The contribution of animals to human welfareScientific and Technical Review, Vol. 37 (1) - WOAH - World Organisation for Animal Health (2024)

FAQs

What are the contributions of animals to human welfare? ›

Pets also improve empathy in children and contribute to their healthy social and emotional development. A more direct benefit is apparent in the work of service animals, who may act as eyes, ears, and limbs for people who are blind, deaf, or mobility impaired.

Animals as Companions

Dogs, cats, horses, and other animals are being used to help reduce stress, help victims of trauma or abuse recover a sense of stability and comfort, assist people in physical therapy, and improve the psychological states of terminal patients.

Animals release people from the hard labour of heavy field work; animals make possible the transport of natural resources and farm products to other communities for barter or sale; animals provide animal fat and protein for improved nutrition; animal milk enables infants to survive and grow when quantities of human ...

Animal products provide an estimated 16% of the calories and 36% of the protein in human diets on a global basis (Delgado et al., 1998).

Good animal welfare requires disease prevention and treatment, responsible care, proper housing, management, nutrition, humane handling, and—when necessary—humane euthanasia.

One benefit that does not appear to have been contested is that improving welfare offers commercial opportunities to market products as being from higher welfare systems, with some studies showing that consumers are willing to pay more (however, not vast amounts more) to purchase meat that makes them feel better about ...

Animal protein

Our bodies create 11 of them (these are called "non-essential amino acids"), but we must get the other 9 from food (essential amino acids). Animal proteins, such as meat, eggs, and milk, are complete proteins, meaning they provide all of the essential amino acids our body needs.

Livestock contribute to food supply by converting low-value materials, inedible or unpalatable for people, into milk, meat, and eggs; livestock also decrease food supply by competing with people for food, especially grains fed to pigs and poultry.

Do animals give us nutrients? ›

Vitamins and nutrients from properly-raised meat do not have antinutrients or synthetic ingredients. And, they contain complete proteins. All of this makes the nutrients available immediately. Animal-based foods are simply more bioavailable than plant-based foods.

Proper nutrition gives your animals the vigor to grow, develop, and reproduce, and strong immunity to fight off infections. All these advantages lead to more profitable and sustainable agriculture.

Just like people, animals need nutrients. This includes the basics like protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins. These form the building blocks for the animals to grow and sustain themselves. Protein helps with the animal's growth, supporting the development of muscles and other body parts.

However, we often take for granted the most important nutrient, the one required in the greatest amount by any class of livestock water. All animals require water. Water is needed to transport compounds via the blood, maintain cellular structural integrity, regulate temperature, etc.

Good nutrition can increase feed effi- ciency and the rate of gain in animals. Animals must be fed diets that meet their needs. If their needs are not prop- erly met, the animals won't grow, repro- duce, or produce milk, and they could possibly die.