“Feelings and Fitness” Not “Feelings or Fitness”–The Raison d'être of Conservation Welfare, Which Aligns Conservation and Animal Welfare Objectives
Increasingly, human activities, including those aimed at conserving species and ecosystems (conservation activities) influence not only the survival and fitness but also the welfare of wild animals. Animal welfare relates to how an animal is experiencing its life and encompasses both its physical an...
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Format: | Article |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-11-01
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Series: | Frontiers in Veterinary Science |
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Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2018.00296/full |
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doaj-8015373064844e7b80c77882c6abc283 |
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record_format |
Article |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ngaio J. Beausoleil David J. Mellor Liv Baker Sandra E. Baker Mariagrazia Bellio Alison S. Clarke Arnja Dale Steve Garlick Steve Garlick Bidda Jones Andrea Harvey Benjamin J. Pitcher Sally Sherwen Karen A. Stockin Sarah Zito |
spellingShingle |
Ngaio J. Beausoleil David J. Mellor Liv Baker Sandra E. Baker Mariagrazia Bellio Alison S. Clarke Arnja Dale Steve Garlick Steve Garlick Bidda Jones Andrea Harvey Benjamin J. Pitcher Sally Sherwen Karen A. Stockin Sarah Zito “Feelings and Fitness” Not “Feelings or Fitness”–The Raison d'être of Conservation Welfare, Which Aligns Conservation and Animal Welfare Objectives Frontiers in Veterinary Science conservation welfare animal welfare assessment wildlife conservation environmental ethics wild animal welfare |
author_facet |
Ngaio J. Beausoleil David J. Mellor Liv Baker Sandra E. Baker Mariagrazia Bellio Alison S. Clarke Arnja Dale Steve Garlick Steve Garlick Bidda Jones Andrea Harvey Benjamin J. Pitcher Sally Sherwen Karen A. Stockin Sarah Zito |
author_sort |
Ngaio J. Beausoleil |
title |
“Feelings and Fitness” Not “Feelings or Fitness”–The Raison d'être of Conservation Welfare, Which Aligns Conservation and Animal Welfare Objectives |
title_short |
“Feelings and Fitness” Not “Feelings or Fitness”–The Raison d'être of Conservation Welfare, Which Aligns Conservation and Animal Welfare Objectives |
title_full |
“Feelings and Fitness” Not “Feelings or Fitness”–The Raison d'être of Conservation Welfare, Which Aligns Conservation and Animal Welfare Objectives |
title_fullStr |
“Feelings and Fitness” Not “Feelings or Fitness”–The Raison d'être of Conservation Welfare, Which Aligns Conservation and Animal Welfare Objectives |
title_full_unstemmed |
“Feelings and Fitness” Not “Feelings or Fitness”–The Raison d'être of Conservation Welfare, Which Aligns Conservation and Animal Welfare Objectives |
title_sort |
“feelings and fitness” not “feelings or fitness”–the raison d'être of conservation welfare, which aligns conservation and animal welfare objectives |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Veterinary Science |
issn |
2297-1769 |
publishDate |
2018-11-01 |
description |
Increasingly, human activities, including those aimed at conserving species and ecosystems (conservation activities) influence not only the survival and fitness but also the welfare of wild animals. Animal welfare relates to how an animal is experiencing its life and encompasses both its physical and mental states. While conservation biology and animal welfare science are both multi-disciplinary fields that use scientific methods to address concerns about animals, their focus and objectives sometimes appear to conflict. However, activities impacting detrimentally on the welfare of individual animals also hamper achievement of some conservation goals, and societal acceptance is imperative to the continuation of conservation activities. Thus, the best outcomes for both disciplines will be achieved through collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Despite this recognition, cross-disciplinary information-sharing and collaborative research and practice in conservation are still rare, with the exception of the zoo context. This paper summarizes key points developed by a group of conservation and animal welfare scientists discussing scientific assessment of wild animal welfare and barriers to progress. The dominant theme emerging was the need for a common language to facilitate cross-disciplinary progress in understanding and safeguarding the welfare of animals of wild species. Current conceptions of welfare implicit in conservation science, based mainly on “fitness” (physical states), need to be aligned with contemporary animal welfare science concepts which emphasize the dynamic integration of “fitness” and “feelings” (mental experiences) to holistically understand animals' welfare states. The way in which animal welfare is characterized influences the way it is evaluated and the emphasis put on different features of welfare, as well as, the importance placed on the outcomes of such evaluations and how that information is used, for example in policy development and decision-making. Salient examples from the New Zealand and Australian context are presented to illustrate. To genuinely progress our understanding and evaluation of wild animal welfare and optimize the aims of both scientific disciplines, conservation and animal welfare scientists should work together to evolve and apply a common understanding of welfare. To facilitate this, we propose the formal development of a new discipline, Conservation Welfare, integrating the expertise of scientists from both fields. |
