Human Relationships with Domestic and Other Animals: One Health, One Welfare, One Biology.
Authors: Tarazona Ariel M, Ceballos Maria C, Broom Donald M
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary The interconnected health and welfare of humans, domestic animals, and wild species demands urgent reconsideration of how we use animals for food production, work, companionship, and research. Tarazona, Ceballos, and Broom synthesise evidence across the "one health, one welfare, one biology" framework—a systems-based approach recognising that human population growth, resource depletion, agricultural intensification, and climate change create cascading effects across all animal populations. Their analysis reveals that genuine animal welfare extends beyond physical health to encompass emotional states, behavioural expression, comfort during movement and rest, and quality of social bonds both within species and between animals and humans; critically, they document how these welfare conditions directly influence zoonotic disease transmission and ecosystem stability. For equine professionals, this has immediate relevance: horses' susceptibility to stress-related illness, behavioural problems, and disease is inseparable from their social housing, training methods, veterinary care standards, and their broader role within human-dominated landscapes. The paradigm shift the authors advocate—treating animal exploitation as ethically accountable rather than inevitable—suggests that optimal equine performance, longevity, and soundness depend on moving beyond minimum welfare compliance toward genuinely integrated management that acknowledges horses as sentient beings whose wellbeing shapes human health outcomes and environmental sustainability.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Equine professionals should recognize that horse welfare extends beyond physical health to include emotional state, movement comfort, and meaningful social interactions—informing management practices
- •Consider zoonotic disease transmission risks in human-animal interactions and implement appropriate biosecurity and health monitoring protocols
- •Adopt ethical frameworks when advising on animal use and management, acknowledging environmental and welfare consequences of current practices
Key Findings
- •Human population growth and resource overuse are creating urgent challenges to animal welfare across domesticated and wild species
- •Animal welfare encompasses health, emotional state, comfort, behavioral expression, and social relationships with conspecifics and humans
- •One Health, One Welfare, and One Biology frameworks are essential paradigms for addressing interconnected human-animal-environmental health
- •Ethical considerations regarding animal use for food, clothing, work, companionship, and research must be reconsidered in light of current environmental and zoonotic disease risks