Animal Well-Being I. General Considerations

摘要

Recently,interestinandconcernaboutanimalwell-beinghasbeenincreasingbecauseofchangingviewstowardnonhumananimals,societalattitudes,legislation,andconductofqualityscientificresearchandtesting.Animalwell-beingisavagueconceptthatcanneitherbeviewedinapurelyobjectivemannernorsimplydescribed,defined,orassessed.Itisnotascientificallyortechnicallyprecisestate,butratheramultidimensionalone.Factorssuchasanimalneedsandperspective,criticalanthropomorphism,andhumansocialandindividualvaluesareinvolved.Therearelimitationsindeterminingtheoverallwell-beingofananimalandcomparingwell-beingindisparateenvironments.Nevertheless,thereisanextensiveandevergrowinglistofcomplexfactorsthoughttoaffecthomeostasis,sensitivity,interrelationships,andfeedbackcontrolmechanisms.Researchdatafromavarietyoffields,suchasanimalbiologyandbehavior,stressbiology,andpsychoneuroimmunology,increasinglysupportaholisticviewofwell-being.Existingdatasuggestaninteractivesystemlinkinginternalpsychologic,neurologic,physiologic,immunologic,endocrine,andbiochemicaleventswiththeexternalpsychosocialandphysicalenvironment.Ananimal'sstateofwell-beingorhomeostasisisdeterminedbyamultitudeofexternal(psychosocialandphysicalstimuli)andinternal(mentalandbiologicalresponses)factorsandinteractingvariablesandbyotheraspectssuchasethology,genetics,individualvariation,socialmilieu,experience,learning,perception,copingstyle,andintensity,duration,andfrequencyofstimuli.