Category: Explaining Animal Welfare

Issues that explain the meaning of animal welfare

Why we need an animals’ ombudswoman or ombudsman.

puppies, unwanted, stray, dog pound
A Ombudsman could investigate the continual problem of unwanted animals in the UK.

The UK has dozens of ombudsman services covering various industries and state organisations including communications, energy, finance, the motor industry, health, housing and even ones for the removal trade, estate agents and the furniture industry, but nothing for the pet trade industry which appears surprising particularly as it brings over £7 billion to the UK economy.

We are able to complain to our heart’s content when we feel we have been hard done by, but animals literally cannot voice their concerns and complaints and even if they could there is no ombudsman representing them. As owners or keepers of animals we cannot put their case for them either.

When any new policy, regulation, law or amendment to an existing law is considered by the Government all the vested interests that it might affect have their say in lessening the impact it might have on their livelihood or on what is called ‘legitimate human interests’. Governments consult with all these different interest groups such as agriculture, commerce, industry and science and consider their objections and suggestions.

An Ombudsman could have intervened on the issue of badger culling.

But when the policy, law or issue affects the rights and well-being of animals, such as in the case of culling protected badgers, there is no one to speak up for them. Animal charities and campaigners can put their points forward, but there is never a truly impartial person to speak up for them with the power to investigate and research all the evidence and decide on the validity of any proposed actions. An animal’s ombudsman or woman could do this.

Although the UK has a Minister for almost every area of commerce and industry including a Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which covers mainly livestock issues, there is no specific Government office whose sole purpose is to look out for the interests of animals, so it could be argued that we also need a Minister for ‘animal affairs’ who could intervene in issues that might affect large numbers of animals.

An ombudsman for animal affairs is not a new concept

It may seem a strange suggestion to have an animals’ ombudsman or woman, but it is nothing new or unheard of. There has been debate for several years on whether it is time for the UK and other countries to have some form of official legal representative or watchdog solely responsible for representing the rights and welfare interests of animals.

Noel Sweeney, a Barrister and well-known advocate of animal rights has lectured and written about the need for an animals’ ombudswoman for over five years. He has suggested that such a person could represent all animals in Court and Parliament where any action affects their welfare and future and meet with the Law Commission to introduce a new Act with the paramount principle of granting animals a legal personality.

Does this all sound bizarre or silly? Logically it shouldn’t be as we have already taken a step towards this by establishing ‘independent’ Committees such as the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC) and the National Companion Animal Focus Group (NCAFG) who supposedly safeguard animals’ interests.

Industry, Countries and Cities already have a ombudswoman for animal welfare

Australia has shown some interest in the concept and there was a petition at one stage and Austria is one of the few countries which actually has an Animal Welfare Spokesman and an animals ombudsman service following a referendum there. Each State elects an independent, non-governmental representative and although not a perfect system it is pioneering in its intentions and beyond anything most counties have.

The city of Lisbon in Portugal appointed a ombudswoman for animal welfare in January this year who was reported to have “made fast work of getting stuck into her job” by immediately announcing a plan to solve the overcrowding in the city’s dog pounds and making an appeal in Parliament for the country’s policymakers to create laws that “better meet the needs of animals”. At her swearing in ceremony she stated, “I want to seize this opportunity to reach out to the population and raise awareness of the issue of animal welfare.”

Back in 2014 the DPZ German Primate Centre in Göttingen, which houses 1300 research primates, appointed an “outsider” ombudswoman which the 43 animal keepers can go to with any welfare concerns instead of the in-house animal welfare officer and welfare committee. The fact that she is a scientist makes it debatable how impartial she is, but it shows that industry, science and governments are not averse to the idea of ombudsman or women.

It is definitely time for this nation of animal lovers to have an ombudsman or woman for animal welfare and follow the lead of Austria and Portugal. Animals need an independent legal representative and a spokesperson with the ear of the Government to investigate suspect decisions, conflicts of interest and policies on the well-being of animals and if necessary instigate prosecutions of any institution that by its actions cause unnecessary suffering.

