Donald M. Broom

University of Cambridge | Cam · Department of Veterinary Medicine

All vertebrate animals, including wild mammals considered to be pests or food and fur resources, have the capacity to feel pain, fear, and to suffer in other ways. If they are to be trapped, the impact on their welfare should be assessed scientifically and traps should be evaluated using criteria comparable with those used for all other animal trea...

Welfare as a component of sustainability Members of the public in most countries now have increasing concerns about the sustainability of systems for producing food and other products (Aland and Madec 2009). In addition to profitability of animal production systems and an acceptable price for the consumer, continuation of production now depends on...

World economics has been changing. 'Push production', driven by producers, is being replaced by 'pull production', driven by consumers who demand sustainable systems and products and think that people should be less human-centred. A system or procedure is sustainable if it is acceptable now and if its expected future effects are acceptable, in part...

All aspects of animal behaviour and welfare, focussing on farmed animals including fish.

Consumers of food and other products now demand sustainability of production methods and, for most people, there is a range of components of sustainability, including welfare of humans and production animals and several environmental factors. Products are not considered to be of good quality unless they are produced with no problems for any compone...

This study will help the agriculture industry to change systems and practices before consumers force even more radical change. Consumers demand that all components of the sustainability of food production be considered. All components can be scored and the scores used to compare details of production systems and different protein sources. Reduction...

Stereotypies comprise a wide range of repeated and apparently functionless behaviors that develop in individuals whose neural condition or environment results in poor welfare. While stereotypies are an indicator of poor welfare at the time of occurrence, they may have various consequences. Environmental enrichment modifies causal factors and reduce...

Concept definitions applicable to human and non-human animals should be usable for both. Awareness is a state during which concepts of environment, self, and self in relation to environment result from complex brain analysis of sensory stimuli or constructs based on memory. There are several proposed categories of awareness. The widespread usage of...

BROOM, D. M.: Animal welfare in relation to human welfare and sustainability-a review paper. Vet. arhiv 92, 541-547, 2022. ABSTRACT What should we change in the future? As a consequence of the one health, one welfare and one biology concepts, for most of our decisions we should be less human-centred if we want our species and other species to survi...

The crisis generated by the emergence and pandemic spread of COVID-19 has thrown into the global spotlight the dangers associated with novel diseases, as well as the key role of animals, especially wild animals, as potential sources of pathogens to humans. There is a widespread demand for a new relationship with wild and domestic animals, including...

Conditions at die abattoir are such that pigs are exposed to social stress (mixing with unfamiliar pigs) and non-social stress (rough handling). Individual differences in behavioural responses to stress in pigs have been well documented (Hessing et al., 1994; Jensen, 1994; Mendl et al., 1992) and can result in considerable variation in their abilit...

Previous work has identified crushing to be the major cause of early piglet mortality (up to 80%) in a group farrowing system, with approximately half of the crushing deaths occurring when the sow lay down from a standing position (Marchant et al., 1996). The objectives of this study were to establish what other posture changes carried a high risk...

Donald M. Broom. Farm animal welfare: a key component of the sustainability of farming systems. Abstract Consumers of food and other products now demand sustainability of production methods and, for most people, the welfare of production animals is an important component of sustainability. Products are not considered to be of good quality unless th...

A comprehensive approach to decisions about the use of land and other world resources, taking full account of biological and other scientific information, is crucial for good decisions to be made now and in future. The sustainability of systems for producing food and other products is sometimes assessed using too narrow a range of component factors...

Animals are often kept in conditions with low environmental complexity and for long periods in barren artificial environments. This has been shown to lead to poor welfare in many species of animals. We assessed the emotional responses of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus L., maintained for different intervals in a barren or enriched environment....

We describe a wide range of unethical and unsustainable practices inherent to the trading and keeping of pet birds. At present, biodiversity and wild bird populations are being greatly harmed and many individual birds have poor welfare. Wild-caught birds should not be sold to the public as pets, or to breeding establishments for several reasons, in...