topic |
conservation welfare animal welfare assessment wildlife conservation environmental ethics wild animal welfare |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2018.00296/full |
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doaj-8015373064844e7b80c77882c6abc2832020-11-24T23:01:14ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Veterinary Science2297-17692018-11-01510.3389/fvets.2018.00296418764“Feelings and Fitness” Not “Feelings or Fitness”–The Raison d'être of Conservation Welfare, Which Aligns Conservation and Animal Welfare ObjectivesNgaio J. Beausoleil0David J. Mellor1Liv Baker2Sandra E. Baker3Mariagrazia Bellio4Alison S. Clarke5Arnja Dale6Steve Garlick7Steve Garlick8Bidda Jones9Andrea Harvey10Benjamin J. Pitcher11Sally Sherwen12Karen A. Stockin13Sarah Zito14Animal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre, School of Veterinary Science, Massey University, Palmerston North, New ZealandAnimal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre, School of Veterinary Science, Massey University, Palmerston North, New ZealandCentre for Compassionate Conservation, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaWildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Oxfordshire, United KingdomInstitute of Land Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, AustraliaVeterinary Emergency Centre and Hospital, JCU Vet, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, AustraliaRoyal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Auckland, New ZealandCentre for Compassionate Conservation, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaPossumwood Wildlife Recovery and Research, Bungendore, NSW, AustraliaRoyal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Australia, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaCentre for Compassionate Conservation, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaTaronga Conservation Society Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia0Zoos Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia1Coastal Marine Research Group, Institute of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Massey University, Auckland, New ZealandRoyal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Auckland, New ZealandIncreasingly, human activities, including those aimed at conserving species and ecosystems (conservation activities) influence not only the survival and fitness but also the welfare of wild animals. Animal welfare relates to how an animal is experiencing its life and encompasses both its physical and mental states. While conservation biology and animal welfare science are both multi-disciplinary fields that use scientific methods to address concerns about animals, their focus and objectives sometimes appear to conflict. However, activities impacting detrimentally on the welfare of individual animals also hamper achievement of some conservation goals, and societal acceptance is imperative to the continuation of conservation activities. Thus, the best outcomes for both disciplines will be achieved through collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Despite this recognition, cross-disciplinary information-sharing and collaborative research and practice in conservation are still rare, with the exception of the zoo context. This paper summarizes key points developed by a group of conservation and animal welfare scientists discussing scientific assessment of wild animal welfare and barriers to progress. The dominant theme emerging was the need for a common language to facilitate cross-disciplinary progress in understanding and safeguarding the welfare of animals of wild species. Current conceptions of welfare implicit in conservation science, based mainly on “fitness” (physical states), need to be aligned with contemporary animal welfare science concepts which emphasize the dynamic integration of “fitness” and “feelings” (mental experiences) to holistically understand animals' welfare states. The way in which animal welfare is characterized influences the way it is evaluated and the emphasis put on different features of welfare, as well as, the importance placed on the outcomes of such evaluations and how that information is used, for example in policy development and decision-making. Salient examples from the New Zealand and Australian context are presented to illustrate. To genuinely progress our understanding and evaluation of wild animal welfare and optimize the aims of both scientific disciplines, conservation and animal welfare scientists should work together to evolve and apply a common understanding of welfare. To facilitate this, we propose the formal development of a new discipline, Conservation Welfare, integrating the expertise of scientists from both fields.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2018.00296/fullconservation welfareanimal welfare assessmentwildlife conservationenvironmental ethicswild animal welfare |