The wellbeing of animals is our mission at PAN Works.
What is wellbeing?
Wellbeing is not simply the absence of suffering or the presence of comfort — it is about flourishing and thriving. The ancient Greek concept of eudaimonia, often translated as “happiness,” is better understood as flourishing: growing and developing in a healthy way within a conducive environment. This idea carries through the etymology of related terms like “welfare,” “weal,” and “wellness,” all of which point toward an active, ongoing state of health, vigour, and positive development — not merely a static condition. Wellbeing in this rich sense encompasses physical, psychological, social, and ecological dimensions simultaneously, and represents a dynamic process with genuine possibilities for both improvement and deterioration.
Why focus on animal wellbeing rather than animal welfare?
The two terms are often used interchangeably, but a critical distinction must be drawn between them. In moral and political discourse, “animal welfare” refers to incremental reductions in animal suffering while taking for granted that human use of animals is justifiable. Animal wellbeing, by contrast, carries no such presupposition. It acknowledges that animals have their own distinctive ways of life, that the world holds meaning for them in both individual and species-specific ways, and that their lives can genuinely flourish — or fail to flourish — on their own terms.
What is the Spheres of Wellbeing model?
The significance of wellbeing for animals is profound precisely because animals are agents, not merely objects of human management. As animals exercise agency and autonomy — making choices, navigating social relationships, responding to ecological environments — their lives flourish in ways unique to their kind. Liv Baker developed the Spheres of Wellbeing model captures this insight, expanding beyond earlier frameworks like the Five Freedoms to attend to animals’ individuality in their psychological, social, and ecological relations. Agency is not reduced to species-level characteristics alone; it manifests in the diverse personalities and social relationships of individual animals, each of whom has a life that can go better or worse in ways that matter.
How does the idea of wellbeing help PAN Works connect ethics, science and policy?
Wellbeing bridges fact and value, integrating what science reveals about animals’ capacities with the moral significance drawn from those capacities. This in turn has direct relevance to public policy about animals. Wellbeing attends to the animal’s perspective itself — their agency, dignity, emotions, relationships, and challenges. To the degree that animals thrive in supportive ecological and social environments, we can recognize the achievement of wellbeing in the fullest sense. Wellbeing sits at the intersection ethics, science and policy, as an indispensable concept of who animals are, how they flourish, and what we humans owe them.