Welfare and other aspects of sustainability are becoming increasingly important in consumer purchasing decisions. This chapter introduces a number of key welfare issues affecting the dairy industry that need system change, including lameness, mastitis and aspects of calf management. Other major topics concerning the sustainability of dairy producti...

This is a literature review of the effects of humans ́ relationships with farm animals on animal productivity and welfare, including the following topics: definition of the concept and description of different tests that have been developed to measure human-animal relationship (HAR). Temperament and tameness, which have been considered as farm anim...

Pain in farm animals usually results from injury or disease and is sometimes caused by humans, particularly during husbandry procedures. Chronic pain, and to a lesser extent acute pain, are major causes of poor welfare in production animals. Ethical, economical and marketing reasons demand the best practices in pain management and for this scientif...

Sentience is not confined to animals with large or human-like brains. Moral standing should be accorded to all animals, not just vertebrates: invertebrates deserve moral consideration too. Carefully defining the relevant terms can help clarify the relationship between sentience and welfare. All animals have welfare but humans accord more protection...

This book contains 9 chapters that discuss some of the latest developments in economic research that are relevant to animal welfare and related policy development, including the evolution of animal welfare as a branch of animal science; animal welfare from an economic theory perspective; consumer demand and related quantitative methods such as will...

The crisis generated by the emergence and pandemic spread of COVID-19 has thrown into the global spotlight the dangers associated with novel diseases, as well as the key role of animals, especially wild animals, as potential sources of pathogens to humans. There is a widespread demand for a new relationship with wild and domestic animals, including...

O mau bem-estar de vacas leiteiras e animais em feedlots leva a atitudes públicas negativas em relação aos produtos.

Humans share their biology with other animals and in each of their actions should consider the consequences for all life. A series of measures can be taken by governments and individuals that would minimise inter-specific transfer of pathogens from wildlife and reduce the development of antimicrobial resistance.

Excessive human population growth, uncontrolled use of natural resources, including deforestation, mining, wasteful systems, biodiversity reduction by agriculture, and damaging climate change affect the existence of all animals, including humans. This discussion is now urgent and people are rethinking their links with the animals we use for clothin...

In this chapter, the question considered is to how great a disturbance of homeostasis, or to what level of stimulation, should an individual be subjected? These impacts are partly a matter of biological judgement, since animals may manage better if exposed to a moderate level of stimulation, even if it is aversive, rather than being protected from...

In this chapter the use of preference studies to provide information relevant to the assessment of welfare is discussed. How do humans and non-humans allocate their time, energy and other resources and to what extent does this inform us about what is important to them? The methodology of economics research can be applied to animal preference studie...

In this chapter, the need for scientific study of stress and welfare is explained. The imprecise use of terms, especially stress, is described and reasons for some of the problems in understanding the concepts are discussed. It is argued that there is a requirement for further analysis of the concepts, and especially careful synthesis of current id...

The mechanisms of adaptation and coping are considered in detail in this chapter. Firstly, how can stimuli vary in time, intensity and modality? The links between the nature of stimuli and the responses that can result are illustrated diagrammatically. Habituation and sensitisation are defined and variation in patterns of adaptation discussed. Some...

This chapter clarifies previous and current usage of the words in the title of this book. The ways in which the term stress has been used in physics, psychology, psychiatry and general biology are discussed in detail. Using diagrams, response changes over time and their consequences are considered. The terms stereotypy and quality of life are defin...

In this chapter, the central focus is on the mechanisms used by animals to control their interactions with all aspects of their world. In order to understand what is stressful and what situations lead to good or poor welfare, we need to know about the systems with which humans and other species regulate their lives. Research on motivation has long...

This chapter provides an account of the responses of animals to short-term disturbances. The measures of welfare that are used when an individual encounters problems over a timescale of minutes or hours are somewhat different from those used when problems last for days, weeks or years. People may experience and express delight or dismay at experien...

