Can a white
leghorn hen be truly happy?
That's one
question researchers are
asking in the emerging
academic field called
"animal well-being."
These
researchers videotape chickens
at play or rig doors so pigs
can use their snouts to choose
between eating their food
alone or hanging out with
other swine. The scientists
attend conferences to hear
papers with titles like "Hyperaggressiveness
in Male Broiler Breeder
Fowl."
Through
behavioral research and animal
biology, the experts try to
find out: Are cows ever happy?
Do pigs feel pain? What do
chickens really want?
They know
they're asking touchy-feely
questions of a system that
profits from mass slaughter.
But they consider themselves
pioneers.
"Asking
scientific questions about an
animal's feelings is brand
new," says Edmond A.
Pajor, an associate professor
of animal behavior at Purdue
University.
These Dr.
Doolittles are financed in
part by restaurant chains like
McDonald's
and KFC, which have been
accused of helping to create
harsh conditions on animal
farms, where chickens, pigs
and cattle are bred en masse.
Of more than eight billion
farm animals processed in the
United States, most are
crammed into cages, stalls and
indoor barns before being
killed. Their food is
carefully rationed to promote
optimal growth.
In recent
years, especially in Western
Europe, companies have felt
rising pressure to treat
animals humanely. Some food
retailers have introduced
labels indicating that an
animal was raised with care.
Yet that's
still far from ensuring that
the animals are happy — a
state that is hard to define
for human beings but that
scientists are nonetheless
trying to attain for
livestock.
"It's
hard to talk about happiness,
so we're trying to reduce the
number of negative emotional
experiences," Professor
Pajor said. For now,
researchers are seeking to
eliminate pain, suffering and
frustration.
Of course,
if it were up to the animals,
they might simply prefer
longer lives. Dairy cows that
used to be milked for five to
seven years are now milked for
two or three years before
being made into hamburger.
Chickens live an average of 46
days, birth to McNugget.
Then again,
if the animals' lives are
destined to be short, perhaps
it's all the more important
that they be sweet.