Last week’s issue marked the start of a series about animal sentience, provided to the Producer by veterinarian Ernie Miciak of Westerose, Alta.
Miciak is chair of the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association’s animal welfare committee, and he attended an international conference in London, England, last month dedicated to the topic of animals’ capacity to think and feel. Miciak says the topic has interested him for years on both a professional and personal level, and the International Conference on Animal Sentience provided tremendous insights into available research and prevailing opinions.
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On page 23 of this issue, he reports on European rules regarding treatment of some food animals. On page 43, he talks about famous animal behaviourist Jane Goodall and a conference speech she gave about how she got her scientific start in a farm chicken coop. Future issues will bring more Miciak articles.
We consider the series to be timely because matters of animal welfare are so much higher in the public consciousness. There are probably many sociological reasons for this shift but one theory is that, as the population becomes progressively more urban, pets for many people have become the sole point of contact with live animals.
In the person-pet relationship, a certain amount of anthropomorphism Ñ the assigning of human feelings to animals Ñ is inevitable. It is then easily assumed by pet owners to be applicable to all animals, not just the cat or dog or budgie. Expectations are thus created for a higher level of care and treatment for animals of all kinds.
We’re preaching to the choir in noting that a one-on-one relationship with Fido or Felix is far different from the relationship between a producer and 300 cattle, 3,000 hogs or 30,000 chickens, Yet animal welfare plays a starring role in each scenario.
Still, discussions on the topic can be problematic for producers of food animals. Though thoroughly cognizant about its importance, producers know that changes to regulations brought about by greater consumer expectations inevitably come with additional costs that consumers aren’t necessarily willing to pay.
Europe has adopted regulations governing food animal production that many think will eventually be adopted here. Consumer demand has brought fast food restaurants into positions of greater influence on food animal production in North America.
Change being the one constant, we hope this series and continued reporting on animal welfare issues will serve livestock producers in good stead.