Animal welfare has existed ever since people have kept animals as pets. The foundations of animal welfare already existed in the Stone Age, albeit more for a self-serving purpose. People lived by the principle that if they treated their animals well, the animals would serve them well. Nowadays, animal welfare goes much further and extends to all animal species, even if they do not provide any personal benefit to the owner.

The difference between ancient and modern animal welfare

Animal welfare refers to the relationship between humans and animals and is intended to ensure that all humans treat all animals under their protection in a species-appropriate and humane manner. In some ways, animal welfare was much simpler in the Stone Age, as people lived in harmony with nature themselves. However, since the dawn of the technological age, humans have begun to keep animals in an environment that does not affect their productivity and utility, but which drastically compromises their welfare. This is the challenge that animal welfare activists face today, because when the end in itself is no longer directly related to animal welfare, it is all about economic gain. 

What is animal welfare

Whether animals are kept for economic purposes or as companions, animals should be kept humanely and stress-free. The so-called Five Freedoms are largely set out in writing in Europe and the USA. These five freedoms include:

• Be free from hunger and thirst. An animal should have access to fresh water and a species-appropriate diet that maintains its health. 
• Free from discomfort. An animal must be provided with a species-appropriate environment and a safe and secure place to sleep.
• Free from pain, injury and illness through prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
• Freedom to express normal behaviour. Sufficient space, appropriate furnishings and cohabitation with other conspecifics should make life pleasant for the animal.
• Free from fear and stress. The aim is to ensure that the living conditions do not cause any physical or mental stress.

Why are there animals that are not kept in a species-appropriate manner despite animal welfare?

Although animal welfare clearly lists the Five Freedoms, animals are kept in breeding farms, laboratories and zoos where they are clearly not respected and kept in the above-mentioned manner. Although public pressure has at least ensured that the treatment and keeping of animals is regulated by law, the difference between animal welfare and animal rights is evident in commercial institutions. While animal welfare is a kind of compromise between the ethical principle and the pursuit of profit, animal rights activists are trying to ensure that animals are given their own legal status. They naturally receive significant counter-pressure from companies whose profits depend on economically viable living conditions for the animals, which unfortunately all too often conflict with animal welfare, which is why the process of implementing improved living conditions is so long-term.

While people like to blame the companies alone for this inhumane method, we as end consumers must also realise that our consumer behaviour contributes to the demand for certain products and thus to certain economic sustainability. In other words, if the end consumer is not prepared to limit their consumption of cheap meat, for example, the demand for meat from animals raised in humane conditions will not be high enough to change the existing methods.