I'm looking for some discussion on definitional and practical differences (if any) between these two terms. I've always considered therm relatively synonymous and used them so. In the literature from different fields I've seen them used both synonymously and/or selectively/preferentially (i.e., only one term, e.g., lab animal wellbeing vs. zoo animal welfare). In an admittedly short Google search I've not found any literature defining them as the same or different (and how/why). The only implied difference that I've even found was on the AMVA website - they seem to use welfare to refer to the animals holistic state of living/"being" and use wellbeing to refer to individual components that make up welfare (e.g., physical health/wellbeing, psychological wellbeing). Any help, comments, links, or references to literature are appreciated.
- Welfare is a wider term reflecting what is expected from the environment (e.g. humans towards animals) to respect the needs of individual (animal, child, employee).
- Wellbeing is subjective state, that is correlated with welfare, but does not relate directly (some wealthy people experience poor wellbeing), and some poor individuals are happy. Sick animals experience often good care, and welfare, but the wellbeing is (due to sickness) quite bad.
Some animal lit:
Barber, J. C. E. (2009). Programmatic approaches to assessing and improving animal welfare in zoos and aquariums. Zoo Biology, 28(6), 519–30. doi:10.1002/zoo.20260
Panzera, M. (2013). Sickness and Abnormal Behaviors as Indicators of Animal Suffering. Relations. Beyond Anthropocentrism, 1(June), 23–31. doi:10.7358/rela-2013-001-panz
Scott, E. M., Nolan, A. M., & Fitzpatrick, J. L. (2001). Conceptual and Methodological Issues Related to Welfare Assessment: A Framework for Measurement. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A - Animal Science, 51(sup030), 5–10. doi:10.1080/090647001316922983
I wouldn't use wellbeing about animals at all just because it is so subjective and therefore non-measurable.
Here in the US, well-being has been used historically, as 'welfare' is widely used in the human context of monetary aid etc. given to the poorest in society. More recently, welfare and well-being have been used interchangeably and synonymously, without thought that one pertains to affective state (well-being) and one doesn't (welfare).
There is lots of info available on this site:
http://www.welfarequality.net
Animal welfare is te word mainly used by researchers. However, the concept has been given various put partly overlapping definitions, see e.g. several papers by David Fraser. He presents 3 approaces to animal welfare, i.e. what matters the most: Biological functioning (health, stress coping, normal development etc), Affective state (claiming that only the animals subjective feelings matters) and naturalness (that animals should live a reasonable natural life according to species specific needs). I believe well-being is mostly used in US, covering the same as welfare which is used in Europe/Canada.
Thanks for the info and the references from everyone. Also the term use in locations and settings fits well with my experience. While locational/situational use doesn't clarify the terms, it helps to know who uses which.
Just FYI for others who've provide their insights/info to me. I just came across this definition of wellbeing in a paper on zoo gorillas (Carrasco et al 2009, Benefits of training/play therapy in a group of captive lowland gorillas). The definition is based on three older sources and written as a quote, without a specific reference to where the quote came from, but is consistent with comments that wellbeing is subjective and component-specific.
The authors define wellbeing as "the status of full physical and mental health in which the individual is in harmony with and adapted to the environment in which it lives and its specific physical and psychological needs are met."
I never really thought about this before. It is easier to define things that would be bad for both welfare and well being. Some examples are: abusive treatment from people such as beating, overcrowding, dirty pens, overloaded trucks, starvation, or lack of water. From a practical standpoint, the same good practices would be required to improve both welfare and well being. Some examples would be clean air, low ammonia, adequate water, free from disease, and an environment where animals can express innate behavior needs. Providing pain relief after surgical procedures would also improve both welfare and well being. I have lots more information in: Improving Animal Welfare: A Practical Approach, T. Grandin (Editor) CABI Publishing.
Temple,
Thanks for the answer and pointing out the problem between conceptual definition and practical application. I totally agree that it is easier to point to environmental, behavioral, & other factors that would have positive/negative impacts of welfare or wellbeing that to provide a conceptual definition for either term. Appreciated. Looked at the abstract for your book online - seems very useful.
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