What is Animal Welfare?
Introduction
Human understanding of animals–especially their sentience, needs and natures–is developing all the physical states of poor welfare are more readily accessible and understandable(particularly for veterinarians,who undertook much of the early work on welfare).But new research leads naturally to greater understanding of mental states and needs and is particularly true of ethological research,including ‘preference testing’ where animals’ preferences are measured and may be why earlier definitions of welfare centred on physical states,whereas the latest definitions have reflected the complex, multi-faceted nature of animal welfare.人类对动物的理解——尤其是它们的感知、需要和本性——一直在发展。身体状况不佳的福利更容易获得，也更容易理解(特别是对兽医来说，他们承担了很多早期的福利工作)。但新的研究自然会让人们对心理状态、需求和本质有更深入的了解。动物行为学研究尤其如此，包括“偏好测试”，即测量和评估动物的偏好。这也许就是为什么早期的福利定义以物质状态为中心，而最新的定义反映了动物福利的复杂性和多面性。
Welfare v Rights In brief,The difference between animal welfare and animal rights can be explained as below:
Animal welfare denotes the desire to prevent unnecessary animal
suffering(that is,whilst not categorically opposed to the use of animals,wanting to ensure a good quality of life and humane death).动物福利指的是希望避免不必要的动物痛苦(即，虽然没有明确反对使用动物，但希望确保良好的生活质量和人道的死亡)。
Animal rights denotes the philosophical belief that animals should have rights,including the right to live their lives free of human intervention(and ultimate death at the hands of humans).Animal rightists are philosophically opposed to the use of animals by humans (although some accept' symbiotic' relationships,such as companion animal ownership).动物权利指的是一种哲学信仰，即动物应该拥有权利，包括不受人类干涉(以及最终死于人类之手)地生活的权利。动物右翼分子在哲学上反对人类使用动物(尽管有些人接受“共生”关系，比如伴侣动物所有权)。
Welfare v Conservation福利v保护
The key difference between conservation and animal welfare is that conservation cares about species(and extinction)whereas animal welfare cares about the individual animal (and its suffering).Animal welfarists belief that each individual animal has an intrinsic value,and should be respected and recognise that animals have biologically determined instincts,interests and natures,and can experience pain and suffer,and believe that they should therefore be permitted to live their lives free from avoidable suffering at the hands of humans. It is not difficult to see why the conservation movement has attracted support more readily than the animal welfare welfare requires greater altruism and empathy than conservation. Care for conservation can be generated by human-centred objectives, such as not wanting species to become extinct because of the loss for
future generations(of humans). Although many people now recognise that animals feel pain and suffer,this comes lower down on their list of priorities for action–and may indeed challenge their own lifestyle and habits.保护和动物福利的关键区别在于，保护关心的是物种(和灭绝)，而动物福利关心的是单个动物(和它的痛苦)。动物福利主义者相信每一只动物都有其内在价值，应该得到尊重和保护。他们认识到，动物具有由生物学决定的本能、兴趣和天性，能够经历痛苦和痛苦，因此，他们认为，动物应该被允许在生活中免受人类可以避免的痛苦。不难看出为什么自然保护运动比动物福利运动更容易得到支持。动物福利需要比保护动物更大的利他主义和同情心。保护可以通过以人为中心的目标来产生，例如不希望物种因为(人类)后代的损失而灭绝。尽管许多人现在认识到动物会感到痛苦和痛苦，但这在他们的优先行动清单上排名靠后，可能确实会挑战他们自己的生活方式和习惯。
Welfare Defined
Welfare is not just absence of cruelty or‘unnecessary suffering’.It is much more includes the following different states:福利不仅仅是没有残酷或“不必要的痛苦”。它要复杂得多。它包括以下不同的状态:
