Home > Ethical > Animal Welfare

The welfare of animals is an area of concern for the ethically minded, and is often a very emotive subject. This is especially so in the fields of animal experimentation and blood sports. With regard to animal experimentation, the science section of the BBC website explores this subject in a fair and balanced manner - click on BBC/animal experiments
to see what they have to say.

For the Ethical consumer, choosing organic bodycare products means they are not tested
on animals.

The League against Cruel Sports peaceably campaigns to restrict the expression of people
to participate in sports at the expense of animals. Also, the government has recently legislated in this area - see the Hunting Act 2004.

For the ethical consumer animal welfare is choosing, where possible, options that minimise the effect of human activity upon animals. For example, organic meat, or to a lesser extent free range, means the living space and conditions under which animals are reared is adequate to allow them to express themselves as naturally as possible.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA) is a charity that promotes general animal welfare, but it also is active in laying down decent standards of care in agriculture. RSPCA Freedom Food is sold in many stores in the UK and is produced on inspected farms
to guarantee its standards are adhered to. The Rspca is also campaigning for a new Animal Welfare Bill to replace the Protection of Animals Act (1911) which it claims is not stringent enough by today's standards - if you agree with the RSPCA you can email your MP in support.

The red tractor is a voluntary food assurance scheme that commits farmers to higher
standards of animal welfare and food safety than the law provides for.
Over 78,000 UK farmers and growers are members of it.

However, some farm animals are still reared or caged in unnaturally confined spaces or under unnatural conditions. Compassion in World Farming is an organisation that seeks the
worldwide abolition of factory farming as well as promoting good animal welfare standards.

You may also consider it unethical to eat meat at all and are therefore either vegetarian or vegan. For more information on this visit the Vegetarian Society or Vegan Society. During National Vegetarian Week (23-29 May 2005) we attempted to 'keep it up for a week' - click here to see how we got on.

Possibly the most well-known organisation supporting animal welfare is the RSPCA.
A charity founded in 1824, it is active across the whole range of animal protection, being involved in animal welfare and law enforcement as well as campaigning and education. It employs inspectors in prevention work, and veterinary experts in the care and treatment of farm livestock, wildlife, domestic pets and animals used in research.

 

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