ABSTRACT

This chapter deals with the ways in which attitudes to the mental abilities of animals influence how humans treat them and how humans view them in the natural environment. Attitudes to the welfare of animals are various and, as we have seen, animals are changing, and will continue to do so, in response to the new information on higher cognition in animals. Cognition and consciousness in animals is unquestionably an issue of great importance to the welfare of animals, not only in research but also in other areas in which humans exploit animals. There might be many animals thinking this in laboratory and farming environments as they watch or hear other animals being experimented on or being killed. Animals in confined caging or housed in conditions that provide them with little stimulation show stereotyped behaviours, meaning that they repeat the same behaviour over and over again.