- The Oxford Handbook of Animal Studies
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- Animal Rights
- Animals in Political Theory
- Animals as Living Property
- The Human-Animal Bond
- Animal Sheltering
- Roaming Dogs
- Misothery: Contempt for Animals and Nature, Its Origins, Purposes, and Repercussions
- Continental Approaches to Animals and Animality
- Animals as Legal Subjects
- The Struggle for Compassion and Justice through Critical Animal Studies
- Interspecies Dialogue and Animal Ethics: The Feminist Care Perspective
- Cetacean Cognition
- History and Animal Agencies
- What Was It Like to Be a Cow?: History and Animal Studies
- Animals as Sentient Commodities
- Animal Work
- Animals as Reflexive Thinkers: The Aponoian Paradigm
- The Ethics of Animal Research: Theory and Practice
- The Ethics of Food Animal Production
- Animals as Scientific Objects
- The Problem with Zoos
- Wolf Hunting and the Ethics of Predator Control
- Practice and Ethics of the Use of Animals in Contemporary Art
- Animals in Folklore
- Archaeozoology
- Animals and Ecological Science
- Staging Privilege, Proximity, and “Extreme Animal Tourism”
- Commensal Species
- Lively Cities: People, Animals, and Urban Ecosystems
- Animals in Religion
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter summarizes two strands of work on the ethics of food animal production. A dietetic tradition emphasizes the questions of whether and under what conditions consumption of animal protein is morally acceptable. For those who do not adopt some form of ethical vegetarianism, this approach has typically favored more traditional approaches to husbandry. A productionist tradition focuses on the potential for ethically motivated change in livestock production methods and policy. Beginning with the Brambell Committee’s five freedoms, this identifies indicators for multiple dimensions of food animal well-being, and recommends changes in existing industrial production systems. The multiple dimensions of welfare differ from one food animal species to another, and opinion is divided between members of the lay public, who tend to favor indicators relating to an animal’s ability to perform behaviors thought typical, normal, or natural, and scientific experts, who tend to favor cognitive affect and veterinary health.
Keywords: livestock, husbandry, animal welfare, animal behavior, vegetarianism, meat, concentrated animal production operations, CAFO, Welfare Quality
Paul B. Thompson is Professor W. K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics at Michigan State University.
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- The Oxford Handbook of Animal Studies
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- Animal Rights
- Animals in Political Theory
- Animals as Living Property
- The Human-Animal Bond
- Animal Sheltering
- Roaming Dogs
- Misothery: Contempt for Animals and Nature, Its Origins, Purposes, and Repercussions
- Continental Approaches to Animals and Animality
- Animals as Legal Subjects
- The Struggle for Compassion and Justice through Critical Animal Studies
- Interspecies Dialogue and Animal Ethics: The Feminist Care Perspective
- Cetacean Cognition
- History and Animal Agencies
- What Was It Like to Be a Cow?: History and Animal Studies
- Animals as Sentient Commodities
- Animal Work
- Animals as Reflexive Thinkers: The Aponoian Paradigm
- The Ethics of Animal Research: Theory and Practice
- The Ethics of Food Animal Production
- Animals as Scientific Objects
- The Problem with Zoos
- Wolf Hunting and the Ethics of Predator Control
- Practice and Ethics of the Use of Animals in Contemporary Art
- Animals in Folklore
- Archaeozoology
- Animals and Ecological Science
- Staging Privilege, Proximity, and “Extreme Animal Tourism”
- Commensal Species
- Lively Cities: People, Animals, and Urban Ecosystems
- Animals in Religion
- Index