课件 职业素养 Part 7 Supplementary Reading Unit 6 - Supplementary Reading.doc

国家高等职业教育畜牧兽医专业教学资源库 PAGE 8 Supplementary Reading Animal Welfare动 物 福 利 1. What is animal welfare? Animal welfare in general refers to ensuring the well-being of the individual animal, that is, the animal (especially subject to human control) should not be subjected to unnecessary suffering, even if it is for people to be used for food, working tools, friends or research needs. It includes animal health and encompasses both the physical and psychological state of the animal. The welfare of an animal can be describes as good or high if the individual is fit, healthy and free from suffering. Effects on animal welfare which can be described include those of disease, injury, starvation, beneficial stimulation, social interactions, housing conditions, deliberate or accidental ill treatment human handling, transport, laboratory procedures, various mutilations, veterinary treatment or genetic change by conventional breeding or genetic engineering. 2. Concepts in animal welfare Welfare may be defined as “a state of body and mind as the sentient animal attempts to cope with its environment”. Sentience is the capacity to consciously feel or experience something. Consciously perceived stimuli from the external and internal environment are interpreted by animals primarily in an emotional way (“Does this make me feel good, bad or indifferent”). Wellbeing or good welfare is “fit and happy” or “fit and feeling good”. This is also a state of body and mind. For the body it implies sustained health; for the mind it implies, at least, an absence of suffering from such things as pain, fear and exhaustion. Suffering may be defined as its state of body and mind when it fails to cope (or has extreme difficulty in coping) with its environment or physical stress and unpleasant feelings. When an animal is acutely exposed to a physical or emotional challenge it first experiences a general, non-specific, alarm response involving the hypothalamus /pituitary/adrenal (HPA) axis