About this Research Topic
This Research Topic is part of a series with:
New Challenges in Animal Welfare, Volume I
Awareness of animal welfare in society has increased significantly in recent decades, and the improvement of animal conditions is among the main demands of consumers in the European market.
This probably implies that livestock farming must improve its transparency and also the conditions of the animals in favor of a better acceptability of the production system.
Although both awareness and knowledge about animal welfare have evolved a lot in recent years, it is still an area with many challenges to face.
The aim of this work is to provide technical and scientific information to help improve knowledge on animal welfare. We understand that there are many points to improve in this area and one of the most important and complex is to improve the objective measurement of animal welfare, to find indicators capable of providing valid and reliable information on the state of the animals, including the different welfare criteria (physical health and emotional state).
In addition, analysis systems should integrate individual animal information, and then transform it into collective information, in order to obtain a much more accurate overall assessment.
In terms of legislation, there have been important advances in recent years which, in European countries, have built a framework for the protection of farm animals that ensures that they are housed and transported in conditions that do not involve mistreatment or cause them pain or suffering.
However, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed, including the adoption of measures focused on the animal itself, as the current rules are still based on environmental or resource-related actions.
Another challenging aspect is the limitation of systematic mutilations, taking into account that, although they are already prohibited by current regulations, there are exceptions that end up becoming the norm and are widely applied.
The aim of this Research Topic is to gather the latest scientific data obtained by the different researchers in animal welfare in the different species, which will allow further progress in the improvement of more sustainable and environmentally friendly production and, of course, taking care of the physical and emotional health of production animals.
The aim of the current Research Topic is to describe developments in animal welfare, which could improve production and animal-human-environment interactions. The main areas to be included in this Research Topic, but not exclusively limited to, are:
-Economic and social importance of animal welfare
-Animal welfare and feeding, physical and thermal comfort
-Mutilations and behavior, psychological welfare of animals
-New regulations in animal law and legislation
-Assess welfare, using validated indicators
New Challenges in Animal Welfare, Volume I
Awareness of animal welfare in society has increased significantly in recent decades, and the improvement of animal conditions is among the main demands of consumers in the European market.
This probably implies that livestock farming must improve its transparency and also the conditions of the animals in favor of a better acceptability of the production system.
Although both awareness and knowledge about animal welfare have evolved a lot in recent years, it is still an area with many challenges to face.
The aim of this work is to provide technical and scientific information to help improve knowledge on animal welfare. We understand that there are many points to improve in this area and one of the most important and complex is to improve the objective measurement of animal welfare, to find indicators capable of providing valid and reliable information on the state of the animals, including the different welfare criteria (physical health and emotional state).
In addition, analysis systems should integrate individual animal information, and then transform it into collective information, in order to obtain a much more accurate overall assessment.
In terms of legislation, there have been important advances in recent years which, in European countries, have built a framework for the protection of farm animals that ensures that they are housed and transported in conditions that do not involve mistreatment or cause them pain or suffering.
However, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed, including the adoption of measures focused on the animal itself, as the current rules are still based on environmental or resource-related actions.
Another challenging aspect is the limitation of systematic mutilations, taking into account that, although they are already prohibited by current regulations, there are exceptions that end up becoming the norm and are widely applied.
The aim of this Research Topic is to gather the latest scientific data obtained by the different researchers in animal welfare in the different species, which will allow further progress in the improvement of more sustainable and environmentally friendly production and, of course, taking care of the physical and emotional health of production animals.
The aim of the current Research Topic is to describe developments in animal welfare, which could improve production and animal-human-environment interactions. The main areas to be included in this Research Topic, but not exclusively limited to, are:
-Economic and social importance of animal welfare
-Animal welfare and feeding, physical and thermal comfort
-Mutilations and behavior, psychological welfare of animals
-New regulations in animal law and legislation
-Assess welfare, using validated indicators
Keywords: animal welfare, comfort, production, environment, challenges
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