How a Scientific Approach Has Helped Improve the Welfare of Animals: Interview With Professor Lawrence

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Из курса от партнера The University of Edinburgh

Animal Behaviour and Welfare

1118 оценки

The University of Edinburgh

Animal Behaviour and Welfare

1118 оценки

Animal welfare has been described as a complex, multi-faceted public policy issue which includes important scientific, ethical, and other dimensions. Improving our understanding of animal welfare, involves the fascinating study of animal behavior as well as the challenge of accessing the emotions of animals. This is the On-Demand version of this course, which means you can start the course at any time and work through the course materials at your own pace. The materials and quizzes will always be available to you. You can come and talk about the course on Twitter using the hashtag #EdAniWelf

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What is Animal Welfare and Why Does it Matter?

Introduction, History and Concepts of Animal Welfare

How a Scientific Approach Has Helped Improve the Welfare of Animals: Interview With Professor Lawrence4:30

Animal Welfare and Cultural Differences: Interview With Dr MacKay3:22

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Professor Nat Waran
Professor of One Welfare
Eastern Institute of Technology, Napier, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.
Dr Fritha Langford

Scotland's Rural College (SRUC)
Dr Heather Bacon
Veterinary welfare edcuation and outreach
Jeanne Marchig International Centre of Animal Welfare Education
Miss Hayley Walters, RVN

Welfare and Anaesthesia
Dr Jill MacKay
Animal Behaviour and Welfare Researcher
Animal Behaviour and Welfare Team, SRUC

I'm Alistair Lawrence.

I have been working in this area for a considerable period of time.

I'm a Scot, born and bred in a farm in Perthshire,

which is about 50 miles short of where we're standing here.

And I went to St. Andrews and studied zoology, and

from there I came to Edinburgh and I was introduced to a man called David Rudgosh,

who was really the father of what we think of as the animal welfare science.

And he introduced me to the study of animal behavior as a way of understanding

animals' lives to understand animals' perspectives and to try and

put that into the context of, for example, animal farming.

Well in some senses we've made almost unimaginable progress.

One of the subjects I studied first was the close confinement of sows

which are pregnant, and that system is now phased out int the UK and

in the EU and is under question in many other parts of the world

as a result not entirely, but largely as the result of science.

And the way that science explored the issues of what it meant to a sow

to be kept in those sort of conditions.

Another very early piece of work for me was a rather similar

question on sows which are giving birth, referred to as farrowing sows.

And they're also kept in close confinement.

And whilst that system remains legal in the EU,

research which we've done over quite a long period of time, I have to say,

is now progressively moving us towards a position where I think

that system will no longer be legal in a relatively short period of time.

The knowledge which we piece together, and it literally is piece by piece,

no single piece of research is the answer, has just progressively lead

firstly public opinion, to realize that farm animals are no different,

really, to the pets that they care for.

Secondly, to the policymakers to understand the public are very

concerned about this.

And lastly, and probably most importantly, to get farmers and

retailers and those people who organize and

control the supply chain of food to buy into this idea that animal welfare is

something that should be the cornerstone of what we call livestock farming.

>> [NOISE] >> Well, next is interesting, because I

just said I thought, and I do think, that we have made this fantastic progress,

and I should just say that that's not just in terms of these phasing out of systems,

but in all sorts of ways, including global representation of the issues.

It's just over ten years, really, that that became,

it was started by different organizations beginning to take a global view,

and now animal welfare is really big worldwide.

But whilst we've made these very significant pieces of progress,

at the same time, all sorts of other things are beginning to impinge upon

the production of food, in particular, which may cause further issues to arise.

And I'm thinking in particular of food shortage and

the need for livestock production to become ever more efficient in order to

supply this growing human population.

The fact that in doing that we also have to cater for energy shortage,

water shortage, and fertilizer shortage, and

we've got to do that all within the umbrella of climate change.

All dictates that livestock production in the future is going

to be quite pressurized.

And the past tells us that when we pressurize and intensify

agriculture in that way, that animals can be the losers if we're not careful.

So there's a very important point coming up where we need to continue to emphasize

the case for animals in this new global food security argument.

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