Description
There are many ongoing debates within and about the subject of animal welfare. This book distils some of the major themes of current debate into one volume, edited by internationally known names in the field of animal welfare. Each chapter is written by one or more leading experts who discuss, in an even-handed way, a provocative topic that will be of interest to anyone concerned with animal welfare. Issues covered include tail docking, farm animal production, neutering of feral cats and the need to conserve habitats of native wild animals in the face of threats from non-native species. Chapters address the different values and priorities involved in dealing with these issues, including scientific and more explicit ethical approaches. Each chapter ends with questions for discussion that may help readers to engage with these dilemmas.
Table of contents
- I: Preface
- 1: Introduction: values, dilemmas and solutions
- II: Dilemmas within animal welfare
- 2: Tales about tails: is the mutilation of animals justifiable in their best interests or ours?
- 3: Fat companions: understanding the welfare effects of obesity in cats and dogs
- 4: Welfare and quantity of life
- III: Animal welfare and social priorities
- 5: Improving farm animal welfare: is evolution or revolution needed in production systems?
- 6: Whom should we eat? Why veal can be better for welfare than chicken
- 7: Public health and animal welfare
- IV: Animal welfare and conservation
- 8: Balancing the need for conservation and the welfare of individual animals
- 9: Value conflicts in feral cat management: trap-neuter-return or trap-euthanize?
- V: Conceptual dilemmas
- 10: Alone or together: a risk assessment approach to group housing
- 11: What is suffering in animals?
Reviews
"In summary, this book is a useful guide to some of the dilemmas that animal welfare faces and has faced for some time, and its firm roots in practical example are an effective way of dealing with them." - Marion Stamp Dawkins
(BSc Zoology, PhD Animal Behaviour) is Chief Scientific Adviser with The World Society for the Protection of Animals, based in London, UK. At the Poultry Research Centre and the University of Edinburgh, UK, he carried out research for 20 years on behaviour and welfare of farm animals, before a period with The Humane Society of the United States in Washington, DC. His most recent book is Long Distance Transport and Welfare of Farm Animals (co-editor, 2008). Dr Appleby is a member of the Farm Animal Welfare Council (Farm Animal Welfare Committee from April 2011) and a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth and the Scottish Agricultural College.
