A biological integrity framework for describing animal welfare and wellbeing

Abstract

Ethical treatment of animals is the keystone of livestock production. Assessment of welfare is integral to assurance that animals experience a good life. Underpinning assurance are concepts of what constitutes good welfare, a good life and wellbeing. This review examines the concepts of welfare and wellbeing and the frameworks that have been developed for describing their scope. Historically, the tripartite model of welfare (feeling well, functioning well, leading a natural life) has been translated into the Five Freedoms (FF), Five Domains (FD), Good Life (GL), Welfare through Competence (WtC) and OIE World Organisation for Animal Health Welfare Principles frameworks. These frameworks provide scaffolds for numerous welfare assessment schemes. However, the three-part model of wellbeing (eudaimonia, hedonia, social interaction) lacks an explicit assessment framework, although FD, GL and WtC implicitly address aspects of wellbeing. Whereas positive affective (hedonic) experiences are considered to constitute positive welfare, positive aspects of eudaimonic function and social interaction are considered to be aspects of wellbeing above and beyond any indirect contribution they make to positive affective experiences (i.e. positive welfare). In this view, positive health is more than the absence of ill-health and positive social interactions are more than freedom from social isolation. New phenotypes in farm animals identified through analysis of sensor data are providing new perspectives on the functional integrity of biological processes that align well with concepts of wellbeing. These analyses draw on methods in resilience theory to examine stability in complex dynamic systems, specifically, uniformity of trajectories, periodicity of biorhythms and complexity of networks. A framework is proposed that loosely partitions FF, FD, GL and WtC into inputs, opportunities, and outcomes. The framework positions the outcome of biological integrity within the context of input constraints that can generate harms and deficiencies, and environmental opportunities that can foster acquisition of competencies and flourishing. It combines the eudaimonic, hedonic and social aspects of wellbeing within the tripartite terminology of welfare. It is hoped that the framework can help orientate new descriptions of biological function in farm animals derived from sensor data within the broader literature on welfare and wellbeing.