This chapter provides an account of the responses of animals to long-term disturbances and positive experiences. Measures of good welfare may be direct or may involve experimental investigation such as that of cognitive bias. Qualitative behavioural assessment can sometimes be useful but, as explained, should be used with caution. Methods for asses...

The major arguments presented in the book are summarised in this chapter. How can stress be evaluated and minimised and how can welfare be assessed in a scientific and objective way. When we have information about animal welfare, how can this information be used. What is the future for welfare in a moral world?

All farmed animals are regarded as sentient beings so their welfare is a matter of much public concern. Positive and negative aspects of the welfare of animals during transport should be assessed using a range of behavioural, physiological and carcass quality measures. Health is an important part of welfare so the extent of any disease, injury or m...

. Morality has a wide variety of biological components and has evolved in humans and other animals that live in social groups whose members stay together. • Ethical questions include the welfare of animals and other sustainability issues. • Whether or not nonhuman animals are thought of as being moral agents, they can be the subject of moral action...

Effective management of pain is critical to the improvement of animal welfare. For this to happen, pain must be recognised and assessed in a variety of contexts. Pain is a complex phenomenon, making reliable, valid, and feasible measurement challenging. The use of facial expressions as a technique to assess pain in non-verbal human patients has bee...

Animals kept as pets or for farming, including all mammals, birds and fish, have pain systems and their welfare can be poor because of pain or fear. The extent of pain can be measured using physiological and behavioural measures such as thermography or grimace scales in sheep, horses and mice. It is important to evaluate the magnitude of poor welfa...

Welfare is a scientific concept that refers to all living animals including humans. The welfare of an individual is its state as regards its attempts to cope with its environment. Hence welfare incorporates the individual’s feelings and health as well as the functioning of various physiological, behavioral, and other adaptive mechanisms. Research b...

Welfare assessment requires a wide range of measures as there are many ways in which individuals cope with the environment in which they live. Welfare can be good or poor so the measures of behavior, physiology, brain function, immune system function, injury etc. must provide information about positive and negative states. Measures of feelings and...

All vertebrates, including fish and other farmed animals, are shown to have pain systems with the same function but with different areas of the brain involved in different groups of animals.There has been rapid development in animal welfare science, including pain assessment, so that we now have better information to use when judging when anaesthes...

Our history presents numerous examples of humans being used for entertainment, from Roman gladiators fighting to the ‘freak shows’ of individuals with physical disabilities. Whilst these are now considered socially unacceptable, non-human animals continue to be used for entertainment in similar contexts. This double standard raises a number of ethi...

The methods for the scientific assessment of the welfare of animals during transport are now well-established and precise, at least for the main farm species. Factors affecting welfare include: knowledge and attitudes of staff involved, laws, codes of practice, training, species, breed, previous experience of the animals, vehicle design, space allo...

Sentience means having the capacity to have feelings. This requires a level of awareness and cognitive ability. There is evidence for sophisticated cognitive concepts and for both positive and negative feelings in a wide range of nonhuman animals. The abilities necessary for sentience appear at a certain stage in humans, as in other species, and br...

For most marine mammals, the demands and profits of tourism lead to reduced likelihood of killing but tourist visits to zoos and aquaria, and some live animal watching, can have negative impacts on populations. The welfare of captive animals varies but is often poor. Performances for tourists can have positive or negative effects on welfare. Life e...

Most people consider that we have moral obligations to animals that we use and to the sustainability of systems. Animal welfare affects public acceptability of animal usage systems and hence sustainability. Consumers may refuse to buy unacceptable products and pressurise retail companies and governments to ensure that they are not sold. Welfare is...

Animals kept as pets or for farming, including all mammals, birds and fish, have pain systems and their welfare can be poor because of pain or fear. The extent of pain can be measured using physiological and behavioural measures such as thermography or grimace scales in sheep, horses and mice. It is important to evaluate the magnitude of poor welfa...

The impacts of tourism on animals and the role of animals as tourist attractions.

