities that are appropriate and consistent with the needs of their species and age.
Animals should be raised in a quiet environment that does not cause any stress; this is essential ensuring that they can live without fear or anxietyTheir living conditions should therefore not cause any form of mental or physical suffering.
On the other hand, it will not only be necessary to avoid abuse of any kind the area you are in will be adapted to your needs. Not only must serious harm be avoided, but if animals exhibit some form of pathology or disease, they must be cared for, treated and cured or, failing that, the negative symptoms of their disease must be alleviated. That’s also part of it animal welfare.
Every animal must enjoy freedom of expression, a concept that explicitly refers to this behavior that is considered normal for their speciesso their environment must be adapted to it and their nature must be respected (if in company, solitary, social, etc.).
It is NOT animal welfare
Any form of mutilation performed on an animal to satisfy human needs or whimsFor example, cutting the vocal cords of a rooster because it is ‘annoying’ when I sing, removing a cat’s nails so he doesn’t scratch the curtains, or cutting off the canines and tails of piglets. Let’s not even talk about the cruelties committed against exotic pets, ostensibly for the sake of human safety.
Raise them in small spaces, with little ventilation, in crowded conditions and with lights on so they eat a lot and gain weight faster. Apply any form of unnecessary medical treatmentsuch as preventive antibiotics or growth hormones.
Abuse, neglect and all those practices that, To obtain a product that gives pleasure to humans, an animal must suffersuch as hand-plucking the hair of Angora rabbits or force-feeding ducks and geese to Pate