Animal Welfare and Theories of Justice

1. Animal Welfare and Theories of Justice Dr Justin Greaves University of Warwick

2. This presentation • The origins of the workshop • Links between public policy and political theory

3. GoLD project • £1million + – funded by RELU • Studied the epidemiological, political and legal aspects of endemic infectious disease control of cattle in the UK • Allows stakeholders to be better informed of the potential impact of different policy and regulatory changes

4. Welfare concerns • It is of welfare concern that livestock health is sub-optimal • Livestock diseases can potentially affect the health of humans and wildlife • Animal welfare is a factor in a decision to control endemic animal disease • Initiatives to improve disease control need to be developed within the broader context of animal welfare

5. As part of the project Wyn Grant gained interesting insights from a secondment to the Animal Welfare team at Defra

6. Future research • GoLD also threw up a number of interesting questions about animal welfare which fell outside the scope of the project • Workshop has two aims: (1) To discuss the substantive issues concerning justice, animal welfare and animal health (2) Discussion of possibilities to take the inquiry further (Leverhulme bid?)

7. A gap in the market? • Very few political ‘scientists’ work in this area • Two exceptions are Rob Garner at Leicester and Alasdair Cochrane at LSE • Therefore, an important gap in the market to tap into • Some aspects of the debate have been underplayed or ignored

8. Relevant and topical debate • New books (& articles) by Garner and Cochrane • Animal Welfare Bill, draft Animal Health Bill (dropped by Coalition government) • EU Animal Health Strategy (EU also drafting legislation on animal health) • New report by the RSPCA – the Welfare State: Five Years Measuring Animal Welfare in the UK 2005-2009

9. Issues to consider (1) • The challenge of ensuring animal welfare whilst food supplies continue at a time when there are food security concerns and rising or volatile prices • The need to balance the interests of animals, farmers and consumers • Ideal and non ideal theories of justice – a need for ‘practical’ solutions?

10. Issues to consider (2) • Conflicts between the interests of different animals EG: bTB – [the extent of] transmission from diseased badgers to cattle. How do we balance the interests of badgers against cattle?

11. Issues to consider (3) • How should we understand the nature of, and relationship between, disease, health and welfare for animals? • What are the implications in terms of public policy?

12. Public policy/political theory • We hope such research activity will provide a mechanism for more effectively integrating public policy and political theory

13. Centre for Ethics, Law and Public Affairs • We intend our activity to feed into CELPA • New centre established to address issues of public concern from the perspective of philosophy • The analysis of ethical and political ideals and their application to different aspects of public policy

14. Another issue to consider • Public policy should rest on a sound normative basis and the best ‘scientific’ evidence available • For example, a badger cull may be scientifically sound, but that does not necessarily make it normatively justified • See Weale (2010) and Sanderson (2009) articles in Political Studies

15. Some concluding thoughts • Could such issues help inform a new ‘theory of justice’ for animals? • A need to bring together: (1) The normative issues discussed by moral, political and legal theorists (2) The debates about policy and farming

16. Thank you for listening • Some helpful links • My webpage (and research interests) http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/staff/greaves • CELPA http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/celpa