Animal welfare challenges in the Global South, where farming animals number in the billions but regulatory and advocacy capacity is limited. What progress is being made?
Animal welfare in developing countries is shaped by very different constraints than in high-income contexts. Poverty, limited veterinary infrastructure, cultural traditions, and the role of animals as subsistence livelihood all create distinctive welfare challenges. Working animals — horses, donkeys, mules, and oxen — are critical to the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people but often suffer from overwork, wounds, and inadequate nutrition. Farm animals in subsistence systems may have better welfare in some respects (more space, pasture access) than those in intensive Western systems, but veterinary care is often inaccessible. Effective welfare improvement in these contexts requires culturally sensitive approaches, capacity building, and recognition of the human welfare dimension.