Editorial: The emergence of animal welfare science and policy in Africa, Asia and Latin America

As part of efforts to raise the profile of animal welfare science within Africa, Asia and Latin America, this Research Topic was generously supported with full article processing charge remission by Frontiers Media SA, to enable scientists to publish their work in a highquality Open Access journal. For many countries within these regions, animal welfare science is still nascent and this Research Topic highlights some of the animal welfare issues within these regions and the local scientific research being directed to find solutions. The result is a diverse collection of papers covering farm, laboratory and zoo animals.
Animal welfare science as a discipline, has a relatively modern history. Although good treatment of animals is an important tenet of some religions and civilizations dating back a few millennia, for example the concept of Ahimsa in Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism (1), the formation of policy and enactment of legislation has almost exclusively been a 20th Century and onwards phenomenon. Although the first known animal protection legislations were passed in Ireland and the Massachusetts Colony in 1635 and 1641, respectively (2), and anti-cruelty legislation for cattle and other animals passed in the U.K. in 1822 and 1876, the catalyst for more widespread welfare-focused legislation and for the emergence of animal welfare science was Ruth Harrison’s book Animal Machines (3) and the subsequent Brambell Report established by the UK Government (4).