The COST Action ‘LIFT’ will provide the background for including positive welfare in farm animal welfare assessment. The traditional approach to animal welfare was to prevent suffering, and there is consequently a significant bias in the science of animal welfare towards the study of negative experiences. Recent advances, however, are leading to considerations of positive experiences, also referred to as positive welfare, which is more in line with consumer and citizen expectations. There is currently no agreement among researchers on what constitutes positive animal welfare or what kinds of techniques, tests and procedures are sound methodologies to assess positive experiences in farm animals. Consequently, no welfare assessment scheme currently includes direct animal-based indicators of positive experiences. This COST Action will progress this research area in a multidisciplinary scientific approach through cross-discipline knowledge sharing, training and Europe-wide collaboration to lay the foundations for this growing area of research.
Working Group member of CECAV: Mariana Almeida (WG2, WG4)
