Double standards

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The first two freedoms are what most people consider to be welfare. And in developed countries, theses are most often taken care of, even if many times inappropriately. For example, many horses are fed too little forage and too much concentrate which can cause welfare issues such as stereotypies and gastric ulcerations (McGreevy et al., 1995; Luthersson et al., 2010)

 

People also consider the third freedom important but some may be biased on what they consider ‘acceptable’ pain or injury. For example they may react in anger at seeing an underweight Egyptian donkey with a broken leg due to being over worked but in the same breath say “It’s a tragedy but the horse has die doing what he loved.” when a competition horse breaks his leg at a cross country event.

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Similarly, some individuals may find some level of fear and distress acceptable in one scenario but not in another. An underweight donkey pulling a cart in Egypt, being whipped by his uneducated owner who depend on the animal for survival is a horrible welfare issue, but a horse with a shiny coat being whipped after refusing a jump at a show is "just being corrected". The truth however is that both of these scenario are welfare issues. The first scenario being worst than the other in one aspect certainly does not eliminate the issues with the other scenario. We need to hold ourselves accountable and use our privileges (internet access, education etc.) to better ourselves for the sake of the animals in our care. We need to stop taking researchers findings as personal attacks but as an opportunity to improve our management and training methods.

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