Ep30 Rebecca Ledger on the Five Domains Model for assessing suffering in cases of animal cruelty and the importance of bringing & bridging science into practice

Dr. Rebecca Ledger is an animal behaviour and animal welfare scientist from Vancouver. Part of her work focuses on using behavioural assessments to assess animal welfare, and she has worked in the management of shelter dogs. She is regularly retained by humane societies, pet owners, and the Crown and Defence counsel across Canada to provide expert opinion in legal cases involving animal cruelty and animal behaviour.

Rebecca shares with us her rich background of experiences, her different jobs for universities, her consulting company, and the many years as a columnist, bringing animal welfare science to the general public. She enjoys teaching the most and talking to laymen scientific audiences about animal science. Rebecca talks about her studies and research mostly in companion animals, primarily dogs, with some cases revolving around cats.

Rebecca introduces us to her work as an animal expert in court, how she started, and some cases involving animal suffering. She states that suffering can be demonstrated in court animals can suffer even without physical evidence, and she proves that with her work and through the use of the Five Domains model. She shares how she started using the Five Domains model in court, and how she applied it to many different species for assessing suffering in cases of animal cruelty.

Rebecca explains the value and importance of the Five Domains Model and how it allows us to assess animal welfare in a comprehensive way.

Sabrina and Rebecca discuss how she deals with the sentient argument and the negation of anthropomorphic speculation.

Rebecca concludes with a success story of justice, of Oscar, a cat case suffering from breathlessness and the positive outcome for him, and hopefully for many other cats in the future through the precedence it set.

Learn more about Rebecca HERE

Read the full paper of Forensic Use of the Five Domains Model for Assessing Suffering in Cases of Animal Cruelty

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