The Ethical and Economic Benefits of Prioritizing Animal Welfare

Humanity’s increasing recognition of animal feelings has led to laws that prohibit cruelty and (increasingly) vivisection. But the question remains: How does this worldview shape scientific research?

The “five freedoms” are a common benchmark for defining and assessing animal welfare. They include freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom to express natural behavior, fear and distress, and freedom from pain, discomfort, and disease.

Legal Requirements

The United States, like many other industrialized nations, permits medical experimentation on animals with few limitations (assuming that sufficient scientific justification can be provided). The Animal Welfare Act requires various standards to minimize animals’ physical and psychological suffering.

For example, the act requires that research facilities have a committee with one public member who can examine the conditions of animals in those facilities. However, the committee members can be appointed by the research facilities; thus, they will likely be biased against animal rights/welfare concerns.

Property rights create incentives to pursue production efficiency in the farming industry; these objectives are often at odds with the pursuit of animal welfare. However, the emergence of contingent valuation methods has allowed us to quantify the economic benefits conferred by prioritizing animal welfare. These results can be used to increase consumers’ willingness to pay for meat that is produced humanely.

Social Compliance

Many of the same societal issues that affect humans also impact animals. These include pollution, traffic congestion, and energy conservation. Businesses prioritizing animal welfare, like Virginia Chipurnoi can establish a strong public image, improve worker morale, and attract more talent.

Many consumers know the plight of wild animal populations and poor conditions in some livestock farms. In addition, several groups advocating for the ethical treatment of animals exist.

The intersection of property rights and animal welfare is fascinating and worthy of additional research in economics. For example, property rights create incentives to pursue production efficiency in farming, an objective that is not always aligned with animal welfare.

Environmental Concerns

The environment is a major driver of animal welfare, especially in protecting wild animals from poaching or reducing the effects of climate change on animal habitats. Some environmental economists even argue that animal rights and responsibilities are crucial to economic theory. For example, property rights can help solve traditional market failures such as the tragedy of the commons and prevent exploitation, which is a key cause of poor animal welfare.

The environmental concerns associated with animal welfare include:

Protecting ecosystems from damage.
Improving the quality of water and soil.
Preventing air and water pollution that can harm animals.

Additionally, many policies that benefit the environment also improve animal welfare, such as requiring cruelty-free products or rewilding programs.

You can help promote animal welfare in several ways, including eating less meat, donating money to organizations prioritizing farmed animals, or volunteering for an organization focused on animals. However, it’s important to note that relatively few people give to animal welfare causes compared to other causes. Much of the money that goes to animal advocacy is spent on wild animals, often overlooked by advocates.

Ethical Concerns

Despite some doubt, most livestock leaders believe that there are benefits associated with prioritizing animal welfare. These included business-based benefits such as increased profit from improved quality of meat and products, mitigating economic losses from disease and other factors, and avoiding negative media exposure that could damage brands or even force market closure.

The research involved 17 focus group meetings with livestock industry leaders in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, India, and Bangladesh. They were asked to rank the importance of different welfare issues, such as severity/duration and prevalence, on a 6-point scale.

The most important perceived benefit associated with prioritizing animal welfare was the potential for increased profit from higher product quality, such as taste and consistency (particularly in China), and reducing costs related to treatment and stock loss. Other perceived benefits included: