Five freedoms (animal welfare)

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The Five Freedoms ( english Five Freedoms ) are a concept for evaluating the welfare of animals that are in captivity.

background

In 1964, British author and animal rights activist Ruth Harrison published the book Animal Machines , which exposed critical conditions in intensive livestock farming . The British government responded to the public outrage sparked by the book by setting up a committee to investigate the welfare of farm animals. Under the direction of the zoologist Francis Brambell, a report emerged from this, which u. a. the requirement included that animals should be able to stand, lie down, groom themselves and stretch their limbs. In December 1979 published the same year initiated by the British governmentFarm Animal Welfare Council a document that defined certain freedoms in connection with the minimum requirements for keeping animals. On these foundations, veterinarian John Webster developed the broader concept of the Five Freedoms, published in 1993 by the British Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC).

The five freedoms

The Five Freedoms expanded by Webster, which also included aspects such as food, health and safety of animals and which subsequently became internationally established, are:

1. Freedom from hunger, thirst and malnutrition

The animals have free access to fresh water and are given food that will maintain their full health and vitality.

2. Freedom from discomfort

The animals are given a suitable environment including a shelter and a pleasant quiet zone.

3. Freedom from pain, injury and illness

Diseases and injuries of the animals are prevented or diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible through veterinary care.

4. Freedom from fear and suffering

The animals are given sufficient space as well as company with their fellow animals (provided they are not loners).

5. Freedom to act out normal behavior

The animals live in conditions that avoid psychological suffering.

effect

The concept of the five freedoms has established itself internationally as an assessment criterion for animal welfare. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recognizes the Five Freedoms as one of the guiding principles for animal welfare. The Association of European Veterinarians recommends always taking the Five Freedoms into account when assessing animal welfare.

The Five Freedoms have influenced national animal welfare laws in numerous countries, for example New Zealand, Nicaragua, Mexico, Austria and Tanzania. Numerous international animal welfare organizations (e.g. Humane Society International , IFAW , RSPCA ) also use the Five Freedoms as animal welfare indicators.

reception

Veterinarian David Mellor criticizes the fact that the Five Freedoms raised unrealizable expectations of livestock husbandry. The Five Freedoms falsely painted the picture of a feasible perfect posture in which animals were free from suffering in every respect. However, it is not possible to protect farm animals from negative influences. Webster agrees that an absolute realization of the freedoms he postulates in commercial animal husbandry is unrealistic. Rather, the Five Freedoms could represent a signpost with which existing housing systems can be gradually improved.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tina Conklin: An animal welfare history lesson on the Five Freedoms . In: Michigan State University (Ed.): MSU Extension . 2014 ( msu.edu [accessed September 26, 2018]).
  2. ^ Farm Animal Welfare Council: Five Freedoms. 2009, accessed September 28, 2018 .
  3. ^ John Webster: Animal Welfare: Freedoms, Dominions and "A Life Worth Living" . In: Animals: an Open Access Journal from MDPI . tape 6 , no. 6 , May 24, 2016, ISSN  2076-2615 , doi : 10.3390 / ani6060035 , PMID 27231943 , PMC 4929415 (free full text).
  4. ↑ Jessica Vapnek, Megan Chapman: Legislative and regulatory options for animal welfare. (PDF) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2010, accessed on September 26, 2018 .
  5. ^ World Organization for Animal Health: Terrestrial Animal Health Code. Section 7: Animal Welfare. World Organization for Animal Health, 2018, accessed September 26, 2018 .
  6. ^ Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE): Code of Good Veterinary Practice. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE), 2002, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on August 26, 2018 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fve.org
  7. ^ Five Freedoms, Five Decades Later - Faunalytics . In: Faunalytics . January 9, 2015 ( faunalytics.org [accessed September 26, 2018]).
  8. ^ Humane Society International: HSI Animal Welfare Guidelines for Smallholder Livestock Programs. (PDF) Retrieved September 26, 2018 .
  9. ↑ International Fund for Animal Welfare: Glossary and Statements of Principle. (PDF) International Fund for Animal Welfare, accessed on September 26, 2018 .
  10. ↑ RSPCA: Guidelines for the design and management of animal shelters . Ed .: RSPCA International. 2006 ( org.uk [accessed September 26, 2018]).
  11. ^ David J. Mellor: Updating Animal Welfare Thinking: Moving beyond the "Five Freedoms" towards "A Life Worth Living" . In: Animals: an Open Access Journal from MDPI . tape 6 , no. 3 , March 14, 2016, ISSN  2076-2615 , doi : 10.3390 / ani6030021 , PMID 27102171 , PMC 4810049 (free full text).
  12. ^ John Webster: Animal Welfare: Freedoms, Dominions and "A Life Worth Living" . In: Animals: an Open Access Journal from MDPI . tape 6 , no. 6 , May 24, 2016, ISSN  2076-2615 , doi : 10.3390 / ani6060035 , PMID 27231943 , PMC 4929415 (free full text).