There is increasing public demand in all countries for sustainable plant and animal production systems. A system or procedure is sustainable if it is acceptable now and if its expected future effects are acceptable, in particular in relation to resource availability, consequences of functioning and morality of action. When purchasing food, many peo...

Existe una urgente necesidad por sistemas de producción animal sustentables. Un sistema o procedimiento es sustentable si es aceptable en la actualidad y si sus efectos futuros espera- dos son aceptables, en particular con relación a la disponibilidad de recursos, consecuencias de su funcionamiento, y moralidad de acción. ¿Qué podría hacer no suste...

There is an urgent need for sustainable animal production systems. A system or procedure is sustainable if it is acceptable now and if its expected future effects are acceptable, in par- ticular in relation to resource availability, consequences of functioning, and morality of ac- tion. What might make any animal usage system unsustainable? The sys...

A system or procedure is sustainable if it is acceptable now and if its expected future effects are acceptable, in particular in relation to resource availability, consequences of functioning and morality of action. Consumers now demand that systems used in all production and other activities be sustainable. Animal usage systems are most often cons...

Effective management of pain is critical to the improvement of animal welfare. For this to happen, pain must be recognised and assessed in a variety of contexts. Pain is a complex phenomenon, making reliable, valid, and feasible measurement challenging. The use of facial expressions as a technique to assess pain in non-verbal human patients has bee...

Systems for the production of food, or other products for human use, should be sustainable. This means that the system should be acceptable now and its expected future effects should be acceptable, in particular in relation to resource availability, consequences of functioning and morality of action. However, there are many components of sustainabi...

This analysis, using published data, compared all land and conserved water use in four beef production systems. A widespread feedlot system and fertilised irrigated pasture systems used similar amounts of land. However, extensive unmodified pasture systems used three times more land, and semi-intensive silvopastoral systems used four times less lan...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

This is the Second Edition of a well-received book that reflects a fresh, integrated coverage of the concepts and scientific measurement of stress and welfare of animals including humans. This book explains the basic biological principles of coping with many forms of adversity. The major part of this work is devoted to explaining scientifically usa...

World attitudes and socioeconomic trends Concepts referring to humans and other animals Regulation and sentience EU legislation and other policies affecting animal welfare Scientific information used in formulation of laws The World Trade Organisation dispute about trade in seal products Actions on animal welfare by other world organisations

The majority of commentaries are supportive of our position on the scepticism that muddies the waters surrounding fish pain and sentience. There is substantial empirical evidence for pain in fish. Animals' experience of pain cannot be compared to artificial intelligence (AI) because AI can only mimic responses to nociceptive input on the basis of h...

There is increasing public demand in all countries for sustainable plant and animal production systems. A system or procedure is sustainable if it is acceptable now and if its expected future effects are acceptable, in particular in relation to resource availability, consequences of functioning and morality of action. When purchasing food, many peo...

Consumers now demand that systems used in all production and other activities be sustainable. If they are not, retail companies, production companies and countries that do not produce good quality, sustainable products are likely to be boycotted and hence forced to change. Animal usage systems are most often considered unsustainable because of poor...

Although most abnormal behaviors, including all stereotypies, indicate poor welfare, some that occur in rare situations are functional and do not indicate a negative situation. There is a wide range of abnormal behaviors that occur in conditions where the animal's needs are not met, and these can be valuable welfare indicators, but these should nev...

How we manage farming and food systems to meet rising demand is pivotal to the future of biodiversity. Extensive field data suggest that impacts on wild populations would be greatly reduced through boosting yields on existing farmland so as to spare remaining natural habitats. High-yield farming raises other concerns because expressed per unit area...

Conventional breeding can have extreme negative effects on the welfare of animals. For example the breeding of dogs for cosmetic features and of broiler chickens and dairy cows for high levels of production. Any breeding that can be predicted to result in poor welfare should be illegal. Biotechnology can lead to much faster and greater change in th...

In the expanding salmon industry, many farmers use production methods that could result in poor welfare of the fish at various points of their lifecycle. We have reviewed methods used for producing salmon for food with the aim of identifying and drawing attention to factors likely to affect farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) welfare. In addition...

