Animal welfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Animal welfare - Essay Example This report highlights some of the best and worst farming trends in European countries and discusses the effects of such practices on the welfare of the animal. Further, it suggests good farming practices and some alternative to fast animal farming. The report concludes that while organic farming of animals is often costly, most people prefer such meat products. Animal welfare is defined as the care for the physical and mental wellbeing of animals in general by having proper farming practices that take into account the animal’s â€Å"species, its size, weight, age, and sex†. While most laws have made cruelty against animals illegal, the mare absence of cruelty does not define animal welfare. In Great Britain the government has appointed an a wholly independent body (Farm Animal Welfare Council-FAWC) that comes up with acceptable definitions and standards with regards to treatment of farm animals. FAWC defines animal welfare in terms of conditions of stay of farm animal- their shelter, food, space. Such definitions are always in line with the Five Freedoms of animal. The five freedoms of animal welfare outline five preconditions of a good animal welfare system: freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury and disease, freedom to express normal behavior, and freedom to from fear and distress. These clamor for animal welfare has become a great debate especially now with the increasingly fast food world where the demand for some animal meat, like chicken, has outstripped natural production cycles. It is estimated that in the Great Britain alone, over 850 million broiler chickens are reared each year, and approximately 26 chickens are slaughtered every second (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 2010). In fact, over the past thirty years, the demand for chicken meat has been exponentially rising which makes poultry farming a very viable commercial activity. And like