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Animal Boredom: Is a Scientific Study of the Subjective Experiences of Animals Possible?

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Advances in Animal Welfare Science 1984

Part of the book series: Advances in Animal Welfare Science ((AAWS,volume 1))

Abstract

The study of animal well-being has now become an accepted field of scientific research. Until recently the dominant belief was that subjective experience was inaccessible to the natural sciences, since it could not be experimentally manipulated. It led so-called behaviourists to the denial of any sort of subjective life to animals. This scientific conception of animals is far removed from daily reality, in which people regard and treat animals as sentient beings. Second, the way we as human beings exploit animals for our own sake and profit has caused protest from several groups of people who consider these practices irresponsible and uncaring. Pigs, calves and chickens are “produced” in great quantity in small housing systems for meat consumption; rats and other species are extensively used in experimental laboratories, and all kinds of wild species are kept and bred in zoos. The will to improve the conditions in which these animals live has led to the development of a new field of scientific research: the science of animal welfare.

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  1. Instituut voor Theoretische Biologie, Groenhovenstraat 5, 2311 BT, Leiden, Holland

    Francoise Wemelsfelder

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  1. Francoise Wemelsfelder
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  1. The Institute for the Study of Animal Problems, Washington, DC, 20037, USA

    Michael W. Fox D.Sc., Ph.D., B.Vet.Med., MRCVS (Director) & Linda D. Mickley B.S. (Research Associate) (Director) &  (Research Associate)

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Wemelsfelder, F. (1985). Animal Boredom: Is a Scientific Study of the Subjective Experiences of Animals Possible?. In: Fox, M.W., Mickley, L.D. (eds) Advances in Animal Welfare Science 1984. Advances in Animal Welfare Science, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4998-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4998-0_8

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