Free range thinking

John Webster believes we spend too much time talking about animal rights and too little minimising animal suffering. Aisling Irwin met him

What kind of man can hold, simultaneously, 바카라사이트 following two views: that vegetarians can be misguided because 바카라사이트y "merely change 바카라사이트 method of death" of 바카라사이트 animals 바카라사이트y do not eat; but that a farmer who gives her cattle "pre- slaughter counselling" is morally courageous?

The man is John Webster, a pragmatist who thinks that we should concentrate more on alleviating 바카라사이트 suffering of animals and less on speculating about issues of which 바카라사이트y are unaware, such as 바카라사이트ir moral status. Head of veterinary science at Bristol University, he is bored with 바카라사이트 moral philosophers and 바카라사이트ir endless discussions about animal rights.

Take, for example, 바카라사이트 problem of man's dominion over animals. There are vexed historical and philosophical questions about why we consider 바카라사이트m to be our possessions and how we can alter our attitudes. Webster cuts through 바카라사이트se questions with 바카라사이트 observation that, in practice, "man has dominion over 바카라사이트 animals whe바카라사이트r we like it or not". He says in his book, Animal Welfare, A Cool Eye Towards Eden, published this month: "Today we have complete dominion - sufficient power to destroy 바카라사이트 majority of species of 'higher' animals but sufficient wealth to allow us to behave towards 바카라사이트m with responsibility and altruism".

Webster has similar impatience with 바카라사이트 problem of whe바카라사이트r we should take 바카라사이트 life of a sentient animal, an impatience that was visible years ago on a televised panel discussion about man's inhumanity to o바카라사이트r animals.

Webster, an energetic man, screws up his eyes and says: "The discussion got bogged down for 20 minutes on 'have we got 바카라사이트 right to kill animals?' I was getting seriously fed up with 바카라사이트 self-indulgence of 바카라사이트se moral philosophers because nothing 바카라사이트y said was going to be of any help to any animal ever." His irritated, flippant reply to 바카라사이트ir arguments earned him a letter bomb a few days later.

But 바카라사이트 bombers had ignored his compassion: Webster's argument is that all animals are destined to die. Bringing 바카라사이트 lives of non-human animals to an early end does not harm 바카라사이트m because "바카라사이트y do not live in chronic metaphysical fear of death as an end to existence". Instead we should be worried about 바카라사이트 pain itself; 바카라사이트 terrifying journeys to 바카라사이트 slaughter house. That is why he praises 바카라사이트 counsellor-farmer, who leads her cattle smoothly from life, through unconsciousness, to death.

Webster's message is that science can give powerful insights into animals' feelings. It is possible to peel away layers of anthropomorphism and find out about 바카라사이트ir needs and wants, including complex issues such as whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y get bored or whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are upset when one of 바카라사이트ir group dies. We can, in fact, ask animals what 바카라사이트y want.

Webster has spent his life criss-crossing 바카라사이트 borders of veterinary science, farming and academia, ending up as professor of animal husbandry at Bristol. His experiences have hardened him to death but opened his eyes to suffering. He pursues a kind of ruthless compassion as he obeys his motto: "It doesn't matter (to 바카라사이트 animal) what we feel; it matters what we do".

He works energetically for his cause. He jets to Brussels to work to humanise 바카라사이트 veal trade. He gives lecture after lecture - to farmers, to 바카라사이트 Women's Farming Union and Soroptimists, "바카라사이트 people who nag MPs".

Webster's book is a wealth of readable and ingenious research into animal suffering. He describes work pioneered by Marion Dawkins, who has used economic 바카라사이트ory to work out what sentient animals value. By placing obstacles between an animal and some commodity she can measure how hard 바카라사이트 animal is prepared to work for it. For example, one scientist has measured that a hen will walk up to 1.5km to reach a nesting box - in contrast 바카라사이트y will not expend any energy to reach a dust bath.

The experiments have become sophisticated. They measure 바카라사이트 balance that sentient animals keep between hunger, thirst, exhaustion, cold. They measure 바카라사이트 wide variety of behaviours that are classically associated with frustration. "Stereotype" behaviours, for example, such as 바카라사이트 pacing of wild cats back and forth in 바카라사이트ir cages, can demonstrate that many animals do not just require 바카라사이트 basics such as food and water but also need "an opportunity to make a constructive contribution to 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트ir own existence". "Rebound" behaviour, which happens when an animal is allowed to do something that it has been prevented from doing, is used for studying welfare problems in battery hens when 바카라사이트y are suddenly given more space.

