by James Johnson

Created on: January 22, 2009   Last Updated: February 04, 2009

All animals, everywhere needs to be treated with dignity and respect. There is no reason to starve, beat and do vicious harm to any other living creature. This applies to pets, food animals, animals in the wild, or the human animal. It is called "Ethics". That said, are there ethics of animal care and welfare, but how should they be applied?

Animals have been kept as pets, hunted for food, and raised on farms for thousands of years. The pets provide safety for us and our crops as well as companionship; plus in some countries, they are still a source of both transportation and labour. The human race owes a tremendous amount to animals and it needs to take proper care of them;it needs to provide food, shelter and safety to those that need it. These is the facts of animal husbandry.

Animal welfare is taking care of the poor, sick and mistreated animals, strays as well as pets. As Terry Pratchett put it in one of his books, The Wee Free Men, "it is someone speaking up for those as have no voice". In the book, Granny Aching comes from a long line of "Aching" people that are aching to do what is right. She is a shepherd, raising "stupid" animals for both wool and food, but raising and caring for them in an ethical fashion, she looks after their welfare. Granny takes the stick from the person who is beating his fallen donkey and beats him, saying "that hurts and if you expect your animal to work you need to feed it and look after its welfare".

In these more "modern" times, the ethics of animal welfare has become strained and replaced with those trying to impose personal morals on others. It often involves creating falsehoods and deceit to force others to abide by their rules rather than the ethics of society. Is telling lies ethical? Will it really promote animal welfare and make people more responsible for the animals?

When people supporting animal ethics do not use ethics themselves, they defeat their purpose. Trying to ignore people's children and yet protect their animals by stopping them from eating will not encourage animal welfare.

The ethics needed for animal welfare are simple. Treat them with care and in a responsible fashion. Do not encourage them to fight or hurt one another. Don't use them and then abuse them. Give shelter, food, and a safe place to live.

It should be noted that nothing has been written here about not eating animals, not using them for testing, or not hunting. Those are all individual choices and not the ethics of most societies, most places eat meat. One can be ethical and take excellent care of animals, and still eat them! Ethics is needed in animal welfare.

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