In this session, we'll investigate some of the ways that scientists use to assess animal welfare, using the five freedoms and beyond. Professor Bramble reported to the UK government on animal welfare and suggested that all animals should have the freedom from pain and discomfort. This was then expanded upon by the Farm Animal Welfare Council in the early 70s to what is now internationally recognized as The Five Freedoms. These are the freedom from hunger and thirst. The freedom from pain, injury and disease. The freedom from fear and distress. The freedom from discomfort, and the freedom to display natural behaviors. The five freedoms are great because, they are an internationally recognized method of assessing animal welfare. However, they do have some benefits and some limitations. For example, you'll notice that the first four of those freedoms, are all the freedoms from something. They're very negative, whereas the fifth freedom, the freedom to display natural behavior, is a positive. This mismatch between the positives and negatives can make the Five Freedoms a little unwieldy to use. The Five Freedoms are also a little bit more difficult to use for companion animals or wild animals. For example all wild animals have the freedom to display natural behaviors but we can still affect their welfare in other ways so do the Five Freedoms really apply to them in the same way? For this reason, we have come up with other ways of assessing animal welfare, other animal welfare frameworks, such as the Duty of Care framework. Unlike the Five Freedoms, the duty of care framework focuses on what we can provide animals, providing them with a safe, happy environment that they can enjoy. And it also encourages legal responsibility to the owner, or the animal caretaker, to make sure that they provide these animals with a good welfare environment. Although the different animal welfare frameworks can take different approaches, they all serve the same purpose. An animal welfare framework helps us to assess and describe how an animal is coping with its environment. The Five Freedoms may have been designed to describe production animal welfare, but they can be adapted to describe the welfare of this pet cat. She's clearly had a little bit too much freedom from hunger and thirst. And this has compromised her freedom from disease, causing her to become obese. Her natural behaviors are also limited because she's reluctant to play and jump. And she may be uncomfortable, which would, of course, compromise her freedom from discomfort. Another welfare framework, such as the duty of care, which focus instead of what this cat needs to have good welfare, such as a balanced diet. Both frameworks would agree that this cat's welfare is compromised due to her obesity, and that portion control will improve the situation.
