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Jul/10/2008
Economic Activity on Animal Welfare
In economic analysis animal welfare is almost without exception not included in the equations. I will argue that, although animals are neglected, acting in mankind's interest is usually an improvement for the beings we are exploiting as well.
Domesticated Animals
On a trip to a salmon farm recently, I could see how all the fish were instinctively trying to swim in a particular direction but were stopped by the fence. Intuitively this gives an association to imprisonment, as opposed to the free wild salmon. However, fish farms are placed on spots with currents, such that the salmon can get its needed exercise. If not, the fish would be stressed and grow more slowly. The same applies to the density of fish. Too much fish and they would harm each others' growth. Indeed one of the most important factors for farming is a high growth rate. (I am careful not to state maximization of the growth, because this point is rarely optimal).
A newborn domesticated animal has its destiny all ready determined. A wild one has not. These latter two statements are true from a human's point of view. From God's, perhaps, both categories are determined, but more importantly from the animal's point neither are. So there should be no philosophical difference here. The standard of life for a domesticated animal, on the other hand, will benefit from human technology to be cured for diseases, protected from predators and generously fed. In addition to these luxuries, I doubt they suffer much pain from an unnatural habitat either. If an animal doesn't thrive, it is stressed, and as far as I know chronic stress is negative for growth. Therefore, for each new generation of domesticated animals, the best fit (i.e. also mentally fit) for the man made environment is selected. All in all, although animal welfare is not maximized, it is reasonable to believe that a domesticated animal has a better life than a wild one.
Wild Animals
Even in the wild, I will claim that human hunting and harvesting is a good thing for the potential catch. The single most negative factor for a wild animal is not its predators, the environment itself, but competition amongst its peers. If there is a surplus of food then the population increases and vice versa with a lack of food. Naturally the population size will fluctuate between these two situations. Thus on average life is a game where some must lose for others to win, and a slow and painful death is the price to pay for the losers. With human catch of the wild stock, it will be a surplus of food. The downside of course, is the risk of being hunted. The caught animal would per definition be worse off, but its peers gain. Man's influence is in a way a reduction of Nature's tragedy of the commons.
Remarks
These thoughts only count for animals with an economic value. If nature is depleted for the sake of development for instance, wildlife loses indeed. Also, if I'm wrong in my assumption about stress being bad for growth, domesticated animals may be worse off than if they were free. At last I'd again mention that economic activity does not maximize animal welfare, it is improved, and thus may it be in political interest to enforce standards.
A reader disagrees:
The idea that an individual farm animal's welfare must be high for the farm to perform well is a false one. It is (often) the overall output which is important to the farmer not the individual animal. Just look at broiler chickens, bred for meat rather than eggs. These birds have been bred to grow so fast that their skeletons and cardiovascular systems can't keep up and many suffer from lameness or have heart attacks before they are killed at 6 weeks. The overall outcome is tens of thousands of birds (per farm) at slaughter weight as early as possible. The small percentage that suffer and die, though still hundreds of birds, are counted as acceptable losses compared to the profit made from the others.
Also you have to consider whether quality is important in meat. With chicken it often isn't, so birds can be poorly raised (stressed animals do still grow, especially if you breed them for their ability to grow while stressed). Beef on the other hand is often sold as a higher quality meat and so the treatment of the animal is more important.
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