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Animal welfare: At the interface between science and society
Abstract
The general concept of animal welfare embraces a continuum between negative/bad welfare and positive/good welfare. Early approaches to defining animal welfare were mainly based on the exclusion of negative states, neglecting the fact that during evolution animals optimised their ability to interact with and adapt to their environment(s). An animal's welfare status might best be represented by the adaptive value of the individual's interaction with a given environmental setting but this dynamic welfare concept has significant implications for practical welfare assessments. Animal welfare issues cannot simply be addressed by means of objective biological measurements of an animal's welfare status under certain circumstances. In practice, interpretation of welfare status and its translation into the active management of perceived welfare issues are both strongly influenced by context and, especially, by cultural and societal values. In assessing whether or not a given welfare status is morally acceptable, animal welfare scientists must be aware that scientifically based, operational definitions of animal welfare will necessarily be influenced strongly by a given society's moral understanding.
... Animal welfare is a multifaceted concept consisting of (scientific) knowledge, moral concepts of scientists and society at large (Bayvel & Cross 2010;Miele et al. 2011;Nordquist et al. 2017), and the activities, actions, and interactions between stakeholders that should culminate in a shared understanding of how to treat animals and ensure their welfare (for an overview of key animal welfare stakeholders, see Figure 1). Concerns about the welfare of animals, such as those kept on intensive farms or used as laboratory animals in biomedical research, are stimulating debate at all levels of society (Ohl & van der Staay 2012;European Commission 2023). ...
... Recently, Arndt and co-authors (2022) proposed the Dynamic Animal Welfare Concept (DAWCon) of 'positive animal welfare', an extended version of an earlier concept by Ohl and van der Staay (2012): ...
... Animals are not in a positive welfare state if they do not experience negative emotions. These negative emotions and negative states have an important biological function in triggering the animal to cope with the challenges of its environment and to take actions to restore a positive state (Ohl & van der Staay 2012). It is important that animals can experience negative emotions and negative states as long as they have the ability and opportunity to deal with them appropriately (Arndt et al. 2022). ...
To qualify and quantify animal welfare, novel assessment tools have been and are being developed, while existing assessment tools are being modified so that they can be applied to multiple species living under different housing and management conditions. The results of such assessments should be reliable, consistent and reproducible. We review the steps that should ideally be taken to develop, validate and apply animal welfare assessment tools. The first step should be to find a definition of animal welfare that the various stakeholders can agree upon. The second step should be to formulate and agree upon a framework for the evaluation of animal welfare. Both theoretical/conceptual frameworks, which provide a structure for research and suggest which facets are considered important, and ethical frameworks, which explicate the underlying moral position, should be considered. Finally, animal welfare assessment tools should be developed and validated based on both the adopted welfare definition and the welfare evaluation framework(s). However, this three-step approach has not always been followed in the development of welfare assessment tools currently in use. We expect that transparency and clarity regarding the underlying definitions and frameworks will increase the likelihood that the resulting welfare assessment tools will give similar weight to the aspects considered relevant to animal welfare, as it helps to specify the aspects that are considered to be key elements of animal welfare. This approach should lead to convergent assessment results and higher correlation of welfare indicators between assessment tools.
... Animal welfare and welfare management have received increasing public and academic attention in recent years (Bayvel & Cross 2010;Ohl & van der Staay 2012). Ethicists have been tasked with providing theoretical concepts of human obligations to the animals they keep, while animal scientists have been tasked with developing objective and quantifiable assessment tools for an animal's welfare status under given conditions. ...
... Animal welfare concepts provide guidance on the treatment of sentient species, serving as a biologically based moral compass or, according to Webb (2019a), as an animal ethics agenda (Voogt et al. 2023). Nevertheless, welfare is a rather abstract term that is subject to redefinition, depending on changing scientific insights, societal opinions, and ethical considerations (Carenzi & Verga 2009;Ohl & van der Staay 2012;Englund & Cronin 2023). Ethicists and philosophers have considered the moral status of sentient and non-sentient animal species and the resulting moral obligations of humans towards these species. ...
... Thus, a crucial component of most recent concepts of animal welfare is the assumption that animals are able to experience negative or positive mental states, and that welfare is linked to experiencing positive emotions (e.g. Ohl & van der Staay 2012;Mellor & Beausoleil 2015;Webb et al. 2019b;Arndt et al. 2022). These concepts thus "take a subjective, or hedonic, view of animal welfare, in which welfare consists in the subjective mental states experienced by an animal" (Browning 2022;p 37). ...
