Vegetarianism Stack Exchange
Vegetarianism Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [animal-welfare]

Refers to the quality of life and wellbeing of animals, particularly of animals kept by humans. This tag should be used for questions about the conditions and treatment of animals raised or kept for use in the production of food and other products for human use, including the legal or regulatory protections extended to such animals. As always, please make sure your question is specific and answerable rather than inviting discussion.

Animal welfare refers to the well-being of non-human animals, particularly in contexts where those animals are kept by humans for any purpose.

The living conditions and treatment of non-human animals used in the production of food, cosmetics, medicines, clothing and other goods is significant for vegetarianism and veganism since many people choose to exclude such products from their diet or lifestyle based on an awareness of the conditions prevalent in, for example, contemporary commercial farming.

Wikipedia page on animal welfare

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What percentage of farm animals are mistreated in some way?

Many non-veg*ns agree that various practices on farms are cruel and do not wish to support them, but believe that the practices are rare. Is this true? I'm looking for statistics from any country on the frequency of farm animal abuse. Sources are…
Alex Hall
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Does the production of down typically involve killing or hurting birds?

Down consists of bird feathers. In principle it could be sourced from feathers that birds have lost naturally, so it should not require to kill or hurt any animal. Are down feathers typically harvested in an animal-friendly way, or are they more…
gerrit
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Do bivalves such as oysters feel pain or fear?

In moral arguments for veganism, the pain, stress, and fear experienced by animals is often given as an argument. I have read some arguments that vegetarians should be OK with eating oysters and mussels. What evidence exists (either way) that…
gerrit
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Can birds suffer?

Birds have a reputation of having rather simple brains. Sure, they can react to stimuli to avoid danger and survive, e.g. if I kick a chicken it will probably try to avoid me, but is this just automatic instinct or is there something deeper? Does…
Alex Hall
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How many animals are required by the average North American omnivorous diet?

How many animals are required per year by the average North American omnivorous diet to provide the required meat, dairy, and eggs? How much smaller is this number for vegetarian diets? I am interested in per person numbers.
nloewen
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Do laws about organic foods include directives about animal welfare?

Yep, simple and straightforward: do laws about organic foods include directives about animal wellbeing? For example, if a firm that sells eggs wants to sell them as organic does it have to follow any rules about the place where the chickens live?…
Attilio
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How can animal cruelty be considered legal based on "cultural heritage" argument?

I have read some information about foie gras controversy and have encountered this piece of information: "Until new scientific evidence on alternative methods and their welfare aspects is available", the production of foie gras is prohibited by…
Alexander Rossa
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What's the difference between legislation protecting pets and lab animals (etc) and farm animals in the U.S.?

In the U.S., there are strict laws in place on the treatment of pets and lab animals. Abusing an animal is normally punishable by law. Yet, it is legal for farm animals to be kept in conditions would be considered "abusive" for pets and lab…
C_Z_
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Which animal species is the most negatively affected by indirect human activities?

Realising the direct impact humans have on animal species is easy - it is obvious and intended. Changing one's actions so as to not impact these animals is therefore easy as well, one just stops doing this or that. We do, however, affect animals in…
Alexander Rossa
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How big would the populations of farm animals be if not artificially raised by humans?

To satisfy our palate (and dietary needs, historically) we started to use many animals, some of which we now keep in extremely high numbers (estimates of 1 billion to 1.4 billion of cattle alone). What would these numbers be had we chosen different…
Alexander Rossa
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Benefits for the used animals when producing according to the EU Eco regulation?

In 2010, the EU introduced an organic certification label for agricultural products that meet the criteria of the EU Eco regulation. Alice doesn’t want to avoid animal products, but she wants to reduce animal suffering stemming from the production…
unor
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Why is keeping backyard hens inconsistent with veganism?

If somebody keeps egg-laying hens in their backyard and makes sure they are loved and well cared-for, what's wrong with taking and eating their eggs from the perspective of veganism? If a person who identified as vegan was considering getting…
Nic
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What happens when an animal gets spooked on the way to slaughter and refuses to continue?

Apologies if this isn't appropriate for this SE - it was the most relevant one I could find. When animals are being led to slaughter, I imagine it must happen occasionally that one gets the sense that something is wrong—perhaps they hear or smell…
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Are black truffles vegan?

Tuber melanosporum better known as black truffles or French black truffles are a type of fungi that grows on the roots of trees. Because they grow underground, they are quite difficult to find and trained dogs are often used to find them. …
istepaniuk
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Does a live animal tracking system for vegetarian products exist?

I am thinking of a label system on cheese and egg found in supermarkets whereby you can use your phone camera to scan a bar code on those products. It would take you to a live supervision camera system via a standard app whereby you can navigate…
Joselin Jocklingson
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