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Description
Animal welfare relies on both the prevention of suffering and the facilitation of positive experiences. A growing body of academic literature considers the concept of ‘animal agency’ to be a key organising principle of positive welfare - over and above having good things, positive welfare is about doing them.
Exercising agency is to lead an active life, applying effort, competence and choice in fulfilling one’s own needs and wishes. Through expression of agency, animals flourish, actively creating well-being for themselves rather than passively consuming it. This policy brief considers strategies for facilitating animal agency on farms and proposes pathways for incorporating these in Scottish Government policy guidelines for environmental enrichment.