Global food production relies heavily on a small number of species. Expanding welfare attention to lesser-farmed species including ducks, geese, rabbits, and guinea fowl reveals significant unmet welfare needs.
The concentration of animal welfare research, regulation, and consumer attention on chickens, pigs, cattle, and salmon has left billions of other farmed animals in a welfare vacuum. A farmed duck faces the same physiological and behavioral frustrations as a farmed chicken — deprivation of water for swimming is a particularly severe welfare cost for ducks — but receives a fraction of the regulatory protection. Farmed rabbits are kept in conditions that are illegal for dogs in many countries yet receive minimal welfare oversight. Expanding the welfare conversation beyond the big four species is essential for addressing the full scope of farmed animal suffering.