The purpose of this website is: to say what need to be humans’ concerns about how they perceive and treat sheep; to give a portrayal of what, it is interpreted, are sheep’s concerns in relation to their existence in a human-decided world. The Concerns section of the website lists these concerns, with short explanatory remark about each. The Articles section carries discussions.

 

The query might be whether sheep’s concerns can be identified by a human, since sheep do not speak our language. But if a human is with sheep, and bothers to watch them enough and carefully enough, they can learn much about what things are troubling to sheep. Sheep’s behaviour reveals their concerns a lot. Of course, if sheep dash away from something - a dog, for example, or back-away from a person or dog, or form a protective group against an appearing entity, it is obvious that they regard them as threat and cause for concern. If a sheep has a limp or an injury, this is a visible concerning item. What some of sheep’s concerns are can be discovered in noticing when baaing occurs. Largely, sheep do not baa a great deal. Ewes and their lambs do baa a lot, to keep close and necessary contact. A sheep will baa to call for someone to give it help. A sheep will baa in warning to its fellows if it spots a potential source of danger. And sheep will baa to converse with other sheep about things. There are quite a lot of baas from sheep in pens at sales and shows: presumably they are considering with their fellows their worries about their circumstance.

 

Sheep are sentient. With awareness that sheep are sentient, we can know firmly that they have feelings, and therefore we can imagine what is giving the sheep concern and causing them suffering.

 

The essential problem is that, as yet, while sheep are recognised to be sentient, sheep farmers, shepherds, and associates in the sheep farming industry, and providers of attractions featuring sheep, are not displaying knowledge of sheep’s sentience in their activity with sheep.

 

The concerns for how humans see sheep and behave towards them stem from other things too. Humans regard themselves as superior to non-human animals: they are speciesist. The mindset is very often manifest in the humans’ manner of treatment of sheep. Humans do not value sheep adequately. Another feature to deliver concerns about humans’ perspective on sheep and way with them is that sheep are regarded as items for use.

 

From humans seeing sheep as objects for their use and benefit, comes much human treatment of sheep which is concerning. Particularly upsetting are: that seldom are sheep granted a full span of life, and many do not reach adulthood but are killed when lambs; that sheep are subject to much transportation and which can include long journeys on ships; that sheep are made to behave in a way not in accord with their nature, and for purpose of entertaining; that sheep undergo rough treatment; that sheep can receive cruelness and not compassion.

 

For very long, animal welfare has been in the frame in the world. But the effort to improve welfare does not seem to be sufficient, since so many welfare concerns for sheep remain and are current. Therefore, it should be said, and strongly, that concern among all the concerns, must be that sheep should have legal rights to kind and understanding opinion and excellent and appropriate behaviour from humans.