Ensuring Animal Well-Being in Animal-Assisted Service Programs: Ethics Meets Practice Learning at Green Chimneys

Abstract

Abstract This paper illustrates the complexity of meeting a high and constant standard of animal welfare at Green Chimneys, a residential treatment facility and therapeutic day school for children with psychiatric diagnosis ages K-12. Green Chimneys incorporates over 300 animals of various species in animal-assisted education and therapy programs. Ensuring the well-being of horses, farm animals, camels, reptiles, dogs, and wild birds in captivity demands a practical, systemic, and most of all, flexible philosophical animal welfare framework. Implementing a consistent animal care program, in a larger community of students and adults who often have divergent beliefs about the treatment of animals, is challenging. Examples of ethical struggles that impact practical, real life animal care and treatment decisions are included. The authors also describe their ongoing communication process regarding animal care with their team, with the goal of encouraging other programs to engage in similar conversations and recognize that ethically caring for and working with animals in a human-service setting is an ongoing journey.