Animal Welfare Science: An Interdisciplinary Guide

Animal welfare as a concept and practice is important to many disciplines and professions. From blue skies scientists to front line animal rescue, there is a need for this textbook, which distils and interprets the core concepts and language of animal welfare science.

Coverage includes the main theories and why we needed them; practical advice for how to assess animal welfare; illustrative examples of different species and the importance of their interactions; and the stresses and strains experienced across an increasingly diverse workforce. Foundational knowledge is combined with real-world examples and recent advances to communicate the content and spirit of this unique field.

This accessible text is designed to support tertiary animal welfare curricula but is also relevant to the study of human–animal interactions, anthropology, and related fields. It provides a jumping-off point for many areas of knowledge and application for anyone interested in how animal welfare and science intersect. Animal Welfare Science: An Interdisciplinary Guide was created to provide an informational grounding that fosters competency, credibility, and the confidence to engage with peers across the animal welfare space. It also provides an overview of the career landscape with practical advice about the challenges and pressure points that you may encounter. Along with copious color illustrations, bullet points, thought experiments, tables, and links to video and other online resources aid accessibility.

Emily Patterson-Kane trained as a behavioral psychologist in New Zealand at Waikato University and Victoria University of Wellington. She held the Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship to research the environmental needs of laboratory rodents at the University of British Columbia. Her published research investigates many aspects of animal cruelty, animal welfare assessment, and animal welfare history and education. Emily first took the role of Animal Welfare Scientist at the American Veterinary Medical Association and is currently employed as a director of research at the American Society for the Protection of Animals. She co-authored The Sciences of Animal Welfare and Rethinking the American Animal Rights Movement (Routledge, 2022). (Shown with Vienna, her canine collaborator). Emily's website can be found at www.EmilyPattersonKane.com.

Tina Rich is a generalist scientist, which is a rare and adaptive thing in today's largely specialist world. After obtaining a PhD in Immunology from Birkbeck College (University of London), she took postdoctoral posts at the Brain Tumor Research Center (UCSF, San Francisco), the Laboratoire d'lmmunogénétique Moléculaire (Institut des Cordeliers, Paris), the Pathology Department of the University of Cambridge (UK), and won tenure at the University of Glasgow, where she was recruited to the Veterinary Medicine’s Institute of Comparative Medicine (ICM), supported by an RCUK fellowship. At the latter university, Tina's involvement in the ICM began an ongoing interest in nonhuman animal health and welfare. Since then she has worked as a writer and editor, paralegal, and strategic contributor to nonprofit organizations who have a focus on the welfare of the environment and animals. At this stage of her globe-trotting, Tina lives in New Jersey with two dogs and two cats, all of whom clearly communicate their welfare wants and needs.