Why is animal welfare important? If you're asking yourself this question, you've come to the right place! In the past, I might have been surprised that I would ever write an article about the necessity and importance of animal welfare - after all, animals are doing just fine here in Germany - at least that's what I always thought. But the reality is different.
Many of them live here locked up and certainly not free from hunger and thirst, fear, stress, pain and disease. The absurdity is that the animals must be protected from us humans. Because the goals of animal welfare clash with the actual "use" in our society.
Whether wild, street or farm animals, whether in Germany or elsewhere in the world: In this article, I would like to list the most important reasons for animal welfare and give you a comprehensive feeling for its importance. Let's go!
You can find a brief overview here in advance. Animal welfare is important because animals...
- are sentient, intelligent creatures
- have done nothing to us
- have no voice and few rights in our society
- are important for the environment
- are threatened with extinction
- need our help
- promote our social coexistence
- not stand among us people
- want to be treated humanely by us
- are endangered and we humans endanger ourselves with it
1. because animals are sentient, intelligent creatures
Mammals have a central nervous system from the brain and spinal cord - and can therefore feel pleasure and pain, for example. So animals have feelings and last but not least a will to live, just like we humans do.
Even if a lack of intelligence should of course never be a reason to treat someone badly or even exploit them, it should not go unmentioned that animals in their own cosmos extremely intelligent living beings are. Chickens, for example, organize themselves in clear hierarchies - they can even calculate and reason logically.₁
2. because animals have not done anything to us
You can certainly argue about whether revenge is the right reaction when something has been done to you. But animals have definitely not done anything to us. On the contrary: whether dogs, cats, pigs, sheep or chickens - they are all capable of putting a smile on our faces. Nevertheless, we treat most of them like objects.
Anyone who finds themselves in the almost hopeless situation of a severely wounded street dog or an exploited cow in the Factory farming can quickly understand why animal welfare is so incredibly important and necessary.
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3. because animals have no voice and too few rights in our society
In Germany and many other countries in Europe, it is actually regulated by law that animals must be protected in our society. Animal welfare is part of the Basic Law. And in the Animal Protection Act for example, states that we humans bear responsibility for our fellow creatures and that no one may inflict pain or suffering on an animal without good reason. There are also expert opinions and guidelines for the treatment of all other animals.
However, the term "suffering lines" is more appropriate. Because despite the laws millions of animals suffer systematically every day for our food (e.g. on farms, in slaughterhouses), entertainment (e.g. in zoos and circuses), clothing (e.g. for fur and wool), in Animal testing, in hunting and not least, through Cruelty to animals in private households. Animal welfare is therefore important, as laws are not enough to protect them.
4. because animals are important for the environment
Animal welfare is also environmental protection. Not only animals in stables or in private households must be protected, but also animals in the wild. There they need above all plenty of space, clean water, fresh air, and sufficient food and shelter. We humans also need these things as a basis for life - yet we take more from this planet than we are entitled to. And we are also putting a strain on nature - for example through the Deforestation of the forests or the Plastic waste in the environment.
Every animal plays an important role in its ecosystem and is therefore Important for the ecological balance. The mole, for example, is responsible for healthy and well-aerated soil - and the bee ensures that the soil is well aerated through the Pollination of plants for their reproduction - and thus also for food for countless other animals and us humans.
5. because countless animals are threatened with extinction
Of course, animal welfare means more than that - but most people probably associate it with endangered species such as Polar bears, elephants or Gorillas. The species extinction is definitely one of the biggest, ecological problems of our time. Animal welfare is of course also incredibly important to stop it. Ultimately, however, we humans also suffer from the dwindling animal and plant species on our planet.
Tip: What you personally do against the extinction of species you can find out in the linked article!
6. because animals need our help
In many countries, dogs and cats are kept on chains or wild animals are put in a sack and beaten to death because they are considered a nuisance. And then there are also generally weak and injured animalswho would suffer and die without our support.
Animals need our help! Namely not only in emergencies after an injury - but in general. Because even if we humans love animals, many of us eat their body parts. And no one can seriously believe that an animal goes happily into a slaughterhouse, comes out in pieces and wrapped in plastic - and that something "humane" has happened to our fellow creature in the meantime.
I am an animal rights activist because millions of animals need our help at this very moment and I want to do something about this deplorable state of affairs. Anyone who has seen an animal suffer (e.g. in a slaughterhouse, in an animal show or after a wildlife accident) is determined to ensure that this suffering comes to an end. This is what characterizes us humans as compassionate beings.