Physical State: traditionally definitions centred on the physical state ofanimals. However, it is a simplistic view that welfare is only poor when survival or reproduction is impaired by a physical problem.传统上，动物的生理状态是定义的中心。然而，有一种过于简单的观点认为，只有当生存或生殖受到生理问题的损害时，福利才会低下。
Mental State: Mental states play an important role in states are becoming
increasingly understood and explored,including by scientists.精神状态在福利中起着重要作用。这些状态正在被越来越多的人理解和探索，包括科学家。
Naturalness: The third state–naturalness–refers to the ability ofthe animal to fulfil its natural needs and frustration of these harms its third dimension has been recently recognised and added.自然:第三种状态——自然——是指动物满足其自然需要和欲望的能力。这些挫折损害了它的福利。这第三个维度最近得到了承认和补充。
The definition ofanimal welfare is often ,these three states,which are given in the definition given by WSPA in its‘Concepts of Animal Welfare’veterinary training resource,provide the most comprehensive to date.动物福利的定义经常引起争论。然而，WSPA在其兽医培训资源的“动物福利概念”中对这三个国家的定义是迄今为止最全面的。
Five Freedoms
The‘five freedoms’,which were originally developed by the UK’s Farm Animal Welfare Council(FAWC),provide valuable guidance on animal are now internationally recognised,and have been adapted slightly since their current form is:最初由英国农场动物福利委员会(FAWC)制定的“五项自由”为动物福利提供了宝贵的指导。它们现在已得到国际承认，自其提法以来已略有调整。目前的形式是:
Freedom from hunger and thirst–ready access to water and a diet to
maintain health and vigour远离饥饿和干渴，获得水和饮食，以保持健康和活力
Freedom from discomfort–by providing an appropriate environment
including shelter and a comfortable resting area通过提供一个适当的环境，包括住所和一个舒适的休息区域，从不安中解脱出来
Freedom from pain,injury and disease–by prevention or rapid diagnosis and
treatment通过预防或快速诊断和治疗避免疼痛、伤害和疾病
Freedom to express normal behaviour–by providing sufficient space,proper
facilities and company ofthe animals own kind通过提供足够的空间、适当的设施和动物同伴来表达正常行为的自由
Freedom from fear and distress–by ensuring conditions and treatment
which avoid mental suffering通过确保避免精神痛苦的条件和治疗，从恐惧和痛苦中解脱出来
They cover all three of the states identified by WSPA above.它们覆盖上述WSPA标识的所有三个陈述。
They are ideal states,and it is recognized that some freedoms may conflict in a situation where animals are cared for by man conflict between treatment(such as veterinary treatment)to cure illness/disease and freedom from fear and distress(that may be caused by the handling and procedure).他们是理想的国家，人们认识到，在动物由人照顾的情况下，某些自由可能会发生冲突。治疗(如兽医治疗)治疗疾病与免于恐惧和痛苦(可能由处理和程序引起)之间的冲突。
Needs
The term‘needs’is often used in discussions on welfare,as needs are the things that should be provided to ensure an animal’s welfare.“需要”一词常用于有关福利的讨论中，因为需要是为确保动物福利而应提供的东西。
A need is:‘A requirement,fundamental in the biology ofthe animal,to obtain a particular resource or respond to a particular environmental or bodily stimulus.’Needs may include a range ofprovisions such as food,water,comfort,avoidance of infectious disease and environmental animals under our care it is a human ethical responsibility to provide for their needs.需求是:“获取特定资源或对特定环境或身体刺激作出反应的一种要求，这是动物生物学的基本要求。”“需求可能包括一系列的供应，比如食物、水、舒适度、避免传染病和丰富环境。”对我们照料的动物来说，满足它们的需要是人类的道德责任。
Different needs have different levels of importance to effects after withdrawal of needs provides an indication of their relative importance.不同的需求对动物有不同的重要性。在需求退出后观察效果，可以看出它们的相对重要性。
Sentience感知
There is now widespread recognition of the‘sentience’of animals,which reinforces the need to protect European Union has officially recognised animals to be ‘Sentient Beings’(1997).Sentience implies that animals:现在人们普遍认识到动物的“感知能力”，这就加强了保护动物福利的必要性。1997年，欧盟正式承认动物为
