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Animal Health and Welfare Strategy for Great Britain
Chapter 3: Scope
This strategy is concerned with animals which are, for one reason or another, under people's control. It does not address angling, shooting for sport, hunting or use of animals in research.
The vision for this strategy calls for individuals to understand and accept the duty they have to provide an acceptable standard of health and welfare for the animals in their care. There are different definitions of what is meant by animal health and welfare. For the purposes of this strategy we are concerned with:
Freedom from disease or abnormality, and the state of well being brought about by meeting the physical, environmental, nutritional, behavioural and social needs of the animal or groups of animals. |
3.1 Animal welfare
The welfare of any animal is dependent on the overall combination of various factors which contribute to both its physical and mental state. The Farm Animal Welfare Council is Government's independent advisory body on animal welfare and advocates addressing welfare in terms of ideals, which it has called the Five Freedoms:
Freedom from hunger and thirst;
Freedom from discomfort;
Freedom from pain, injury or disease;
Freedom to express normal behaviour; and
Freedom from fear and distress.
This strategy is not simply concerned with ensuring the absence of cruelty and disease. Quite often problems are caused by complacency, lack of skills or knowledge, or a failure to treat animals humanely and as sentient beings for which we have an ethical responsibility. Anyone who takes ownership of an animal, whether for food, farming, sport, companionship, entertainment or zoos, has a duty of care to meet acceptable animal health and welfare standards.
3.2 Farmed livestock
The strategy applies to all farmed livestock including beef and dairy cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry (including egg production), and all other animals reared for food, breeding or other animal products, such as fleece or hides. Society's concerns include the welfare of these animals, their interactions with human health through the food chain or direct contact, and the farreaching economic and environmental consequences of animal disease.
But the strategy also extends beyond the traditional farming sector. Animals which were traditionally reared for food are increasingly being kept as companion animals. These animals are included within the scope of this strategy, not only in respect of their own health and welfare but also because of their potential role in the spread of disease direct to humans, farmed livestock and wildlife.
3.3 Companion and other animals
This strategy applies to dogs, cats, horses and other animals (including exotic species) kept by people, whether as companions or in zoos or various working or recreational contexts. As well as caring for the welfare of these animals we must also have regard to the risk they may pose as transmitters of diseases to humans and farmed livestock and the risk of disease transfers to and from wildlife.
These animals are often well cared for and enjoy good standards of veterinary attention and welfare. However, this is not always the case. Owners have a responsibility to consider whether they can maintain adequate standards of health and welfare and recognise that doing so will involve a financial cost that they must meet.
3.4 Aquaculture
About 70 million salmon and trout are farmed in the UK each year making farmed fish the second largest livestock sector after poultry. This strategy in relation to aquaculture covers the hatching and rearing of fish and shellfish not only for food but also for sale in the ornamental trade for eventual release into stocked fisheries. This sector raises important issues for the protection of public health, the protection of the wider aquatic environment and the promotion of fish health and welfare. Although fish diseases are not communicable to humans, shellfish, in particular, can carry bacteria and biotoxins which are potentially injurious and even fatal. Given the nature of the environment in which fish are farmed, aquaculture has the potential to adversely affect fish in the wild, not only by spreading disease but also by interfering with the genetic make-up of wild stocks. Also the controlled environments in which naturally wild fish species are farmed have major implications on their welfare.
3.5 Game
This strategy extends to the game sector which lies - in animal health and welfare terms - between farmed livestock and wildlife. Game animals are often bred for recreational purposes which are an important component of many rural economies. This sector includes birds which are initially reared in captivity and then released for sporting purposes, as well as, birds and animals such as deer which are not captive, but whose health and welfare may be influenced by land management practices. This strategy extends to game, in recognition both of the attention which land managers and gamekeepers need to apply to animal health and welfare and to reflect the game sector's connections with the food chain.
3.6 Wildlife
The part which the strategy plays in relation to animals in the wild is rather different from its role toward domesticated or farmed animals. Although wildlife is not generally "kept" by people, there is strong public concern about numbers and habitats. This concern encompasses wider issues including the impact of pollution on them, the availability of suitable food, pest control and scientific research. This broader stewardship of wildlife and the specific policy on conservation and biodiversity lies outside the scope of this strategy and is managed as part of Government's broader remit for the environment. Nonetheless, these issues overlap with aspects of health and welfare where the strategy does have a legitimate role to play:
where there is a risk of zoonotic diseases being transmitted to man, either directly or via vectors, for example, rabies from bats.
where wildlife populations may pass on, harbour or recycle diseases of farmed livestock, for example classical swine fever in wild boar, bovine tuberculosis in badgers and avian influenza in migrating birds.
where certain welfare issues arise involving protection from cruelty or the role of rehabilitation and rescue centres.
where disease controls for farmed livestock and other animals affect wildlife.
The wide range of factors that can have an impact on wildlife and need to be considered include climate change, which could potentially affect wildlife and insect populations, in turn affecting the distribution of disease vectors. The inter-relationship between wildlife and other animals is an important risk factor for changes in disease distribution. The development of the Veterinary Surveillance Strategy, which will collect information from many animal populations, will improve our knowledge in these areas and help identify areas for further research.
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