Updating Animal Welfare Thinking: Moving beyond the "Five Freedoms" towards "A Life Worth Living"
Updating Animal Welfare Thinking: Moving beyond the "Five Freedoms" towards "A Life Worth Living"
复制标题
DOI：
10.3390/ani6030021
复制
发表时间：
2016-03-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Mellor, David J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mellor, David J.
五个自由是在20世纪90年代初制定的，现在被公认为在动物福利领域具有很大的影响力。然而，过去二十年来科学认识的显著增加表明，无论是在表达的细节上还是在表达的一般性上，五个自由都没有捕捉到与理解动物福利和指导其管理密切相关的生物过程的当前知识的广度和深度。例如，这篇论文提到了一些永远无法消除的负面经验，只是暂时的中和，因为它们对于诱导动物赖以生存的行为是必不可少的。此外，它还指与动物对生活在需要改善的恶劣环境中的反应有关的其他负面经历，以及当引入特定的改善措施时，这些经历如何被积极的经历取代。对于动物来说，总体来说，有必要尽量减少它们的负面经历，同时为它们提供获得积极体验的机会，这样动物就有了“值得活下去的生活”。这些意见对审查和潜在地更新福利法规中的最低标准具有重要意义。文章最后对动物福利的主要特征进行了最新的描述，主要是用非技术术语表达的。五个自由对国际上的动物福利思想产生了重大影响。然而，尽管最初有明确的声明，“免于”一词应该意味着“尽可能地免于”，但一些动物倡导者和其他团体已经将自由代表为绝对或基本的自由，甚至是权利。此外，在过去二十年中，科学认识的显著增加表明，自由并没有捕捉到与理解动物福利密切相关的生物过程的更微妙的知识，这些知识现在可以用来指导动物的管理。例如，被命名的口渴、饥饿、不适和疼痛等负面体验，以及随后发现的其他负面体验，包括呼吸困难、恶心、头晕、虚弱和恶心，永远无法消除，只能暂时消除。每一种都是基因嵌入的元素，激励动物以特定的方式行为，以获得特定的维持生命的资源，避免或减少身体伤害，或促进从感染或伤害中恢复。它们毋庸置疑的消极创造了一种必要的紧迫感来做出反应，没有这种紧迫感，动物就不会生存。此外，这些生死攸关的影响的暂时中和本身并不会产生积极的体验。这对人们普遍认为的假设提出了质疑，即当这些内部产生的负面影响被最小化时，动物就会得到良好的福利。动物还可能经历其他负面影响，包括焦虑、恐惧、恐慌、沮丧、愤怒、无助、孤独、无聊和抑郁。这些与情境相关的影响反映了动物对外部环境的感知。虽然它们是由威胁、狭窄、贫瘠和/或孤立的条件引起的，但当动物被关在宽敞、刺激丰富和安全的环境中时，它们往往可以被积极的情感所取代，这些环境为它们提供了从事它们认为有益的行为的机会。这些行为可以包括以环境为重点的探索和获取食物的活动以及动物与动物之间的互动活动，所有这些活动都可以产生各种形式的舒适、愉悦、兴趣、信心和控制感。动物福利管理应该致力于将对生存至关重要的负面影响的强度降低到可容忍的水平，但仍然会引发必要的行为，还应该为动物提供机会，让它们以它们认为有益的方式行事，同时指出，对生存关键影响的糟糕管理降低了动物利用这种奖励机会的动机。这种生物学上更准确的理解为审查现行福利或实践守则中的条款是否充分提供了支持，以确保动物有更多机会体验积极的福利状态。其目的是帮助动物拥有值得活下去的生命，当此类法规的主要重点是关乎生存的措施时，这是不可能的。最后，结合这一更准确的理解，提出了动物福利的最新特征。
The Five Freedoms were formulated in the early 1990s and are now well recognised as highly influential in the animal welfare arena. However, a marked increase in scientific understanding over the last two decades now shows that the Five Freedoms do not capture, either in the specifics or the generality of their expression, the breadth and depth of current knowledge of the biological processes that are germane to understanding animal welfare and to guiding its management. For example, this paper refers to some negative experiences that can never be eliminated, merely temporarily neutralised, because they are essential for eliciting behaviours upon which the survival of the animal depends. In addition, it refers to other negative experiences that relate to an animal's responses to living in poor environments which require improvement, and also to how such experiences may be replaced by positive ones when particular improvements are introduced. For animals to have "lives worth living" it is necessary, overall, to minimise their negative experiences and at the same time to provide the animals with opportunities to have positive experiences. These observations have implications for reviewing and potentially updating minimum standards in codes of welfare. The paper ends with an up-to-date characterisation of the principal features of animal welfare, expressed largely in non-technical terms.The Five Freedoms have had major impact on animal welfare thinking internationally. However, despite clear initial statements that the words 'freedom from' should indicate 'as free as possible from', the Freedoms have come to be represented as absolute or fundamental freedoms, even rights, by some animal advocate and other groups. Moreover, a marked increase in scientific understanding over the last two decades shows that the Freedoms do not capture the more nuanced knowledge of the biological processes that is germane to understanding animal welfare and which is now available to guide its management. For example, the named negative experiences of thirst, hunger, discomfort and pain, and others identified subsequently, including breathlessness, nausea, dizziness, debility, weakness and sickness, can never be eliminated, merely temporarily neutralised. Each one is a genetically embedded element that motivates animals to behave in particular ways to obtain specific life-sustaining resources, avoid or reduce physical harm or facilitate recovery from infection or injury. Their undoubted negativity creates a necessary sense of urgency to respond, without which animals would not survive. Also, the temporary neutralisation of these survival-critical affects does not in and of itself generate positive experience. This questions the commonly held assumption that good animal welfare will result when these internally generated negative affects are minimised. Animals may also experience other negative affects that include anxiety, fear, panic, frustration, anger, helplessness, loneliness, boredom and depression. These situation-related affects reflect animals' perceptions of their external circumstances. Although they are elicited by threatening, cramped, barren and/or isolated conditions, they can often be replaced by positive affects when animals are kept with congenial others in spacious, stimulus-rich and safe environments which provide opportunities for them to engage in behaviours they find rewarding. These behaviours may include environment-focused exploration and food acquisition activities as well as animal-to-animal interactive activities, all of which can generate various forms of comfort, pleasure, interest, confidence and a sense of control. Animal welfare management should aim to reduce the intensity of survival-critical negative affects to tolerable levels that nevertheless still elicit the required behaviours, and should also provide opportunities for animals to behave in ways they find rewarding, noting that poor management of survival-critical affects reduces animals' motivation to utilize such rewarding opportunities. This biologically more accurate understanding provides support for reviewing the adequacy of provisions in current codes of welfare or practice in order to ensure that animals are given greater opportunities to experience positive welfare states. The purpose is to help animals to have lives worth living, which is not possible when the predominant focus of such codes is on survival-critical measures. Finally, an updated characterisation of animal welfare that incorporates this more accurate understanding is presented.