Public moral convictions about animals in the Netherlands: culling healthy animals as a moral problem

In this chapter the dynamics of public moral convictions about animals in the Netherlands are described in the context of animal disease epidemics. A change has taken place in these convictions, due to a shift in the relational value of animals and the emergence of new animal practices in Dutch rural countryside. This played a major part in the public resistance against the large scale culling of healthy animals in recent animal disease epidemics. The chapter describes and analyses the moral values at stake and argues that differences in the choice and weight of these values were at the heart of this conflict. New policy acknowledging the relevance of these values is briefly discussed.