The 2020 Five Domains Model: Including Human-Animal Interactions in Assessments of Animal Welfare

Abstract

Throughout its 25-year history, the Five Domains Model for animal welfare assessment has been regularly updated to include at each stage the latest authenticated developments in animal welfare science thinking. The domains of the most up-to-date Model described here are: 1 Nutrition, 2 Physical Environment, 3 Health, 4 Behavioural Interactions and 5 Mental State. The first four domains focus attention on factors that give rise to specific negative or positive subjective experiences (affects), which contribute to the animal's mental state, as evaluated in Domain 5. More specifically, the first three domains focus mainly on factors that disturb or disrupt particular features of the body's internal stability. Each disturbed or disrupted feature generates sensory inputs which are processed by the brain to form specific negative affects, and these affects are associated with behaviours that act to restore the body's internal stability. As each such behaviour is essential for the survival of the animal, the affects associated with them are collectively referred to as "survival-critical affects". In contrast, Domain 4, now named Behavioural Interactions, focusses on evidence of animals consciously seeking specific goals when interacting behaviourally with (1) the environment, (2) other non-human animals and (3) as a new feature of the Model outlined here, humans. The associated affects, evaluated via Domain 5, are mainly generated by brain processing of sensory inputs elicited by external stimuli. The success of the animals' behavioural attempts to achieve their chosen goals is reflected in whether the associated affects are negative or positive. Collectively referred to as "situation-related affects", these outcomes are understood to contribute to animals' perceptions of their external circumstances. These observations reveal a key distinction between the way survival-critical and situation-related affects influence animals' aligned behaviours. The former mainly reflect compelling motivations to engage in genetically embedded behavioural responses, whereas the latter mainly involve conscious behavioural choices which are the hallmarks of agency. Finally, numerous examples of human-animal interactions and their attendant affects are described, and the qualitative grading of interactions that generate negative or positive affect is also illustrated.

Keywords: affective state; behavioural interactions; biological functioning; environment; human behaviour; humans; other animals; welfare grading; welfare impacts.

Figure 1

The 1994 Five Domains Model, redrawn from Reference [1].

Figure 2

Domain 1: Nutrition. Examples of nutritional imbalances and opportunities and their associated negative and positive affects assigned to Domain 5: Mental State.

Figure 3

Domain 2: Physical Environment. Examples of unavoidable and enhanced physical conditions and their associated negative and positive affects assigned to Domain 5: Mental State.

Figure 4

Domain 3: Health. Examples of negative and positive health conditions and their corresponding affects assigned to Domain 5: Mental State.

Figure 5

Domain 4: Behavioural Interactions. Examples of interactions with the environment, other (non-human) animals and humans, where animals’ capability to freely exercise agency would be impeded or enhanced, and examples of the corresponding affects assigned to Domain 5: Mental State. Also provided for human–animal interactions are examples of negative and positive attributes which influence the behaviour of humans towards animals.

Figure 6

Some general circumstances in which the presence of humans at a distance, close to or in direct contact with animals may lead the animals to have negative or positive affective experiences, and some specific examples of those circumstances. The examples provide an indication of the negative-to-positive range of human–animal interactions. These, when considered together with the negative-to-positive range of influential human attributes illustrated in Figure 5, are provided to help Model users to evaluate in more detail the impacts of interactions at and between these extremes.

Figure 7

Examples of graded negative affective impacts due to different human interactions with animals of different types and in different situations. For each type of interaction, grades indicated in each row relate to variations in relevant factors of the interaction, such as the animal’s prior contact with humans or the training regime. Also noted for each sub-scenario is the degree to which behavioural and/or physiological indicators of the affective experience are expressed by the animal, as well as the intensity of specific inferred negative affects, e.g., fear. The approach here is therefore similar to the grading of other negative impacts.

Figure 8

Examples of relative positive affective impacts on animals due to human interactions graded separately according to the frequency, variety, duration and form of congenial contacts. As these four features interact, they all need to be graded for each situation, and their grades amalgamated into an overall grade. For this purpose, a numerical score is applied to each feature in each column. Note that this is a numerical aid to the qualitative assessment of positive impacts. If any feature receives a zero score, none of the other levels apply and the overall score is zero. The minimum overall score above zero is 4 (1 for each feature), an intermediate score is 8 (2 for each feature) and the maximum is 12 (3 for each feature). The range of possible overall scores above zero in each situation would therefore be 4 to 12. As each feature is graded qualitatively before amalgamation, each overall numerical score is merely a guide for prospectively or retrospectively comparing outcomes of proposed or completed changes by undertaking a succession of such assessments. Note that such comparisons within specific situations is qualitatively meaningful, whereas such comparisons between different situations is not.