Humans have been the guardians of other animals for thousands of years, since wolves were domesticated between 15 and 30 thousand years ago.¹ The domestication of farm animals followed, with goats, sheep, cattle, and chickens being domesticated around 10,000 years ago.² The vast majority of those years were spent with animals living the majority of their lives with relatively high levels of agency, often on pasture.

In the last century, the industrialization of animal agriculture meant that animals were moved indoors into tightly backed barns.³ With the increased emphasis on production and financial gain, power was taken from animals during their lives, their agency was restricted, and animal welfare plummeted.

Years ago, the animal welfare organization In Defense of Animals created Responsible Animal Guardian Month in honor of their late founder Dr. Elloit Katz. Their goal was to change the perception of animals as having “guardians” and not “owners.” During Responsible Animal Guardianship month, we explore this history of human-other animal relationships to emphasize the immense responsibility we have created, as a species, to care for others.

At Farm Sanctuary, we aim to provide environments and care for the hundreds of farm animals residents who call our sanctuaries home, so that they can truly thrive. While providing this care is not easy, it is well worth it. We want to share our experience so that you, too, can be informed and ready if and when you choose to become a responsible animal guardian.

There is an entire discipline of science, animal welfare science, devoted to improving the lives of animals living in captivity.⁴ While animal welfare science is a tool that has sometimes been exploited by an industry aiming to humane-wash their products, we use animal welfare science to create environments where sanctuary residents can flourish. Animal welfare scientists often talk about animal welfare as the way an individual animal experiences their life, including their physical health, emotional experience, and ability to engage in natural behaviors of one’s choosing.⁵ We want our residents to have more positive experiences than negative ones, and hence, thrive in a state of positive welfare.⁶ As the guardians of hundreds of farm animals, we aim to go beyond simply providing food, water, shelter, and veterinary care to creating environments that allow for positive emotions that result in the ability to engage in species-appropriate social and cognitive experiences. In practice, this means we’re expanding our enrichment program and seeking to shift to animal care practices that reduce fear and, ultimately, elevate agency in our residents.

Caring for farm animals is an expensive endeavor. The animal agriculture industry has bred these animals for optimal production, whether that be fast-growing muscles on chickens,⁷ or pigs,⁸ unnaturally high egg production in hens raised for eggs,⁹ or excessive milk production in mother cows raised for dairy.¹⁰ While factory farms can extricate the maximum profit during these animals’ short lives, at sanctuary they get to live out their lives long past when they were designed to be slaughtered. This means they experience a wide range of health problems that come with costly veterinary bills. From having trouble walking to a higher risk of cancer and heart disease,^{9, 11, 12} rescued farm animals require a great deal of care, which we are more than happy to provide so that they can experience the life they deserve. As if this isn’t difficult enough, farm animals are prey animals, which means they often hide their illnesses because being sick leaves them vulnerable to predators.¹³ This means that as a responsible animal guardian, you need to be attuned to the signs that an animal is sick, which can be subtle.

Being a responsible animal guardian means planning for an animal’s entire life. It means lifelong veterinary care, ensuring that they always have companions of their own or similar species (they need each other just as much as they need us!), and it means creating environments that support their entire range of natural behaviors. Chickens should be able to dustbathe, perch, and sunbathe.¹⁴ Pigs should be able to root, lie in a wallow, and use their complex cognitive abilities to solve problems.^15-17 Goats should be able to browse, climb, and find their place in their social group.¹⁸ Cows should be able to graze, ruminate, and learn (they love learning!).^{19, 20}

The needs of these animals are diverse, vast, and individual. Being a responsible animal guardian means meeting each individual where they are at and providing a lifetime of holistic care. Will you help us provide this level of care? By donating, or symbolically adopting a rescued resident, you can help us be the best guardians possible for more animals — those living in our sanctuaries and beyond!

References

¹Vigne, J.-D. The origins of animal domestication and husbandry: a major change in the history of humanity and the biosphere. C. R. Biol. 334, 171–181 (2011).

²Larson & Fuller. The evolution of animal domestication. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. (2014).

³Driver, K. & JH Bloomberg School of Public Health. Industrialization of Agriculture. https://www.foodsystemprimer.org/food-production/industrialization-of-agriculture/ (2016).

⁴Duncan I.J.H. Animal Welfare: A Brief History. in Animal Welfare: From Science to Law (ed. Hild S & Schweitzer) 13–19 (2019).

⁵Fraser, D. Understanding animal welfare. Acta Vet. Scand. 50, 1–7 (2008).

⁶Mellor, D. J. & Beausoleil, N. J. Extending the ‘Five Domains’ model for animal welfare assessment to incorporate positive welfare states. Anim. Welf. 24, 241–253 (2015).

⁷Rayner, A. C., Newberry, R. C., Vas, J. & Mullan, S. Slow-growing broilers are healthier and express more behavioural indicators of positive welfare. Sci. Rep. 10, 1–14 (2020).

⁸Prunier, A., Heinonen, M. & Quesnel, H. High physiological demands in intensively raised pigs: impact on health and welfare. Animal 4, 886–898 (2010).

⁹Johnson, P. A., Stephens, C. S. & Giles, J. R. The domestic chicken: Causes and consequences of an egg a day. Poult. Sci. 94, 816–820 (2015).

¹⁰Oltenacu, P. A. & Broom, D. M. The impact of genetic selection for increased milk yield on the welfare of dairy cows. Anim. Welf. 19, 39–49 (2010).

¹¹Erasmus, M. A. Welfare issues in turkey production. in Advances in Poultry Welfare (ed. Mench, J.) 263–291 (Woodhead Publishing, 2018).

¹²Siddiqui, M. F. M. F., Patil, M. S., Khan, K. M. & Khan, L. A. Sudden death syndrome – An overview. Veterinary World 2, 444–447 (2009).

¹³Weary, D. M., Huzzey, J. M. & von Keyserlingk, M. A. G. Board-invited review: Using behavior to predict and identify ill health in animals. J. Anim. Sci. 87, 770–777 (2009).

¹⁴Nicol, C. Behavioral Needs, Priorities, and Preferences. in The Behavioural Biology of Chickens 5 (CABI, 2015).

¹⁵Studnitz, M., Jensen, M. B. & Pedersen, L. J. Why do pigs root and in what will they root? Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. (2007) doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2006.11.013.

¹⁶Marino, L. & Colvin, C. M. Thinking Pigs: A Comparative Review of Cognition, Emotion, and Personality in Sus domesticus. Int. J. Comp. Psychol. 28, (2015).

¹⁷Bracke, M. B. M. & Spoolder, H. A. M. Review of wallowing in pigs: implications for animal welfare. Anim. Welf. 20, 347–363 (2011).

¹⁸Zobel, G. & Nawroth, C. Current state of knowledge on the cognitive capacities of goats and its potential to inform species-specific enrichment. Small Rumin. Res. 192, 106208 (2020).

¹⁹Kilgour, R. J. In pursuit of ‘normal’: A review of the behaviour of cattle at pasture. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 138, 1–11 (2012).

²⁰Hagen, K. & Broom, D. M. Emotional reactions to learning in cattle. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 85, 203–213 (2004).