Animal Welfare

Man controls and dominates the habitat of most animals, both domestic and wild and there is a need for a pragmatic, workable approach to the problem of reconciling animal welfare with economic forces and the needs of man. It is the author's contention that much of the current philosophical discussion of animal welfare is misdirected now that it is possible to measure to some extent what animals think and feel and how much they can appreciate their quality of life. The book deals with farm animals, pets, wild animals and laboratory animals and dicusses their environmental requirements, fear and stress, their response to pain, injury, disease and death, behaviour and aggression, and the implications of biotechnology and genetic engineering. Finally, the book tries to reconcile reverence for life with the inescapability of killing and reviews the prospects of preserving and enhancing quality of life for animals through legislations, education, economic and moral incentives. Preface; Part I: Introduction - Man's Dominion Over the Animals; Introduction; Man's Dominion; Part II: Analysis - How Is It For Them?; Animal Mind and Aminal Suffering; Hunger and Thirst; Housing and Habitat; Pain, Sickness and Death; Friends, Foes; Fears and Stress; Part III: Advocacy - What We Can Do For Them; Farm Animals; Pigs and Poultry; Cattle and Other Ruminants; Horses and Pets; Wild Animals; Animals and Science; Right Thought and Right Action; Further Reading; Index “John Webster has written an even-handed but hard-hitting critique of modern livestock farming”

1995 New Scientist

“This is a thought provoking and sensible book which can be highly recommended to all those interested in animal welfare”

PH Holmes, Jan 1996 Veterinary Record.

“I expect to be reading this book many times over the next 20 years. It will, in my opinion, become a central guidepost in the emerging discipline of animal welfare. John Webster’s contribution is formidable and he unquestionably achieves his stated goal.”

Ken Johnson, Dec 1995 ANZCCART News (Australian laboratory animal society newsletter)

John Webster is Emeritus Professor of Animal Husbandry at the University of Bristol. Author of the widely acclaimed Animal Welfare: A Cool Eye Towards Eden and Animal Welfare: Limping Towards Eden, he is the founding father of the Bristol Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science group that has gathered evidence and pioneered the arguments necessary to achieve improved welfare standards for veal calves, broiler chickens, laying hens and dairy cows. Man controls and dominates the habitat of most animals, both domestic and wild and there is a need for a pragmatic, workable approach to the problem of reconciling animal welfare with economic forces and the needs of man. It is the author's contention that much of the current philosophical discussion of animal welfare is misdirected now that it is possible to measure to some extent what animals think and feel and how much they can appreciate their quality of