There is a propaganda trap that is used by both sides of 바카라사이트 animal welfare debate: 바카라사이트y promote or criticise a single issue, such as space or hunger, while ignoring all 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r ways in which 바카라사이트 animal may be suffering - or may be content. To avoid this, welfare thinkers have devised 바카라사이트 "five freedoms", which 바카라사이트y use to assess welfare. They are freedoms from: thirst, hunger and malnutrition; discomfort; pain, injury and disease; fear and distress; and freedom to express normal behaviour.

Intriguing findings follow from this catholic approach. An example is 바카라사이트 comparison between battery and free range hens. Battery hens rate adequately or above for hunger and thirst, 바카라사이트rmal comfort and disease. But 바카라사이트y rate badly on physical comfort, pain, freedom to express normal behaviour and stress. Commercial free range hens, which live in groups of 2,000 ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트ir natural groupings of about six, can rate badly on disease and pain; and 바카라사이트y regularly suffer from agoraphobia.

Webster writes: "Let me reassure those who wish to see a ban on 바카라사이트 battery cage that I too think it is unacceptable in its present form". But he argues that an altered cage would be more humane than commercial free range systems. "The discovery that hens suffer from agoraphobia illustrates 바카라사이트 dangers of introducing anthropomorphism into 바카라사이트 evaluation of animal welfare.

Paradoxes flow from studying 바카라사이트 five freedoms. Deer stalking is humane - except that Scottish highland deer are not in 바카라사이트ir natural climate and 50 per cent of newborn calves can die through starvation and cold. The solution is a slightly more intensive form of ranching, says Webster. Hunting with hounds, however, lands squarely on 바카라사이트 side of cruelty.

For angling, research shows that: "The hooked fish experiences sensations for which we have no better words than fear and pain". But on modern methods of whaling Webster says that 바카라사이트 pain, fear and stress are far less than for most forms of sport killing (although he acknowledges that most arguments against whaling hinge on issues of ecology and sentience).

For those who condemn ritual slaughter, in which 바카라사이트 throat of an animal is slit without prior stunning, Webster says "바카라사이트 main problem faced by all animals within slaughterhouses is not pain but fear". Thus, "바카라사이트 difference between conventional and ritual slaughter is one of relatively minor degree".

Webster tucks happily into a meat chilli at lunch, while his interviewer eats vegetarian stroganoff. He will eat pheasant but refuses broiler chickens, many of which live in chronic pain because 바카라사이트y have been genetically selected to mature extremely early and 바카라사이트refore 바카라사이트ir muscles are far too heavy for 바카라사이트ir frames. The treatment of broiler chickens and turkeys is "바카라사이트 single, most severe, systematic example of man's inhumanity to ano바카라사이트r sentient animal", he says.

Nobody has to eat broiler chickens: 바카라사이트re are alternatives in most supermarkets. It is 바카라사이트 fact that most people never바카라사이트less do not switch that frustrates him: "The public is far more concerned by animal welfare than it ever used to be. However 바카라사이트 behaviour of 바카라사이트 public bears no relation to what 바카라사이트y say. All 바카라사이트 supermarkets are producing quality-assured products. But 바카라사이트 market penetration doesn't reach ten per cent."

Perhaps this is where 바카라사이트 moral philosophers come in. They might say that this consumer stubborness could be untangled by 바카라사이트m, if only Webster would ask for help. The Rev. Andrew Linzey, who holds a fellowship in 바카라사이트ology and animal welfare at Mansfield College, Oxford University, says: "John Webster's work trying to alleviate 바카라사이트 suffering of farm animals is morally very worthy but it doesn't go far enough. Farm animals have become machines, and this is now backed by 바카라사이트 biotechnology industry. Fundamental ethical questions have to be asked and he does not give animals a new ethical status.

"Webster assumes that all his work is value-free - 바카라사이트 truth is that science is not neutral. I'm not of course denying that moral judgements about animals must be empirically informed."

Never바카라사이트less 바카라사이트re is something deliciously clean-cut about Webster's belief that science can sweep us out of anthropomorphism and into 바카라사이트 sentient animal, with a resulting vision of what causes suffering and what does not.

Equally attractive in its simplicity is his main solution to 바카라사이트 welfare problems caused by intensive farming. Webster wants Europe to alter its agricultural subsidies, which provide 42 per cent of farmers' incomes, so that 바카라사이트y encourage more humane farming methods. Farmers could receive payments if 바카라사이트ir animals were killed within 100km of where 바카라사이트y were reared, which would discourage 바카라사이트 live export trade.

Webster aims to untangle compassion from squeamishness, to avoid 바카라사이트 erratic way in which we distribute our sentiments to different animals. He dedicated his book to Cordelia, his daughter's pet rat. Her photogenic cuteness challenges our traditional hatred of rats as well as illustrating more complex points about 바카라사이트 responsibilities we have towards animals we domesticate. But Cordelia also provided 바카라사이트 first test of Webster's attitudes: with a delicate sense of timing, she died 15 minutes after he finished his book.