Abstract
The terms “well-being” and “suffering” are discussed and it is suggested that it will be very difficult, if not impossible to give them precise definitions. The classes of evidence used as indicators of well-being or of suffering are considered in turn. Indicators associated with health are straightforward; any reduction in health, by definition, means a reduction in well-being. The conclusion about productivity as an indicator is also simple; although theoretically it may have merit, in practice it is a dangerous criterion to use. The main problem associated with using physiological and biochemical changes as indicators is in deciding how much change an animal can tolerate without suffering. Similar problems exist with behavioural indicators; how much of a particular behaviour must an animal show to indicate suffering? Abnormal behaviour may be an indicator of suffering but how do we define “abnormal”?
However, the whole welfare debate hinges on the controversial questions, “Do animals have subjective feelings, and if they do, can we find indicators which reveal them? ” The evidence suggests that all agricultural species probably do have feelings although these might be very different from human feelings. There are also indications that with careful experimentation we may be able to accumulate indirect evidence about animals’ Subjective feelings. This should be our ultimate aim. There are many problems but they are not insurmountable.
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© 1983 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg
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Duncan, I.J.H., Dawkins, M.S. (1983). The Problem of Assessing “Well-Being” and “Suffering” in Farm Animals. In: Smidt, D. (eds) Indicators Relevant to Farm Animal Welfare. Current Topics in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6738-0_2
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