 

 

The animal compassion test.

Dog meat trade, dogs

Be honest: which of these two photographs arouses more or all of your compassion.

Both photographs are of overcrowded animals heading for slaughter to be eaten for their meat. As genuine ‘animal lovers’ we should have an equal reaction to both photographs, but most of us will be more concerned at the plight of the dogs because we are more familiar with them. The general rule is that our conscience is more aroused when we see images of companion pets, but accept cruelty to many other animals, particularly livestock as less of a concern or even inconsequential. We are guilty of having preferences when it involves animal suffering and unconsciously grade our level of empathy and compassion towards an animal’s well-being depending on the type of animal and the circumstances involved.

We manage to compartmentalise our compassion.

Our behaviours are rather perverse and hypocritical in the way we view animal suffering and cruelty.We have this peculiar in-built capacity to group certain sections of the animal world into being less worthy of our compassion. This makes it easy for us to use them without being racked with guilt at the way we treat them.

This ranking goes along the lines of dogs and cute baby animals first, followed by cats and horses and then spirals down to those we have little consideration for such a fish and insects, and those we hate like spiders and rats.

We see no problem in confining intelligent free flying birds in small cages.

Battery farm battery chickens, cruelty to chickens, hens
Many of us get upset about chickens and hens being confined…………………..
but see no problem in confining intelligent free flying birds in small cages for our entertainment.

For instance, there are no campaigns against  keeping intelligent, social, free flying birds like parrots and macaws in solitary confinement in small cages, but we consistently argue against battery farmed birds which are unable to fly.

We make it worse in the case of parrots by often taking away their ability to fly by clipping their wings and ignoring their mental suffering. Such is our bizarre attitude of feeling sorry for certain animals in one situation but not in others.

Many children adore keeping rats and mice as pets and they become part of the family, but if a wild one should have the cheek to invade our home we exterminate it by any means possible, whether humane or not. Our lives are full of these contradictory attitudes.

“we have this capacity to unconsciously distance ourselves from any mental discomfort or anxiety certain animals might suffer”

Farm animals are another case in point as we appear unconcerned about the conditions they are kept under but make a great display of emotion when a dog is treated in the same way.

mouse, human hand
Pet or a pest?

Worse still we label farmed food animals with the unflattering title of livestock, ‘stock’ being defined as a ‘commodity for use or sale’ which when combined with ‘live’ becomes ‘farm animals regarded as assets’. This further distances ourselves from looking upon them as animals with personality or individuality. It re-enforces the conditioning that we receive during childhood that they are just meat producing machines, voraciously eating in the fields to fatten up for us to consume.

Scientific research uses huge numbers of animals and yet again we have this capacity to unconsciously distance ourselves from any mental discomfort or anxiety about the way we use them. This is because most animals used are mice, rats and fish which we have little interest in, but what about dogs and cats?

dog, cage

Our irrational attitude kicks in once again because we even view their suffering as essential to our well-being and so we allow ourselves to condone the use of our beloved dogs, cats and horses, which under other circumstances we would never contemplate and vehemently protest against even though 1,079 of the dogs used in the UK in 2016 suffered moderate to severe pain.

Number of Dogs and Cats used for experiments in 2016
2016               U.K            U.S.A     AUSTRALIA
DOGS             4,607           60,979             7,698
CATS                143           18,898             2,015

What makes these poor dogs and cats any different?

The answer is that we may not want them tortured and sacrificed on our behalf, but we cannot contemplate putting their welfare before ours. We believe that the research might help or even save our lives at some stage and so they become beyond our capacity to feel any sympathy towards. They are out of sight and mind and their use doesn’t impact on our lives.

We are all guilty of viewing and treating animals in a different way dependent on the type of animal involved, what we intend to use them for, the circumstances we meet them under and the many influences of our lifestyles, upbringing and attitudes. For all these reasons animal abuse continues unabated and must be inevitable.

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Updated February 2020