Animal Welfare Limping Towards Eden

By John Webster.

Introduction

There has been a recent explosion of active concern in matters of animal welfare. The science behind animal welfare has progressed significantly, new codes of practice and legislation have come into to being, and innovative methods to assess welfare schemes for food production have emerged.

Part of a major animal welfare series, Animal Welfare: Limping Towards Eden is John Webster’s groundbreaking work on animal welfare. Building on his first book, the highly acclaimed Animal Welfare: A Cool Eye Towards Eden, it critically reviews areas of development, and looks at how animal welfare can be improved in the future.

Special consideration is given to:

• Defining animal welfare (‘fit and happy’) and establishing a systematic approach for its evaluation (the ‘five freedoms’);
• Providing a sound ethical framework that affords proper respect to animals within the broader context of our duties as citizens to the welfare of society;
• Developing comprehensive, robust protocols for assessing animal welfare and the provisions that constitute good husbandry;
• Introducing an education policy that will increase human awareness of animal welfare problems and promote action to reduce suffering.

Reviews

The book quickly offers remedies in the form of practical and realistic hope, conveyed with an honest, personal and at times amusing style.

Veterinary Record, 2005

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