Animal Welfare Centres: Are They Useful for the Improvement of Animal Welfare?
Animal welfare has emerged as a scientific discipline only in the past 30 years, but a significant body of scientists has developed worldwide in this time. Over the past quarter century, several aggregations of scientists, centres of animal welfare, have become established. This can bring the benefi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-05-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/5/877 |
| _version_ | 1797567664006103040 |
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| author | Clive J. C. Phillips Carla F. M. Molento |
| author_facet | Clive J. C. Phillips Carla F. M. Molento |
| author_sort | Clive J. C. Phillips |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Animal welfare has emerged as a scientific discipline only in the past 30 years, but a significant body of scientists has developed worldwide in this time. Over the past quarter century, several aggregations of scientists, centres of animal welfare, have become established. This can bring the benefits of the recognition of expertise and an opportunity to support animal industries in improving welfare, but it also brings the risk of scientists being influenced by these industries and failing to identify animal welfare problems as such. We conducted a bibliometric search of the scientific literature with the purpose of comparing the characteristics of publications on animal welfare that were or were not from animal welfare centres in academic institutions. We found that the number of publications on animal welfare from centres of animal welfare increased, initially, in the early 2000s and again in the last decade. Significant funding was obtained from the livestock industries for these centres. In a second search, we identified that only about 8% of scientific publications on animal welfare came from animal welfare centres, and the rest were mainly supported by funding sources other than the animal industries. It is concluded that the emergence of significant animal welfare centres, often with significant funding from industry, allows clusters of scientists to develop that could advance animal welfare knowledge more effectively than disparate scientists in isolated institutions. However, industry funding risks these scientists being aligned with industry goals that may not include animal welfare improvement to the extent required by the public. Further research to identify any ethical conflicts for scientists in animal welfare centres would be warranted. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:45:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-61a6008a694b48879d2c9feb09741aa2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:45:43Z |
| publishDate | 2020-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-61a6008a694b48879d2c9feb09741aa22023-11-20T00:49:53ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152020-05-0110587710.3390/ani10050877Animal Welfare Centres: Are They Useful for the Improvement of Animal Welfare?Clive J. C. Phillips0Carla F. M. Molento1Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, AustraliaAnimal Welfare Laboratory, Animal Science Department, Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, R. dos Funcionarios 1540, BrazilAnimal welfare has emerged as a scientific discipline only in the past 30 years, but a significant body of scientists has developed worldwide in this time. Over the past quarter century, several aggregations of scientists, centres of animal welfare, have become established. This can bring the benefits of the recognition of expertise and an opportunity to support animal industries in improving welfare, but it also brings the risk of scientists being influenced by these industries and failing to identify animal welfare problems as such. We conducted a bibliometric search of the scientific literature with the purpose of comparing the characteristics of publications on animal welfare that were or were not from animal welfare centres in academic institutions. We found that the number of publications on animal welfare from centres of animal welfare increased, initially, in the early 2000s and again in the last decade. Significant funding was obtained from the livestock industries for these centres. In a second search, we identified that only about 8% of scientific publications on animal welfare came from animal welfare centres, and the rest were mainly supported by funding sources other than the animal industries. It is concluded that the emergence of significant animal welfare centres, often with significant funding from industry, allows clusters of scientists to develop that could advance animal welfare knowledge more effectively than disparate scientists in isolated institutions. However, industry funding risks these scientists being aligned with industry goals that may not include animal welfare improvement to the extent required by the public. Further research to identify any ethical conflicts for scientists in animal welfare centres would be warranted.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/5/877animal wellbeinganimal welfareanimal welfare sciencecentres of animal welfare |
| spellingShingle | Clive J. C. Phillips Carla F. M. Molento Animal Welfare Centres: Are They Useful for the Improvement of Animal Welfare? Animals animal wellbeing animal welfare animal welfare science centres of animal welfare |
| title | Animal Welfare Centres: Are They Useful for the Improvement of Animal Welfare? |
| title_full | Animal Welfare Centres: Are They Useful for the Improvement of Animal Welfare? |
| title_fullStr | Animal Welfare Centres: Are They Useful for the Improvement of Animal Welfare? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Animal Welfare Centres: Are They Useful for the Improvement of Animal Welfare? |
| title_short | Animal Welfare Centres: Are They Useful for the Improvement of Animal Welfare? |
| title_sort | animal welfare centres are they useful for the improvement of animal welfare |
| topic | animal wellbeing animal welfare animal welfare science centres of animal welfare |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/5/877 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT clivejcphillips animalwelfarecentresaretheyusefulfortheimprovementofanimalwelfare AT carlafmmolento animalwelfarecentresaretheyusefulfortheimprovementofanimalwelfare |