Sustainable Animal Stewardship
Contributing to a sustainable relation between humans and other animals
Animals are an integral part of our society. Their role in our daily lives continues to grow, as does the frequency and intensity of interactions between humans and animals. With a diversity of interests and perspectives, this leads to discussions and dilemmas among us humans. Striving for a sustainable way of living together requires an approach that is both scientifically sound and socially responsive. Sustainable Animal Stewardship approaches animal-related issues in an integrated and interdisciplinary way, aiming to explore and analyse the societal and moral foundations of these issues, often in collaboration with stakeholders. Franck Meijboom: "Our interdisciplinary approach can make important contributions to sustainable interaction with animals."
Animals and the start of life: breeding
Animal breeding has the potential to contribute to more sustainable ways to interact with animals, including animal health and welfare. These aims already show that breeding is more than a mere technical practice, it is embedded in ideas of what is valuable and desirable. Furthermore, (novel) techniques in animal breeding, for example genome editing raises ethical questions. In national and international projects, our team aims to integrate the ethical dimensions into scientific and corporate research practices and decision-making processes that concern (farm)animal breeding techniques.
Responsible use of new technologies in breeding requires careful consideration and discussion with all those involved
Animals: AI, ethics and animal welfare
Many animal-related issues are too complex to be tackled by the methods of veterinary science alone. Particularly subjecting animals to AI-based technologies which have the potential to fundamentally change our notions and practices of animal handling and care may be reason for new societal concerns. For a successful implementation of AI-based solutions, it is important to stay ahead of and to be able to respond to these concerns. This can only be achieved by a systematic and strategic approach to transdisciplinary collaboration.
To advance our understanding of animal welfare we need to move beyond discipline specific assumptions and concepts
Animals in Research
There is an increasing focus on animal-free innovations. This research line focuses on the ethical aspects of this development. It deals with questions such as ‘Under what conditions does an animal-free research approach qualify as an alternative to animal testing?’ and ‘When should animal-free research approaches lead to the replacement of animal experiments, and when should animal-free research and animal experiments be conducted in parallel?’ The approach is interdisciplinary, which is reflected in projects in which team members have a joint position in our group and in the faculty of Geosciences or Medicine.
Animal-free innovation is often presented as a 'win-win' for humans and animals, but faces conflicts of interest that ought to be addressed
Animals at the End-of-life
Living with animals involves questions and decisions about the end of their lives. Research in our group has shown that this decision-making process can be complex and includes questions in the contexts of animals that we perceive as pests or wild animals, and animals that we keep for companionship or research and food production. End-of-life questions reflect different views on what constitutes appropriate care. These differences can have significant consequences for the well-being of the animal, the owner, and the veterinary professionals involved. Therefore, we study the values and beliefs regarding end-of-life decisions together with professionals and stakeholders.
Every end-of-life situation requires careful consideration
Animals in interspecies context
We engage with animals in different contexts. This does not only hold for differences in the way humans keep or use animals, but the human-animal relationship is also embedded in historical, societal and environmental context. Studying these contexts and the interdependencies contribute to more sustainable interactions between humans and other animals.
Floor Haalboom and Joachim Nieuwland coordinate this research.