Heather Browning (LSE): “Assessing Measures of Animal Welfare”

There are many decision contexts in which we require accurate information on animal welfare, but many of the methods currently used for estimating welfare are subjective and unreliable. Here, I look at how we might apply principled methods from animal welfare science to arrive at more accurate scores, which will then help us in making the best decisions for animals. I construct and apply a framework of desiderata for welfare measures, to assess the best of the currently available methods and argue that a combined use of both a whole-animal measure and a combination measurement framework for assessing welfare will give us the most accurate answers to guide our action.

 

Heather Browning is a a postdoctoral Research Officer in animal sentience and welfare at LSE, as part of the Foundations of Animal Sentience project.