Animal welfare is the viewpoint that animals, especially those under human care, should not suffer unnecessarily, including where the animals are used for food, work, companionship, or research. This position usually focuses on the morality of human action (or inaction), as opposed to making deeper political or philosophical claims about the status of animals, as is the case for an animal rights viewpoint. For this reason animal welfare organizations may use the word humane in their title or position statements.

History of animal welfare

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Systematic concern for the well-being of other animals probably first arose as a system of thought in the Indus Valley Civilization as the religious belief that ancestors return in animal form, and that animals must therefore be treated with the respect due to a human. This belief is exemplified in the existing religion, Jainism, and in varieties of other Dharmic religions. Other religions, especially those with roots in the Abrahamic religion, treat animals as the property of their owners, codifying rules for their care and slaughter premised mainly on hygiene concerns for humans.

Welfare in practice

As in the case of animal rights, the secular forms taken by animal welfare concerns, policies and action have each been pioneered in the UK, where an early industrial revolution first created the modern separation between popular experience and animal husbandry, opening a space for popular sentimentality towards animals.

More on [ Animal welfare ]

NPR Topics: Politics & Society

State Welfare Rolls Feel Impact Of Recession
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:21:00 -0400
Welfare caseloads have been going up in most states over the past year, but not in all of them. In fact, cases are going down in some of the hardest-hit areas. That's raised questions about whether the program is an adequate safety net for families in need.
In Defense Of The Flag (Created For History Class)
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:53:00 -0400
Bob Heft, who sewed the 50-state flag as a high schooler, received a B- for his project. Heft's history teacher accused him of not knowing how many states were in the union at the time. The teacher changed the grade when the design was accepted by Congress.
Hundreds Of Calif. Homeless March For Land Rights
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:47:00 -0400
In Sacramento, hundreds of homeless demonstrate in hopes of securing land to sleep on. In recent months a tent city and a city shelter have closed. With laws that prohibit sleeping in public places, these individuals say it is now illegal for them to exist.

The Talk of the Town

Lauren Collins: Track School
Lauren Collins Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:00:00 -0000
June marks the onset of what one Village resident refers to as “devil-baby season”--the time of the year when the temperature climbs and New Yorkers start doing crazy stuff. This year, the weather stayed cold, and damp. Things still got weird. On Long Island, a newborn was found . . .
James Surowiecki: Caveat Mortgagor
James Surowiecki Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:00:00 -0000
In 1937, the Massengill Company began selling a health product called Elixir Sulfanilamide, which contained one of the antibiotic sulfa drugs. Unfortunately, it also contained diethylene glycol, a solvent that happens to be deadly to humans. In a matter of months, the elixir killed more than a hundred consumers. The . . .
Hendrik Hertzberg: Stonewall Plus Forty
Hendrik Hertzberg Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:00:00 -0000
The most improbable of America’s mass movements for civil rights--improbable at the time, inevitable in retrospect--got its start at a most improbable hour in a most improbable place. The hour: two in the morning, forty years ago. The place: the sidewalk in front of the Stonewall Inn, a . . .

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