Indigenous and traditional knowledge systems contain extensive knowledge about animal welfare that is at risk of being lost with language extinction and cultural change, with implications for both animals and human communities.
The welfare implications of losing traditional animal knowledge systems are indirect but real. Communities whose languages encode sophisticated understanding of local animal species, their behaviour, and their health lose practical capabilities for animal management when that language dies. The Masai knowledge of cattle behaviour, the Inuit understanding of sled dog welfare, the traditional knowledge of pastoral communities in Central Asia about yak and camel management -- these represent accumulated welfare wisdom about specific animals in specific contexts that takes generations to develop. Supporting indigenous language and knowledge preservation is therefore also an animal welfare investment, particularly for the community livestock that depend on these knowledge systems.