Animals are protected under national animal welfare legislation, against intentional acts of cruelty and a failure to act, resulting in neglect and causing an animal to suffer. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) bears the responsibility of investigating and prosecuting the majority of animal welfare offences in England and Wales. In recent years, how they operate has been criticised, and it has been debated whether they should be able to bring private prosecutions, and what their role should actually be. This criticism calls for a change in the way in which the RSPCA approach cases of animal welfare, to strengthen their continuing role in ensuring positive animal welfare is achieved and, where not, prosecuted. This paper outlines the need for a new approach and how it can be managed. Honess and Wolfensohn (Altern Lab Anim 38:205, 2010) have developed an Extended Welfare Assessment Grid (EWAG), a visualisation mapping tool of welfare impact, which has been useful for assessing the welfare of animals used in laboratories. This tool has proven so useful, veterinarians are now using it in veterinary hospitals to help assess whether an animal is likely to further deteriorate, due to disease and illness, and to show any short-term welfare impact on the animal (Williams in UFAW conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2018). This paper will explore the potential for the EWAG to be adapted to assess the welfare of animals when owners are not meeting the welfare needs of their companion animals. RSPCA can use it to support their assessments of the current welfare of an animal under a person’s ownership and whether the animal’s welfare will deteriorate should they remain under that ownership. The EWAG will be a useful tool for those working in animal welfare, such as the RSPCA, to help organisations to intervene earlier, work in partnership with an owner, and support their claims of a risk to animal welfare.

中文翻译：

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越早越好：在动物福利案例中使用扩展福利评估网格的论点

动物受到国家动物福利立法的保护，免受故意虐待和不作为，导致忽视和导致动物遭受痛苦。皇家防止虐待动物协会 (RSPCA) 负责调查和起诉英格兰和威尔士的大多数动物福利违法行为。近年来，他们的运作方式受到批评，他们是否应该能够提起自诉，以及他们实际上应该扮演什么角色，一直存在争议。这种批评要​​求改变 RSPCA 处理动物福利案件的方式，以加强他们在确保实现积极的动物福利方面的持续作用，如果没有，则进行起诉。本文概述了对新方法的需求以及如何对其进行管理。Honess 和 Wolfensohn (Altern Lab Anim 38:205, 2010) 开发了扩展福利评估网格 (EWAG)，这是一种福利影响的可视化映射工具，可用于评估实验室中使用的动物的福利。这个工具被证明非常有用，兽医现在在兽医医院使用它来帮助评估动物是否可能因疾病和疾病而进一步恶化，并显示对动物的任何短期福利影响（威廉姆斯在 UFAW 会议上，泰恩河畔纽卡斯尔，2018 年）。本文将探讨当主人不能满足其伴侣动物的福利需求时，EWAG 在评估动物福利方面的潜力。RSPCA 可以使用它来支持他们对某人拥有的动物当前福利的评估，以及如果他们继续拥有该动物，动物的福利是否会恶化。EWAG 将成为从事动物福利工作的有用工具，例如 RSPCA，帮助组织更早地进行干预，与所有者合作，并支持他们对动物福利风险的主张。