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What Is Animal Welfare and Why is it Important?

By Elliott Garber•February 27, 2025•
Regulations

Animal welfare refers to the well-being of animals, ensuring they live in conditions that promote their health, safety, and natural behaviors. Consumers are more conscious about their choices than ever before. They want to know if animals were treated humanely before they reach for a dairy product, meat, or eggs on the shelf of a store. Unfortunately, commercial livestock are often subjected to lives of pain, stress, and confinement on factory farms.

But what is animal welfare, and why is it important? In this guide, we’ll break down the concept, what it means in practical terms, and why it’s important for farmers and animal breeders to provide humane care. 

Table of Contents

What is Animal Welfare?

Animal welfare is a broad concept that encompasses the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of animals. The World Organisation of Animal Health defines animal welfare as “the physical and mental state of an animal in relation to the conditions in which it lives and dies.”  

Animal welfare is about the quality of life that animals experience. It isn’t just about protecting them from pain and suffering but providing them with positive experiences through contentment and companionship. This is a complex subject with political, religious, social, cultural, economic, ethical, and scientific dimensions.

What’s the Difference Between Animal Welfare and Animal Rights?

Animal welfare and animal rights are both about the well-being of animals, but there are several key differences between the two.

Animal Rights

Animal rights are a set of principles based on the belief that animals deserve to live as they wish, and they shouldn’t be subjected to the desires of human beings. This philosophy has given rise to lifestyles like veganism, which is avoiding the use of animal products.

Animal Welfare

Animal welfare, on the other hand, is about the humane use of animals. The principles apply to situations like farms where animals are under the control of human beings for the production of food or products for our use.

Why is Animal Welfare Important?

Scientific research shows that animals are sentient beings that think, feel, and have the capacity to suffer. Animal welfare is important because millions of animals continue to be exploited all over the world for fashion, medicine, food, and entertainment. Here are a few more reasons animal welfare is important:

  • We have the ethical responsibility to treat animals with respect and care.
  • Stress-free, healthy animals grow better, have improved reproductive success, and are able to produce better quality milk and meat.
  • Animal welfare reduces the risk of disease and ensures safer food products.
  • When animals are cared for humanely, it reduces the spread of diseases like the avian flu that affect humans and animals.
  • An increasing number of consumers prefer ethically raised livestock and animal products.
  • Many countries have strict animal welfare laws, and you may have to pay hefty fines if you don’t comply with them.
  • Humane animal treatment encourages sustainable farming practices.
  • Healthier animals mean reduced mortality rates and lower veterinary costs, which increases the profitability of farms.

What is the Animal Welfare Act?

The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) was signed into law in 1966 by Lyndon B. Johnson. It is a federal legislation in the U.S. to prevent animal abuse and cruelty in captive breeding, laboratories, and the entertainment industry. The act offers a framework for dealing with animal cruelty and is enforced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

It’s important to remember that the AWA only protects animals that fall within its purview. It doesn’t apply to mice and rats used in laboratories or farmed animals, even though they routinely face abuse and cruelty in slaughterhouses or in factory farms.

There are other laws and regulations that protect animals in the U.S. and around the world. Here are a few you should be aware of:

What are the Five Domains of Animal Welfare?

While the concept of Five Freedoms for animal welfare is quite well-known, the Five Domains model is a more inclusive approach. This science-based framework was developed by David Mellor, and it focuses on the factors and experiences that contribute to the mental state of animals.

This model can be used to assess the quality of life of an animal and covers these five key practices:

  1. Nutrition: Animals should have unrestricted access to clean, varied, balanced, and sufficient food and water.
  2. Environment: The environment of an animal should provide comfort through predictability, noise, odor, air, space, substrate, and temperature.
  3. Health: Animals should be in good health. Injuries and illnesses should be prevented or appropriately and immediately treated.
  4. Behavior: Animals must be able to express their natural behaviors, such as retreating, playing, bonding, foraging, and exploring.
  5. Mental State: The mental state of the animals must benefit from positive states like vitality, comfort, or vitality. This can be done by presenting positive solutions in the first four domains and by eliminating or reducing negative states like boredom, pain, hunger, frustration, and fear.

Animal Welfare is Constantly Evolving

When animal and human lives intersect, it often results in stress, suffering, and pain for the animals. Now, more than ever, it’s necessary to strengthen welfare standards. This can improve the lives of animals and also provide better quality animal products to consumers.

Animal welfare and the conversation around it is constantly evolving. Advocates have differing viewpoints, but when more people are aware of the harsh conditions in laboratories and factory farms, it can inspire action to provide better conditions for animals.