The Five Domains Model, developed by Professor David Mellor, provides a comprehensive framework for assessing animal welfare that goes beyond basic physical needs to include mental state. It has become increasingly influential in both research and practice.
The Five Domains Model represents a significant conceptual advance over earlier frameworks that focused solely on preventing suffering. By requiring assessment of both negative and positive mental states, it pushes assessors to ask not just whether an animal is free from pain and disease but whether it has opportunities to experience pleasure, curiosity, comfort, and play. This positive welfare orientation has practical implications — a system that prevents all obvious suffering but offers no enrichment or behavioural opportunity scores poorly under the Five Domains. The model has been widely adopted precisely because it provides a structured, evidence-based way of thinking about the full spectrum of animal experience.