Animal Welfare: Empathy and Responsibility

An Interview with Cathy Dwyer, Director of the Jeanne Marchig International Center for Animal Welfare Education of University of Edinburgh   

“University of Edinburgh has a long history of conducting animal welfare research and science, and providing education and training on animal welfare science. We have a lot of expertise in creating the science, trying to understand what welfare is for animals and thinking about how we can provide that in a practical sense, then translating that into education and training, so that we can have a real impact on animal’s lives.”

“Often we think animal welfare has to cause money, but that’s not necessarily the case. When animals are stressed or in poor welfare, the environment they are in doesn’t provide things they need, for example, for a chicken, if we don’t provide an opportunity to show dust bathing behavior, a behavior we may think as trivial and unimportant, but for that animal, that’s a really important behavior. As a result, the animals are stressed and don’t do well, which aren’t good for productivity. Some interventions might cost money, but I think what drives animal welfare is how willing people are to accept the way animals are kept in farms. If the people who eat the product don’t like the way animals are kept, then they have a responsibility to appreciate they may have to pay more for higher-welfare products. It’s something about our responsibility in a society.”

“Although the UK does have its long history of having legislation and thinking about animal welfare, we are not unique in that. I think this is universal. We care our animals. We appreciate that we share our planet with a lot of other animals. For a lot of people, that’s a straightforward empathy with animals. If animals suffer, we don’t like that. That’s true of people who produce the animals as well as people who buy the products.”