Significant gaps in animal welfare data limit evidence-based policy and advocacy; identifying these gaps is the first step to addressing them.
Evidence-based animal welfare policy and advocacy depends on data, and welfare data has enormous gaps. We know relatively little about the welfare of billions of wild animals, most farmed fish, and almost all invertebrates. Without welfare data, we cannot identify problems, measure progress, or evaluate interventions. Investing in welfare monitoring and data collection is a prerequisite for evidence-based welfare improvement.