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Legal complexities of animal welfare in Australia: Do on-animal sensors offer a future option?

journal contribution
posted on 2022-02-15, 00:04 authored by Jaime ManningJaime Manning, Deborah Power, Amy CosbyAmy Cosby
The five freedoms and, more recently, the five domains of animal welfare provide inter-nationally recognised frameworks to evaluate animal welfare practices which recognise both the physical and mental wellbeing needs of animals, providing a balanced view of their ability to cope in their environment. Whilst there are many techniques to measure animal welfare, the challenge lies with how best to align these with future changes in definitions and expectations, advances in science, legislative requirements, and technology improvements. Furthermore, enforcement of current animal welfare legislation in relation to livestock in Australia and the reliance on self-audits for accreditation schemes, challenges our ability to objectively measure animal welfare. On-animal sensors have enormous potential to address animal welfare concerns and assist with legislative compliance, through continuous measurement and monitoring of an animal’s behavioural state and location being reflective of their wellbeing. As reliable animal welfare measures evolve and the cost of on-animal sensors reduce, technology adoption will increase as the benefits across the supply chain are realised. Future adoption of on-animal sensors by producers will primarily depend on a value proposition for their business being clear; algorithm development to ensure measures are valid and reliable; increases in producer knowledge, willingness, and trust in data governance; and improvements in data transmission and connectivity.

History

Volume

11

Issue

1

Start Page

1

End Page

15

Number of Pages

15

eISSN

2076-2615

ISSN

2076-2615

Location

Switzerland

Publisher

MDPI

Publisher License

CC BY

Additional Rights

CC BY 4.0

Language

eng

Peer Reviewed

  • Yes

Open Access

  • Yes

Acceptance Date

2021-01-05

Author Research Institute

  • Institute for Future Farming Systems

Era Eligible

  • Yes

Medium

Electronic

Journal

Animals

Article Number

91