“有情生物”。感知意味着动物:
Are aware oftheir own surroundings了解他们自己的环境
Have an emotional dimension有情感维度
Are aware ofwhat is happening to them知道他们身上发生了什么
Have the abilityto learn from experience有能力从经验中学习
Are aware of bodily sensations–pain,hunger,heat,cold etc.意识到身体的感觉
——疼痛、饥饿、热、冷等。
Are aware oftheir relationships with other animals意识到它们与其他动物的关
系
Have the ability to chose between different animals,objects and situations
有能力在不同的动物、物体和环境中做出选择
Welfare Assessment福利评估
Animal welfare has developed into a science in its own right and as a result there is a growing amount of research into this research is funded by governments, corporations and industry bodies,welfare groups and other is often used as the basis for the reform of animal welfare is also used to improve conditions for animals reared for food,used in research,kept in captivity or as
companion animals.动物福利本身已经发展成为一门科学，因此对这门学科的研究越来越多。这项研究由政府、公司和行业团体、福利团体和其他机构资助。它经常被用作动物福利立法改革的基础。它也被用来改善动物饲养的食物，用于研究，圈养或作为伴侣动物的条件
Three components are important for a welfare assessment:-
Use the Five Freedoms as the framework以五种自由为框架
Assess welfare inputs and outputs评估福利投入和产出
Quantify problem using Severity,Duration and Number of animals affected.
使用受影响动物的严重程度、持续时间和数量来量化问题。
Inputs are the factors that affect welfare. Outputs are the actual impact of these factors on welfare.投入是影响福利的因素。产出是这些因素对福利的实际影响。
Examples of three types of welfare inputs are:-
Stockman-Empathy,Knowledge,Observation skills畜牧——同理心,知识,观察
技能
Environment-Housing, Bedding, Feed quality, Water provision环境——-住
房、草垫、饲料质量、供水
Animal-Suitable breed,age and sex for the system.动物——适合系统的品种、
年龄和性别。
Physiological measures of welfare include:-
Heart rate心率
Respiratory rate呼吸速率
Adrenal habituation肾上腺习惯化
Blood pressure血压
Catecholamines(adrenaline and noradrenaline)儿茶酚胺(肾上腺素和去甲肾上
腺素)
Enzymes and metabolites酶和代谢产物
However,measures of welfare should be applied with ’s‘Concepts of Animal Welfare’refers to different‘components’of welfare,ofwhich welfare science is one 然而，福利措施的应用应谨慎。WSPA的“动物福利概念”是指福利的不同“组成部分”，福利科学就是其中之一
Welfare science
Animal ethics
Welfare law
It is arguable that law is simply the practical application ofthe current state of science and ethics in a society, as accepted by consumers and (ultimately) ,the important point here is that science is not the only criteria for judging welfare,as other less tangible factors are also is,therefore,important that the‘precautionary principle’is applied,and where there are any cases ofdoubt,then the action taken should favour the animals(just in case the alternative course would impair welfare).可以论证的是，正如消费者(最终)和政治家所接受的那样，法律只不过是当今社会科学和道德状况的实际应用。然而，这里重要的一点是，科学并不是判断福利的唯一标准，因为还涉及其他一些不太具体的因素。因此，应用“预防原则”是很重要的，如果有任何怀疑的情况，那么采取的行动应该有利于动物(只是以防另一种做法会损害福利)。
Welfare and Death
Welfare concerns the‘quality’of animal death affects the‘quantity’of animal ,both maybe the subjects of ethical concern by humans. The manner of death is relevant to an animal’s welfare method of slaughter is ,high death rates can indicate poor welfare conditions-Poor husbandry conditions can cause disease and death and production pressures and overwork can also cause early death.福利关系到动物生活的“质量”。而死亡会影响动物生命的数量。然而，两者都可能是人类关注的伦理问题。死亡的方式与动物的福利有关。屠宰的方法很重要。此外，高死亡率也表明社会福利状况不佳——畜牧业条件差可能导致疾病和死亡，生产压力和过度工作也可能导致早死。
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