Billions of livestock in low- and middle-income countries live under conditions that receive far less welfare attention than animals in high-income countries, representing a major gap in global animal welfare policy.
Global animal welfare policy is dominated by high-income country perspectives and concerns — factory farming reform, laboratory animal welfare, companion animal welfare — while the situation of billions of animals in low- and middle-income country settings receives far less attention. Working animals in many LMIC contexts suffer from overwork, untreated wounds, poor nutrition, and lack of veterinary access. These welfare problems are inseparable from poverty and the economic dependence on animals that characterises subsistence and smallholder agriculture. Welfare improvement in these contexts requires culturally sensitive, economically feasible approaches that benefit both animals and their keepers — improving an animal's welfare often improves its productivity, providing genuine mutual incentives. Organisations working in this space are doing some of the highest-impact, most neglected welfare work globally.