Animal welfare science depends on research funding that is currently minimal relative to the scale of suffering it addresses, limiting the evidence base for welfare improvement.
The quality of animal welfare practice depends on the quality of the underlying science, and that science is severely underfunded relative to its potential welfare impact. Key questions — what does positive welfare look like for different species, how much do various invertebrates suffer, what are the most cost-effective welfare interventions at scale — remain inadequately answered because research funding has not been directed to them. This is a leverage point: directed philanthropic investment in animal welfare research can yield evidence that drives regulatory change, industry practice improvement, and consumer decision-making improvement at scales that dwarf the initial investment. Organizations including the Animal Welfare Research Network and Farmed Animal Funders are working to increase and coordinate welfare research funding toward highest-impact questions.