Brownfield AgNews–Animal welfare standards can be a bit subjective. In some cases what one person feels is inhumane is standard industry protocol.
Which is why Candace Croney, director of the newly created Purdue Center for Animal Welfare Sciences, says one of her goals at the new center is not to focus solely on what is considered the hard sciences of animal well-being. “We’re not just going to look at the physiology of animals, which is the behavior of animals,” she says. “It’s really important to look at the ethics and the value systems that really underlie why people are concerned about animals and what they consider good quality of life for animals.”
She tells Brownfield from there it becomes important to understand what those outside of the livestock industry know and think about animal welfare. “Other than what really gets highlighted in the media – are they really aware of the practices that pertain to the species that really are
Croney says the center really meant to be a comprehensive approach that bridges the sciences of animal welfare with other sciences like philosophy, social sciences, and psychology.