Tip: It's good to know what you can do if you have accidentally hit a deer or a injured bird found have. I explain it briefly and concisely in the linked article.
7. because the conscious protection of animals promotes our social coexistence
Anyone who protects animals and exemplifies this attitude automatically contributes to a non-violent coexistence among us humans. It helps to develop our coexistence if we "no longer even" harm animals. This makes it even more difficult to harm another person.
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
Mahatma Gandhi (more at Gandhi Quotes)
I want to prevent both human and animal suffering as much as practically possible. To protect the Health of every individual, for law-abidingness, peace, justice, compassion and a better future.
Tip: At vegan against violence I will explain to you how these things are all related to animal welfare and are promoted by the respectful, ethical and social treatment of animals.
8. because we humans are not above the animals
Many people justify their inconsiderate treatment of animals by saying that we are different and that we humans are above them. But just because we look, speak and behave differently is no reason to treat them badly. Rather, this is a speciesist mindset.
In addition to many general similarities, there are above all one overriding, decisive commonality: We humans are also animals. Even by definition - because we have sensory organs, a metabolism and reproduce in order to survive. We are a mammal from the great ape family.₂
Nevertheless, we do not overbreed human animals - We rape them, kidnap them, sell them, gas them, shred them, displace them, dismember them, package them and eat them. Does that sound exaggerated? I don't think that dairy cows, pigs, ducks, chickens and not all dogs and cats, for example, share this opinion. We must not live at the expense of animals - and that is precisely why animal welfare is so important.
Tip: There may have been a time in our evolutionary history when we had to eat animals and warm ourselves with their skins in order to survive. But in today's civilization, the argument "Meat has helped us to survive and develop" no longer count as an excuse for cruelty to animals.
9. because we represent human values
Respect, love, mercy and compassion characterize human action. Habits, stress or feelings of revenge, for example, occasionally lead us away from them. But basically, we all strive for these human values. When dealing with animals, however, we often or even daily make exceptions.
Animal welfare is therefore also there to question our own behavior and provide food for thought. Our responsibility must not be lost in the masses of society - Animal welfare starts with each individual.
10. because we are not least endangering our own livelihoods
Admittedly, this is a not entirely altruistic reason why animal welfare is extremely important. But anyone with a little foresight knows that Animal protection also means human protection. For example, the extinction of species or the consequences of the growing consumption of meat in our society - above all the climate change, the World hunger and the deforestation of the rainforests - we are ultimately sawing at the branch we are sitting on ourselves.
The animal exploitation and Stop factory farming and really treating all animals the way we want to be treated gets to the root of all these problems. Animal welfare is a much more tangible and effective lever for an environmentally friendly everyday life than simply hoping that people will start doing it themselves, to live more climate friendly.
We cannot simply behave recklessly on this planet and must realize that Nature and animals play a crucial role in our own lives. If that's not motivation enough for you, you should at least drive the future of your own children and grandchildren.
Animal welfare is important and makes us human
We all agree that animals only need to be protected from us humans, don't we? So animal welfare can also be seen as a certain Guideline for our behavior on this planet to understand.
Each of us can and must help to ensure that animals can lead a reasonable and species-appropriate life. All animals, whether dogs, cats, pigs, cows or bees - here in Germany and everywhere else in the world.
"Animal protection is education to humanity."
Albert Schweitzer (more at Animal welfare quotes)
Finally, I would like to further contributions about the topic of animal welfare:
- Animal welfare in everyday life - what everyone can do
- Why do people torture animals?
- Adopt dog from animal shelter
- The best animal welfare organizations
I hope that this article has made it clear to you why animal welfare is important. Do you have any questions, tips or other reasons? Then I look forward to your comment.
Stay animal-friendly,
PS: Look with pleasure still something in the animal welfare blog around. There you will learn, for example, the Tools in factory farming that make it at least somewhat easier to put yourself in the animals' shoes.
References:
₁ Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk: Unterschätztes Geflügel - intelligente Hühner (as of 04.06.2017), available at https://www.mdr.de/wissen/intelligenz-bei-huehnern-100.html. [16.05.2023].
₂ Isabell Kubon: Are humans animals? Why we are not above animals (as of 22.09.2021), available at https://www.peta.de/themen/sind-menschen-tiere. [16.05.2023].
