About this Research Topic
Positive welfare is a rising concept in animal welfare science. Overall, it recognizes the importance of offering animals the opportunity for rewarding experiences and fulfilled states, beyond the alleviation of suffering. This scientific approach aligns with common societal views on animal welfare: that animals should be provided with opportunities for positive experiences with a given assumption that one should not inflict pain or suffering on an animal.
The concept of positive welfare raises many questions. For example, does positive welfare require a new conceptual view or simply involve flipping existing binomial assessment indicators from negative to positive (e.g. reporting survival rate rather than mortality rate)? Do mental states exist on a continuum from negative to positive or are there discrete positive and negative mental states that can be traded-off or occur simultaneously? How are short-term positive experiences integrated over time and related to longer-term assessment of welfare? How does positive welfare relate to other concepts such as “a life worth living”, environmental enrichment, sustainability, and One Health/One Welfare? What are the underlying ethical bases and implications of positive welfare?
There is also a need to validate and implement positive welfare indicators in practice. For example, under which conditions can play behavior be interpreted as an indicator of positive welfare (e.g. timeframe, age range, context)? Furthermore, current animal welfare assessment frameworks include relatively few indicators of positive welfare and note the need for further development and validation. How is this best done considering the diversity of species and farming systems globally? We need to identify which objective positive welfare indicators are most reliable and effective for practical implementation in animal welfare policy and welfare assessment schemes.
In this Research Topic, we invite theoretical and empirical contributions fitting these themes.
The concept of positive welfare raises many questions. For example, does positive welfare require a new conceptual view or simply involve flipping existing binomial assessment indicators from negative to positive (e.g. reporting survival rate rather than mortality rate)? Do mental states exist on a continuum from negative to positive or are there discrete positive and negative mental states that can be traded-off or occur simultaneously? How are short-term positive experiences integrated over time and related to longer-term assessment of welfare? How does positive welfare relate to other concepts such as “a life worth living”, environmental enrichment, sustainability, and One Health/One Welfare? What are the underlying ethical bases and implications of positive welfare?
There is also a need to validate and implement positive welfare indicators in practice. For example, under which conditions can play behavior be interpreted as an indicator of positive welfare (e.g. timeframe, age range, context)? Furthermore, current animal welfare assessment frameworks include relatively few indicators of positive welfare and note the need for further development and validation. How is this best done considering the diversity of species and farming systems globally? We need to identify which objective positive welfare indicators are most reliable and effective for practical implementation in animal welfare policy and welfare assessment schemes.
In this Research Topic, we invite theoretical and empirical contributions fitting these themes.
Keywords: positive welfare, welfare assessment, sustainability, animal welfare policy
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