The higher the level of animal welfare, the more guaranteed the safety of humans and livestock
Now when animal welfare is discussed, it is often misunderstood by many people, and the following views mainly exist: human welfare has not yet been solved well, so why bring up animal welfare? Livestock production is commodity production, which focuses on economic benefits and has nothing to do with animal welfare? Improving the level of animal welfare requires increased costs, which enterprises cannot afford? If animals are raised free-range, is the welfare problem solved?
To answer the above questions, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between animal welfare and veterinary public health.
Farm animal welfare and veterinary public health
In 1999, WHO proposed that veterinary public health refers to all activities that serve human physical and mental health and social well-being by mastering and applying veterinary scientific knowledge and skills. According to Academician Liu Xiufan's interpretation of an important component of the public health system, its core areas include: prevention and control of zoonoses; hygiene of laboratory animal facilities and diagnostic laboratories; production and supervision of biological products and medical supplies, etc. Among these, the most important, the prevention and control of zoonoses and food safety, are precisely the areas involved in animal welfare.
Since the 1960s to 1970s of this century, more than 100 kinds of epidemic diseases have been newly discovered worldwide, and many new human infectious diseases are closely related to animals. Dr. B. Vallat, Director-General of the World Organisation for Animal Health, pointed out in 2004 that we are now living and working in an unprecedented era of emerging infectious diseases, an era in which zoonotic pathogens play a leading role. According to Zhang Zhongqiu, Director of the Veterinary Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, among 1461 human infectious diseases, 60% originate from animals; among the infectious diseases that have brought catastrophic losses to humanity in history, 80% are zoonotic; among global emerging infectious diseases in the past 20 years, 75% originate from animals; at present, 17 million people worldwide still die from infectious diseases each year, a large proportion of which are zoonoses.
⟦NL> A series of livestock product safety incidents have triggered several questions that we must consider during the current transformation period of the livestock industry: Why is it that our animal vaccine enterprises have better and better equipment, more and more advanced technology, and produce more and more types of vaccines, yet there are more and more severe animal infectious diseases? Virus mutations are becoming more and more frequent? Why is it that our farms are getting larger and larger, more and more automated, with better and better breeding equipment and stronger and stronger supervision, yet the amount of animal medication used is increasing? The losses caused by animal epidemics remain high?
Setting aside political and commercial factors, the most fundamental issue is that problems have arisen in our livestock production system, leading to a decline in the animals' own immune capacity. Modern breeding methods and farming models excessively pursue animal growth speed and production performance while neglecting the animals' own resistance, making livestock and poultry susceptible to disease and forcing increased use of veterinary drugs and vaccines, leading to imbalance in the animal body and in nature, and accelerating virus mutation and recombination. To solve this problem, we need a new understanding of animal epidemic prevention and control: treating the symptoms is not as good as treating the root cause, "combining raising and prevention, with raising as the main focus." Reducing the occurrence of animal epidemics by improving feeding and management levels has been recognized by more and more people. Improving the level of farm animal welfare is the fundamental way to solve zoonoses and animal food safety.
What is animal welfare? According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) explanation of farm animal welfare, namely the "Five Freedoms" principles for animals: freedom from hunger and thirst (feeding); freedom from discomfort (environment); freedom to express natural behavior (environment); freedom from pain, injury and disease (disease prevention and control); freedom from fear and distress (transport, slaughter). That is, farm animal welfare = good feeding and management + scientific and effective disease prevention and control + humane transport and slaughter, and is not about giving animals extra care and protection.
The approach of animal welfare is to reflect on and reform current animal production methods from a "humane" perspective, and to provide animals with suitable living conditions and facilities. Respect and satisfy the basic physiological, psychological and behavioral needs of animals according to natural laws, treat animals well, reduce disease, and achieve the health and happiness of animals. Follow the ACE principle, that is, all animal production and animal products must be beneficial to animals (Animal), beneficial to consumers (Consumers), and beneficial to the environment (Environment).
Improving animal welfare is the inevitable path for intensive farming
Modern intensive farming leads to poor animal welfare, which in turn causes a decrease in the animals' body immunity. Breeders have to control diseases through excessive use of drugs and vaccines, resulting in problems such as high drug residues in animal products, poor product quality, and environmental pollution. Welfare farming is precisely about improving animal welfare levels by granting animals the "Five Freedoms," enhancing the animals' own immunity, using little or no medication, giving few or no vaccines, ensuring healthy animals, implementing humane transport and slaughter, and ultimately achieving product safety.
How can the "Five Freedoms" principles for farm animals be realized? We should start from the following aspects. First is disease prevention and control. Purification of breeding livestock and poultry farms -- no disease at the source; optimize immunization programs, and determine the type, timing and frequency of vaccine use based on serological testing; avoid blind use and excessive use; promptly and effectively treat, care for, isolate and cull sick livestock and poultry, use as little medication as possible, and reduce the variety of veterinary drugs; research, develop and apply new types of specialized veterinary drugs. Second, environmental control, providing a comfortable environment. Provide welfare-oriented facilities and equipment, and provide necessary activity space; improve living conditions and provide suitable temperature, humidity, air and light; welfare alternatives to traditional techniques such as tail docking and beak trimming; harmless treatment of dead livestock and poultry carcasses and animal waste. Third, nutritional regulation. Prepare nutritionally balanced diets; appropriately add feed additives that can improve animal immunity; prohibit banned drugs, and use preventive drugs and growth promoters with caution; ensure drinking water quality; optimize diet structure, improve the "quality" of excrement, and reduce environmental pollution. Fourth, humane transport and slaughter, reducing animal fright and fear.
Several views on animal welfare
There are many factors affecting animal welfare, and many factors are contradictory. The key is balance, and the knowledge lies in making choices. The level of animal welfare is the result of multiple factors acting together. There is no need to one-sidedly pursue a single factor, and there is no need to deliberately pursue only one aspect of the "Five Freedoms." The purpose must be clear, and the level of welfare should be considered comprehensively. Animal welfare is an inevitable requirement when productive forces develop to a certain level, and is closely related to the level of economic development, technical level, and religious culture. There are many new concepts and new technologies abroad, and they should be carefully analyzed, adapted to local conditions, kept realistic, and absorbed scientifically, avoiding blind following.
The animal welfare we advocate is commodity production under large-scale farming models, providing farm animals with comfortable living conditions and feeding and management conditions as much as possible, satisfying their physiological and psychological needs, allowing them to grow healthily and leave happily (be slaughtered), raising healthy animals and ensuring product safety. Large-scale free-range methods are not suitable for China's national conditions.
The OIE emphasizes the important interconnections among animal epidemics, veterinary public health safety, animal welfare and food safety. The OIE incorporates animal welfare into the scope of veterinary work. The animal welfare content of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code is a standard and guideline commonly followed by member states. The OIE is formulating its Sixth Strategic Plan for 2016 to 2020: safeguarding the sanitary safety of animals, animal products and food of animal origin, and protecting animal welfare.
Animal welfare is only a concept, not something unattainable. It is necessary to correctly understand and interpret the connotation and essence of animal welfare, and provide correct publicity and guidance. Animal welfare is not difficult to practice; you are doing things related to animal welfare every day. The key to animal welfare is scientific balance and reasonable choices. For the sake of veterinary public health, for the safety of livestock products, and for human health, please treat animals well, improve animal welfare, and raise healthy animals. Improving animal welfare is essentially improving human welfare.