Moving beyond the absence of suffering, positive welfare science focuses on identifying and promoting states of good welfare including pleasure, play, comfort, and the expression of natural behaviours.
Positive welfare science represents a paradigm shift from welfare as the mere absence of suffering toward welfare as an actively positive state. This matters practically because animals can be free from obvious suffering while still experiencing chronic mild negative states - boredom, frustration, lack of control - that represent welfare deficits. Identifying and measuring positive welfare indicators gives farmers, certifiers, and researchers tools to assess whether animals are genuinely thriving rather than merely surviving. Play behaviour is a particularly powerful positive welfare indicator because animals only play when their primary needs are met and they have energy to spare - a playing pig or cow is a strong signal of good overall welfare status.