Introducing Pain-Compare: A Tool for Visualizing Welfare Loss Estimates in Animals

As a part of our ongoing efforts to quantify animal welfare and enable its incorporation into policy-making, economic and environmental analyses, we have recently launched the first of a series of visualization tools: Pain-Compare. This tool, inspired by the Global Burden of Disease Compare tool, invites users to compare the estimated time in pain an individual endures as a result of welfare challenges experienced. The tool shows multiple challenges experienced under different circumstances, production conditions and by different species.

Currently, Pain-Compare includes data for chickens, specifically laying hens and broilers. However, estimates for more challenges, production conditions and species will be included as they become available. 

Pain-Compare deliberately does not incorporate estimates of the prevalence and number of individuals affected by each challenge. This allows different stakeholders to use the estimates to determine the burden of pain considering the prevalence and frequency of the problem in the specific scenarios of their interest.

All datasets are available for anyone interested in analyzing the data or utilizing it for decision-making. For more insights, visit welfarefootprint.org/compare.

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