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Positive wild animal welfare

Positive wild animal welfare
Positive wild animal welfare

With increasing attention given to wild animal welfare and ethics, it has become common to depict animals in the wild as existing in a state dominated by suffering. This assumption is now taken on board by many and frames much of the current discussion; but needs a more critical assessment, both theoretically and empirically. In this paper, we challenge the primary lines of evidence employed in support of wild animal suffering, to provide an alternative picture in which wild animals may often have lives that are far more positive than is commonly assumed. Nevertheless, while it is useful to have an alternative model to challenge unexamined assumptions, our real emphasis in this paper is the need for the development of effective methods for applying animal welfare science in the wild, including new means of data collection, the ability to determine the extent and scope of welfare challenges and opportunities, and their effects on welfare. Until such methods are developed, discussions of wild animal welfare cannot go beyond trading of intuitions, which as we show here can just as easily go in either direction.

measurement, positive welfare, sentience, wild animal welfare
0169-3867
14
Browning, Heather
8d13aa04-7648-4403-b29c-11f7674f6618
Veit, Walter
8137e8be-a04c-41c6-979e-87fe1a4010be
Browning, Heather
8d13aa04-7648-4403-b29c-11f7674f6618
Veit, Walter
8137e8be-a04c-41c6-979e-87fe1a4010be

Browning, Heather and Veit, Walter (2023) Positive wild animal welfare. Biology and Philosophy, 38, 14, [14]. (doi:10.1007/s10539-023-09901-5).

Record type: Article

Abstract

With increasing attention given to wild animal welfare and ethics, it has become common to depict animals in the wild as existing in a state dominated by suffering. This assumption is now taken on board by many and frames much of the current discussion; but needs a more critical assessment, both theoretically and empirically. In this paper, we challenge the primary lines of evidence employed in support of wild animal suffering, to provide an alternative picture in which wild animals may often have lives that are far more positive than is commonly assumed. Nevertheless, while it is useful to have an alternative model to challenge unexamined assumptions, our real emphasis in this paper is the need for the development of effective methods for applying animal welfare science in the wild, including new means of data collection, the ability to determine the extent and scope of welfare challenges and opportunities, and their effects on welfare. Until such methods are developed, discussions of wild animal welfare cannot go beyond trading of intuitions, which as we show here can just as easily go in either direction.

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Accepted/In Press date: 13 February 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 12 March 2023
Published date: 12 March 2023
Additional Information: Funding Information: HB’s research is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation programme, Grant Number 851145. WV’s research is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation programme (grant agreement number 101018533). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).
Keywords: measurement, positive welfare, sentience, wild animal welfare

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 476721
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/476721
ISSN: 0169-3867
PURE UUID: 03d1b63c-f6a8-4278-8256-4917bdf550bb
ORCID for Heather Browning: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1554-7052

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Date deposited: 12 May 2023 16:37
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:08

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Contributors

Author: Heather Browning ORCID iD
Author: Walter Veit

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