Click here for information on pdf files.

Animal Welfare Related topics & links

One of AFAC's goals is to monitor and participate in issues and legislation that affect animal care. Views about animals, their use and their well being varies. Open dialogue based on science and ethics is encouraged.

• Legislative Issues
• Economic Benefits of Humane Handling
• Animal Sentience
• Food Industry Purchasing Decisions
• Security - Farm & Livestock Facility Break-ins
• Humane Labeling
• Diseases
• The Consumer
• Animal Activists Issues
• Learning About Animal Welfare
• Veterinarians
• Thinking Critically
• Antibiotics

Legislative Issues

• AFAC's Animal Protection & Laws page
• Legislation for Animal Welfare (pdf) T. Whiting Feb 05

Economic Benefits of Humane Handling

• The Ethical & Economic Reasons to Treat Animals Humanely, American Meat Institute
• Good Livestock Handling Pays - AFAC training courses

Humane Labeling

• Labeling of Humanely or Alternatively Produced Foods
• Beef Information Centre (www.cattle.ca, www.beefinfo.org)
  Organic Beef BIC Fact Sheet, (pdf) Feb 04
  Understanding Use of Antibiotic & Hormonal Substances in Cattle Jun 03
• Organic industry misses mark with 'fear factor messaging' AFAC Update 04

Diseases

• Bird Flu - Avian Influenza
• BSE - Mad Cow Disease
• West Nile Disease - Alberta Agriculture & Food
• Foot & Mouth Disease - Alberta Agriculture & Food

The Consumer

• A survey to determine public opinion about the ethics and governance of farm animal welfare Oct 08
• LivestockWelfare.com, Canada's farm animal welfare site
• Whats on your plate? exploring Alberta's livestock industry
• FarmIssues.com - information about farming & food
• Farm animals: Who Cares? Caring for our animals 24/7
  • Click here to view / download booklet (pdf)
    
  • Click here to order copies
• Animal Welfare Issues & Initiatives: Consumer pressure is changing welfare practices worldwide, Sept 07
• The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production Report: Putting Meat on The Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America May 08
• Consumers express views on farm animal welfare Oct 07
• Linking Food Safety & Animal Welfare - a OIE scientific & technical review that provides a global overview on animal welfare perspectives. Mar 06
• Animal Welfare & Consumer Attitudes, an analysis of the 2004 Ipsos-Reid poll (Feb 05)
• Animal Welfare Linked to Food Safety, Haines report for ON Meat Industry
• Paying more for meat from humanely raised animals May 05
• Animal Welfare Groups - Who's Who and What's What (pdf) T. Whiting Feb 05
• Reality provides incentives (pdf) Dr. Temple Grandin
• What's in a Word? - How common agriculture terms are heard by consumers
• Solid Trust in Agriculture Summer 04 Update
• Canadian Consumer Attitudes towards Pork Production Fall 04 Update
• AFAC Reaching out the Consumers - Sum 04 Update
• Can animals you eat be treated humanely? Dr. Temple Grandin's decent-life, humane-death crusade (MSNBC) Jun 04
  
• Fast food restaurants are introducing animal welfare guidelines for their suppliers. See AFAC's Fast Food Chains Position Paper

Food Marketing Institute Board of Directors has adopted an industry policy and program components to be shared with their customers and suppliers. Click here for details.

Animal Activists Issues

• Animal welfare groups need to grow up Sept 08
• Be open and up front with activists Jan 08
• What has happened? How farmers, the first stewards of land and cattle, became the target of animal rights activists. Dec 07
• Dan Murphy
  • Understanding the combatants in the war on food producers Dec 04
  • For PETA, 'compromise' is code for capitulation Nov 04
• Counteracting the Animal Rights Agenda
• Transparency in Agriculture

Learning About Animal Welfare

Changing Attitudes. Debate continues over the humane treatment of animals in agriculture, research, sport and companionship. Increasingly, questions are asked about how these animals are cared for and about the appropriateness of using animals for these purposes. Contact AFAC to speak on this issue at your conference or event. Dynamic, well-paced thought-provoking presentation, tailored to your audience.

• Animal Welfare Issues & Initiatives: Consumer pressure is changing welfare practices worldwide, 07 Sept
• Animal Welfare Evolution, Western Dairy Digest (pdf) Fall 05
• FarmIssues.com - gateway to information about farming and food
• www.WhatsOnYourPlate.ca ... exploring Alberta's livestock industry
• AnimalHandling.org - humane handling is good for livestock ... and good for business
• HandlingCattle.com - Calico Beef
• LivestockTransport.ca - Certified Livestock Transport training program
• Grandin.com - Dr. Temple Grandin
• Animal Use Spectrum Animal Welfare / Animal Rights
• Assessment of Animal Welfare: the Five Freedoms

Veterinarians

• Canadian Veterinary Medical Association - Animal Welfare Position
  Animal welfare is a human responsibility that encompasses all aspects of animal well-being, including proper housing, management, nutrition, disease prevention, responsible care, humane handling, and, where necessary, humane euthanasia... more

Thinking Critically

• Think Critically About Animal Welfare Issues! AFAC's jr/sr high resource
• David Fraser, UBC
  • Charlotte's Web & the ethics of animal husbandry
  • Animal ethics & the 'New Perception' of animal agriculture
  • Understanding Animal Welfare: Science, Values & Emerging Standards

Antibiotics

• Feedlot study indicates no major links to antimicrobial resistance in humans, Meristem Land & Sciences Nov 04
• Benefits of antibiotics in chickens may outweigh risks, University of Minnesota Nov 04