Douglas Janet, Owers Roly, Campbell Madeleine L H
World Horse Welfare, Anne Colvin House, Snetterton, Norwich NR16 2LR, UK.
School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Nottingham LE12 5RD, UK.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Aug 5;12(15):1987. doi: 10.3390/ani12151987.
The concept of 'social licence to operate' (SLO) is relevant to all animal-use activities. An SLO is an intangible, implicit agreement between the public and an industry/group. Its existence allows that industry/group to pursue its activities with minimal formalised restrictions because such activities have widespread societal approval. In contrast, the imposition of legal restrictions-or even an outright ban-reflect qualified or lack of public support for an activity. This review discusses current threats to equestrianism's SLO and suggests actions that those across the equine sector need to take to justify the continuation of the SLO. The most important of these is earning the trust of all stakeholders, including the public. Trust requires transparency of operations, establishment and communication of shared values, and demonstration of competence. These attributes can only be gained by taking an ethics-based, proactive, progressive, and holistic approach to the protection of equine welfare. Animal-use activities that have faced challenges to their SLO have achieved variable success in re-establishing the approval of society, and equestrianism can learn from the experience of these groups as it maps its future. The associated effort and cost should be regarded as an investment in the future of the sport.
“社会运营许可”（SLO）的概念与所有动物使用活动相关。社会运营许可是公众与某个行业/群体之间无形的、隐含的协议。它的存在使得该行业/群体能够在最少的正式限制下开展活动，因为此类活动得到了广泛的社会认可。相反，实施法律限制——甚至彻底禁止——则表明公众对某项活动的支持有限或缺乏支持。本综述讨论了当前对马术运动社会运营许可的威胁，并提出了马术行业各方为证明社会运营许可的持续合理性而需要采取的行动。其中最重要的是赢得包括公众在内的所有利益相关者的信任。信任需要运营透明、确立并传达共同价值观以及展示能力。这些特质只能通过采取基于道德、积极主动、与时俱进且全面的方法来保护马匹福利才能获得。其社会运营许可面临挑战的动物使用活动在重新获得社会认可方面取得了不同程度的成功，马术运动在规划未来时可以借鉴这些群体的经验。相关的努力和成本应被视为对这项运动未来的投资。
