Understanding Animal Welfare: The Science in its Cultural Context, 2nd Edition

David Fraser

ISBN: 9781119626442 

October 2023 

Wiley-Blackwell 

384 Pages

DESCRIPTION

The essential text on understanding and improving animal welfare

Understanding Animal Welfare, 2nd Edition is revised and expanded to incorporate new research and developments in animal welfare. Updated with greater accessibility in mind, the reader is guided through animal welfare in its cultural and historical context, methods of study, and applications in practice and policy. Drawing examples from farm, companion, laboratory and zoo animals, the text provides an up-to-date overview of research and its applications, while also tracing how concepts and methods have evolved over time.

Readers of the second edition of Understanding Animal Welfare will also find:

• New developments in understanding positive animal states

• The importance of human actions in determining animal welfare

• New content on “One Welfare”

• How free-living wild animals are affected by human technology and climate change

Originally intended for scientists and professionals, Understanding Animal Welfare has also found a home in undergraduate classrooms. It is now the essential text for students, practitioners, veterinarians, and researchers in animal welfare and related fields.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface to the Second Edition ix

Acknowledgements x

Introduction 1

Part I Animal Welfare in Context 9

1 Animals in the Human Mind 11

2 A Good Life for Animals 28

3 A Science of Animal Welfare 47

Part II Studying Animal Welfare 63

4 Disease, Injury and Productivity 65

5 ‘Stress’ 83

6 Abnormal Behaviour 104

7 Affective States 124

8 Positive Affect and the Science of Affect 146

9 ‘Natural’ Living 166

10 Preferences and Motivation 186

Part III From Science to Policy and Practice 209

11 Integrating Different Aspects of Animal Welfare 211

12 Policies, Standards and Assessment Programmes 226

13 ‘Facts’ and ‘Values’ in Mandated Science 244

Part IV New Directions 257

14 The Human Dimension and ‘One Welfare’ 259

15 The Welfare of Free- living Wild Animals 281

16 Animal Welfare and the Evolution of Animal Ethics 299

Coda: Animal Welfare, the Science and the Cultural Context 314

References 322

Index 353

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Fraser, CM, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the Animal Welfare Program at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Through 50 years of research on farm, companion, laboratory and wild animals, he is recognized as a pioneer of animal welfare science.