Recent empirical studies have reported evidence that many aquatic species, including fish, cephalopods and crustaceans, have the capacity for nociception and pain, and that their welfare should be taken into consideration. Some sceptics, rejecting the precautionary principle, have denied that any study demonstrates pain or other aspects of sentienc...

Animals are among the most sought after tourist attractions and the impact on them is a matter of concern to an increasing number of people. The first book of its kind, Tourism and Animal Welfare addresses the issue of animal welfare within the tourism experience. It explores important foundations such as the meaning of 'animal welfare' and its rel...

Pre-loading handling and conditions of transport are related to welfare, disease risk and product quality of production animals. These steps continue to be one of the major animal management problems in Brazil. This study evaluated the effects of different types of pre-loading handling and road transport times on the haematological and biochemical...

In relation to animal production throughout the world, there will be increasing demand from consumers for the avoidance of adverse effects on human welfare, animal welfare and the environment. In some cases, maintaining the viability of human communities is also considered to be important. A system or procedure is sustainable if it is acceptable no...

In view of the forthcoming UK ban on stall and tether housing for sows, the long-term consequences of housing pregnant pigs in alternative systems were assessed. The objective of the study was to examine the effects of two indoor group-housing systems on measures of the welfare of pregnant pigs, and to compare pigs housed in these systems with pigs...

The majority of sows in the United Kingdom farrow in commercial ‘crates', irrespective of the housing system in which they were kept during gestation. Consumer demand is influencing current thinking on intensive husbandry systems and this, together with approaching legislation concerning the ban on stalls and tethers, is forcing the UK pig industry...

Stereotypies such as bar-biting and sham-chewing, inactivity and unresponsiveness are behavioural responses to confinement in pigs. A link between stereotypies and opioids in sows, has been established by Cronin et al.,(1986) who found that the opioid antagonist naloxone inhibited some stereotypies. Stereotypies exhibited different degrees of resis...

On many farms in Britain, the housing of pregnant sows in groups, principally in electronic sow feeder systems, is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to housing them individually in stalls or tethers. When sows are housed in large groups, particularly in "dynamic groups" where individuals are continually leaving the group to farrow and re...

Freedom of movement and freedom to express normal behaviour are fundamental principles underlying most welfare guidelines (e.g. Brambell, 1965). The restrictive nature of the farrowing crate and its potential to limit the repertoire of species specific behaviours may influence the welfare of the sow (Higginson, 1985). The objective of this study wa...

If a housing condition results in impaired immune system function then vulnerability to disease is greater in that condition. Measures of immune system function can therefore be important indicators of welfare. Another indicator of welfare is the maximal adrenal cortex response to ACTH challenge. Ten third parturition sows kept in stalls, and 27 fi...

The current E.U. Directive 95/29/EC allows the transport of sheep to slaughter for 14 h, then 1 h rest and a further 16 h. of travel. During the rest the sheep should have access to food and water. In this study, the welfare of sheep was monitored using physiological and behavioural measures during a journey in a commercial type road vehicle. Measu...

Farrowing crates are widely used in commercial practice but restrict sow movement. Pens have therefore been developed which allow the sow greater freedom of movement but this may result in piglets being exposed to events likely to cause injury or death due to crushing. This is particularly the case immediately after farrowing. The behaviour of sows...

A wide range of measures have been employed in an attempt to determine social structure in groups of animals and different analyses of social behaviour may result in the construction of different hierarchies (Tomback et al. 1989). In order to investigate social aspects of welfare in group-housed sows it is important to establish a meaningful measur...

A number of studies have been carried out on open pen farrowing systems and where these systems have appeared to function well, the minimum pen dimension has been 2.2m. The original pen system at ADAS Terrington had a maximum width of about 1.5m - the space occupied by a pen with a farrowing crate. The aim of this experiment was to determine whethe...

