THE COMMUNITY-DEVELOPMENT APPROACH TO ANIMAL-WELFARE - AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

It is difficult to motivate the use of donor funding for animal welfar e on a continent where there is human starvation, unless the promotion of animal welfare has spin-offs for human welfare. This paper address es the possibility of a paradigm shift which would result in animal we lfare succeeding in its aims through making it people-centred rather t han animal-centred. It looks, therefore, at the benefits that accrue t o people when the well-being of animals is improved as well as the ben efits that accrue to animals when the well-being of people is improved . Development and empowerment of resource-poor communities and how thi s impinges on the well-being of wild game, traction animals, productio n animals and companion animals will be discussed. A proactive and pos itive approach, by veterinarians, to animal welfare in Africa will be motivated. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.