Animal well-being represents how an animal experiences their life. It characterizes the overall mental experiences of an animal and is a subjective concept that cannot be directly measured. Instead, well-being indicators are used to cautiously infer mental experiences from resource provisions, management factors and a range of animal-based measures. The Five Domains Model is a holistic and structured framework for gathering together these indicators and assessing animal well-being. It is used to systematically assess the well-being of animals in a range of contexts and explicitly focuses on an animal’s mental experiences.
The Five Domains Model is used internationally to assess animal well-being in a range of contexts. The Model also represents a framework that could be used to advance animal care – by drawing attention to a wide range of areas where we can make improvements. While animal well-being is an animal-centered concept (i.e., the focus is on assessing an animal’s mental experiences), animal care is human-centered (i.e., the focus is on what we can provide for animals). Animal care encourages those responsible for animals to consider providing them with a range of opportunities so that they can have a good life. The aim of this presentation is to demonstrate how the Five Domains can be used to scientifically assess animal well-being and how they also provide a means of considering how best to care for animals.
About the Presenter
Kat Littlewood, BVSc(Dist), PGDipVCS(Dist), PhD, AFHEA, FANZCVS(AWSEL)
Dr. Littlewood is a veterinarian and Lecturer in Animal Welfare within Tāwharau Ora (School of Veterinary Science) at Massey University. She is a fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics, & Law.
Kat’s research employs social science approaches to better understand complex human-animal interactions and ethically challenging situations. She aims to develop a nuanced understanding of why and how people make the decisions they do about how animals are managed. Kat also works to operationalize the Five Domains Model for animal well-being assessment and training.
Major research themes include: Understanding how animal well-being is conceptualized by different people; Exploring how human values, attitudes, and behaviors influence animal well-being; Developing systematic scientific strategies to evaluate animal well-being; and Implementation of animal well-being policy and standards.