Public concern with intensive farming systems, particularly in the pig industry, has lead to legislation banning sow stalls and tethers and closer examination of the welfare aspects of confining the sow in a crate at parturition. In general, alternative systems have resulted in higher piglet mortality than farrowing crates. In any farrowing system,...

Pigs are usually transported during the course of their life and various behavioural and physiological effects of the transportation process have been reported (e.g. Bradshaw et al ., 1995)., Most research has been directed to examining the effects of the physical environment (e.g. Randall, 1993), simple behavioural time budgets (e.g. Bradshaw et a...

Conditions at die abattoir are such that pigs are exposed to social stress (mixing with unfamiliar pigs) and non-social stress (rough handling). Individual differences in behavioural responses to stress in pigs have been well documented (Hessing et al., 1994; Jensen, 1994; Mendl et al., 1992) and can result in considerable variation in their abilit...

Community lactating systems offer a number of potential welfare benefits to the sow and her litter. However, giving the sow greater freedom of movement and choice of environments also has potential risks. With less restriction, the maternal qualities of the sow will have a greater influence on the survival and growth of her litter. The objectives o...

The farrowing crate was designed to make sow management easier, allow higher stocking densities and reduce piglet mortality. Recently, concerns about sow welfare within farrowing crates have lead to a reappraisal of open farrowing systems. However, more freedom of movement for the sow places greater influence on the quality of maternal care, if pig...

Cows can be classified by their consistency of entry to one side of the milking parlour, which follows a normal distribution in a large herd of cows, from consistent to random selection (da Costa and Broom, 2001). We investigated whether this characteristic relates to the coping strategies indicated by cows in a novel environment and a competitive...

Although often described as “welfare-friendly”, the greater freedom of movement and choice of environments offered by communal farrowing systems does have potential welfare risks, primarily for the piglets. The maternal qualities of the sow will have a greater influence on the survival and growth of piglets in this communal farrowing system, than i...

It is well known that transportation exposes livestock to stress which impairs welfare and affects productivity. Recent studies in pigs have investigated mortality during transport (Warriss & Brown 1994) and effects of loading density (Lambooy & Engel 1991) on welfare. Recent investigations in sheep have focused on the effects of handling and trans...

A major problem reported by many commercial producers keeping sows in group housing systems, is that of inter-sow aggression and bullying, due to the establishment and maintenance of a social hierarchy. Even in stalls and tethers, inter-neighbour aggression can be high but the physical consequences for the sow receiving the aggression are negligibl...

Marine mammals include cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears, many of which are charismatic and popular species commonly kept under human care in zoos and aquaria. However, in comparison with their fully terrestrial counterparts their welfare has been less intensively studied, and their partial or full reliance on the aquatic...

Consumers driving change in animal production. Sustainability, including animal welfare, described. Semi-intensive silvopastoral systems as current and future method of using world resources better.

There is an urgent need for sustainable animal production systems. A system or procedure is sustainable if it is acceptable now and if its expected future effects are acceptable, in particular in relation to resource availability, consequences of functioning, and morality of action. What might make any animal usage system unsustainable? The system...

The definitions of the term stress are often confusing and should not be linked to cortisol, which is a valuable welfare indicator, but context is needed to interpret it.

This review, which focuses on foie gras production from ducks in France, highlights welfare problems that may arise in the final (third) stage of production, when force-feeding occurs and which lasts 12 to 15 days. Welfare problems arising in the first two stages are also considered. The male mulard duck, a non-migratory hybrid between a muscovy dr...

This study, commissioned by the Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs upon request of the Committee on Petitions, finds out that EU animal welfare policy and legislation has had much positive influence in the world, on the image of the EU as well as helping animals. However, most kinds of animals kept in the EU are not c...

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809633-8.01321-2

Information de sentience, capacite cognitif est bien-être des animaux de ferme.

Sustainable animal production systems are urgently needed. A system or procedure is sustainable if it is acceptable now and if its expected future effects are acceptable, in particular in relation to resource availability, consequences of functioning and morality of action. What might make an animal usage system unsustainable? The system might invo...