Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare

This handbook presents a much-needed and comprehensive exploration of the rapidly growing fields of animal welfare and law.

In recent years there has been increasing attention paid to our complex, multifaceted relationships with other animals, and in particular, the depth and breadth of various societal uses of animals. This has led to a reconsideration of their moral and social status, which has sometimes challenged the interests of those who use animals. In such a contested domain, sound evidence and reasoning become particularly important. Through firm commitment to such principles, this book explores the biological foundations for the moral consideration of animals and for evolving conceptualisations of animal welfare. It reviews in detail the welfare concerns associated with numerous forms of animal use. The inclusion of key recent developments such as climate change, pandemics, and antimicrobial resistance, ensures this text is among the most current in its field. The ethical implications of the various uses of animals by society are considered, and chapters provide important recommendations for reforms of practice, law, or policy. The status of animal law internationally, and in major world regions, is reviewed. Finally, the book considers human behavioural change and strategies for improving stakeholder communication and education.

The handbook is essential reading for students and scholars of animal welfare, animal law and animal ethics everywhere, and for policy-makers and other professionals working in the animal welfare sector.

"A new book about numerous aspects of animal welfare merits worldwide attention. ?Psychology Today, 2022. Globally, non-human animals ? aka animals ? need all the help they can get in an increasingly human-dominated world. The?Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare?comprehensively reviews the welfare of animals in the wide array of settings in which they are used, including emerging issues such as the impacts of intensive farming and the wildlife trade on climate change, biodiversity loss, and antimicrobial resistance and pandemics. A most valuable source of up-to-date information for a global audience."
Marc Bekoff PhD, University of Colorado, USA

"Human activity is responsible for serious welfare problems for billions of non-human animals. Identifying the action required to address these issues and securing public support for it demands good evidence, wise reflection, and clear argumentation. This book provides all three and is an essential resource for anyone concerned about animal welfare."
Prof. David L Clough MA (Cantab), MSt (Oxon), PhD (Yale), FHEA, University of Aberdeen, UK

"A defining text in the field of animal welfare. Challenging, insightful, and current, this book covers a diversity of subject areas in the rapidly evolving arena of animal welfare. Both informative and balanced, the chapters explore and test our moral perceptions towards animals from a legal, cultural, and ethical perspective. In a time of changing attitudes with so many global issues at the forefront of society, this book provides a welcome and much needed contribution to conceptualisation of animal welfare in the modern day."
Prof. Luke Gamble BVSc, DVM&S, FRCVS, Chief Executive ? Worldwide Veterinary Service, UK

"The Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare is the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of animal welfare issues in all settings in which they are used ? or misused. It provides compelling scientific evidence as to why the welfare of animals is important for the sake of millions of sentient beings, and also for our own health. Everyone concerned with the well-being of animals ? students and professors, NGO staffers, and legislators ? should read and own this book."
Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder ? The Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace

"This textbook combines both classical and new topics in the rapidly growing discipline of animal welfare. It integrates important neighboring fields, such as animal ethics and animal law. It considers changes in human-animal interaction, and is an invaluable guide for navigating this rapidly changing terrain. The book demonstrates animal welfare science?s growing importance for social decision-making and pushes the field forward in a number of important fronts."
Univ.-Prof. Dr Herwig Grimm, Ethics and Human-Animal Studies, Messerli Research Institute, Veterinary University Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University Vienna, Austria

"Finally, there is a comprehensive, evidence-based animal welfare text that doesn?t shy away from examining the hard questions about how humans use animals, and how the Anthropocene impacts animals. Edited by luminaries, and with a range of expert contributing authors, this text is essential reading for anyone whose study or work relates to animal welfare."
Dr Jennifer Hood BSc Hons, BVMS, PhD, Veterinary Director Animals Australia and Adjunct Senior Lecturer Murdoch Veterinary School, Australia

"We are at a critical point in human history. Central to the health, climate, and ecological crises is the way we treat other animals and their habitats. This book brings to the forefront the true impact of animal exploitation in all its forms. I hope the book will persuade many that we can live a kinder, more compassionate life on this planet in harmony with all life forms."
Shireen Kassam MD, PhD, Visiting Professor of Plant-Based Nutrition. University of Winchester, UK

"This book on animal welfare is unique in challenging the notion that animals are resources for humans. Kudos to the editors for such an ambitious and ethically oriented book. This book is essential reading for students, and anyone interested in animal welfare and innovative means to improve it. Highly recommended!"
Barry Kipperman DVM, DACVIM, MSc, DACAW, Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare and Instructor of Veterinary Ethics at the University of California at Davis, USA

"Animal welfare law and policy constitute a field of growing importance in society, and in the teaching of law, public ethics, politics and veterinary science. The Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare distils the knowledge and experience of 50 authors, into a comprehensive and rigorous summary of key animal law and welfare issues around the globe. It is a magisterial exposition of the neglectful past; the contemporary awakening; and the future enlightenment concerning our relationship to other animals. This book makes a signal contribution to the fields of animal law and welfare."
The Hon. Michael Kirby AC, CMG, Former Justice of the High Court of Australia. Editor-In-Chief of The Laws of Australia

"This impressive book folds science with vision on the ethics of animal use and how things need to change. Covering animal welfare and its interdependencies with human health and environmental impact in an accessible way, it is a handbook in the true sense of the word: an authoritative volume that I?ll certainly be keeping close to hand."
Prof. Philip Lymbery, Global CEO, Compassion in World Farming International

"A uniquely broad collection that describes the varied (and generally harmful) impacts that humans have on other animals, whether by farming them for food or simply encroaching into their wild habitats. Readers will welcome the truly international perspective. A tour de force by a stellar group of animal welfare scientists, experts in animal law and ethics, veterinarians, and animal advocates. Anyone who cares about animals will find this book a comprehensive resource and will be encouraged and inspired by the final section showing how change can be achieved."
Christine Nicol MA, DPhil, Professor of Animal Welfare, Royal Veterinary College, UK

"We are witnessing a revolution in how humans view and treat other animals, necessitating a fresh look at the human/non-human animal relationship. The editors of the?Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare?have assembled experts from various fields, bringing scientific and historical perspectives that are helpful to deepen our understanding of animal protection in the 21st century. This book is a welcome and important contribution to animal welfare literature."
Joyce Tischler JD, Professor of Practice, Animal Law, Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School

"Provides the scientific case for the multiple (human and non-human) co-benefits of abolishing the economic exploitation of other animals."
Dr Richard Twine, PhD, Co-Director of the Centre for Human?Animal Studies, Edge Hill University, UK

"A comprehensive book covering a wide range of important animal welfare issues by fantastic contributors. The inclusion of one welfare topics as well as chapters on animal ethics and law and also social change makes this a brilliant resource. I thoroughly recommend this book to everyone that has an interest in animal welfare and thank all of the wonderful people that made this happen."

Dr Arnja Dale, Chief Scientific Officer, SPCA

"This information-dense book, edited by two academics and an expert in law, was designed as a ?comprehensive exploration of the rapidly growing fields of animal welfare and law?. It packs a huge amount of information and a wide range of topics into its 507 pages written by 50 authors, many of whom are established authorities."

David Fraser, Animals 2023

"The Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare fills a gap in the existing animal welfare literature, and with a few exceptions does it well."

Anna S Olsson, Laboratory Animal Science, i3S, University of Porto