A wide range of animal taxa, including vertebrates and invertebrates, are controlled or kept by humans. They may be used as pets, for recreation, sport and hobbies, as working animals, as producers of animal-derived (food) products or as biomedical models in research. There is a need for clear guidance on the treatment of animals, regardless of their phylogenetic distance from humans. Current animal welfare concepts, which emphasise animal sentience and the ability of animals to experience negative or positive mental states, are limited in scope to a small proportion of the animal kingdom, as the vast majority of species are (currently) thought to lack sentience. We discuss four options for addressing the question of which basic concept(s) could be used to derive guidelines for the treatment of animal species, sentient or non-sentient: (1) alternative concepts tailored to specific groups of species; (2) ‘welfare’ concepts not presupposing sentience; (3) the precautionary principle; or (4) the concept of animal integrity. Since questions regarding the appropriate treatment of animals, including species with a large phylogenetic distance from humans, have an ethical/moral dimension, we also address who counts morally and how much, and how animals should be treated given their moral status. We suggest that the concept of animal integrity, possibly complemented and extended by the concept of habitat/ecosystem integrity, is suitable for application to all species. However, a current concept of animal welfare should serve as the primary basis for guidance on how to treat species that are sentient and capable of experiencing emotions.
... An animal shelter environment comprises many potential stressors for dogs (Canis familiaris), such as high noise levels, separation from attachment figures and the presence of unfamiliar dogs or people [1][2][3]. This poses a risk for welfare if dogs fail to adapt to these stressors [4,5]. Individual stress responses can be variable [6]. ...
... 3 Estimated ratio of mean of specified weight class and mean of reference weight class. 4 Estimated ratio of mean of specified kennel history and mean of reference kennel history. Table. ...
... Conditional F-testing revealed F, DF's and significance of the different terms in the models. 1 Estimated mean on reference day, weight class and kennel history. 2 Estimated ratio of mean of specified day and mean on reference day. 3 Estimated ratio of mean of specified weight class and mean of reference weight class. 4 Estimated ratio of mean of specified kennel history and mean of reference kennel history. (DOCX) S7 Table. ...
Every shelter dog is faced with the challenge to adapt to a kennel environment. To monitor the welfare of individual shelter dogs, evaluating behavioural and physiological parameters, potentially useful as indicators for adaptability of individual dogs is crucial. Nocturnal activity, i.e. resting patterns, has already been identified as a candidate indicator of adaptability and can be easily measured remotely with the help of sensors. We investigated the usefulness of a 3-axial accelerometer (Actigraph®) to monitor nocturnal activity in shelter dogs every night during the full first two weeks in-shelter starting directly at shelter intake, as a measure of welfare. Additionally, urinary cortisol/creatinine ratio (UCCR), body weight and behaviour data were collected to evaluate stress responses. A control group of pet dogs in homes, matched to the shelter dog group, was also monitored. Shelter dogs had higher nocturnal activity and UCCRs than pet dogs, especially during the first days in the shelter. Nocturnal activity, both accelerometer measures and activity behaviour, and UCCRs decreased over nights in the shelter. Smaller dogs had higher nocturnal activity and UCCRs than larger dogs and showed less autogrooming during the first nights. Dogs with no previous kennel experience had higher nocturnal activity and UCCRs, and showed less body shaking, than dogs with previous kennel experience. Overall, sheltered dogs also showed less body shaking during the first night. The number of dogs showing paw lifting decreased over days. Age class and sex effected only few activity behaviours. Shelter dogs significantly lost body weight after 12 days in the shelter compared to the moment of intake. Shelter dogs had disrupted nocturnal resting patterns and UCCRs compared to pet dogs and seem to partly adapt to the shelter environment after two weeks. Sensor-supported identification of nocturnal activity can be a useful additional tool for welfare assessments in animal shelters.
... Definitions of acceptable or good animal welfare are influenced by the moral and ethical standards of society. The determination of what constitutes an acceptable level is strongly influenced by the knowledge of society regarding animal welfare on the one hand and public values on the other hand (Mellor et al., 2009;Green and Mellor, 2011;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012). From an animal science point of view, animal welfare involves the physical and mental state of animals, not the ethical duty that people have to take care of animals or the value that people should attribute to animals (Keeling et al., 2018). ...
... Initial definitions of animal welfare were based primarily on the importance of biological function, good health and growth, production, and reproduction. Attention was largely focused on the negative consequences of poor animal welfare (Yeates and Main, 2008;FAWC, 2009;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012). Examples of how animal welfare has been defined in the past include the definition of Simonsen (1982) of animal welfare as "a state in which animals are free of pain and suffering" and the Five Freedoms as stated by the British Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) in 1993, based on the requirements for animal welfare formulated by the Brambell Committee in 1965 (FAWC, 1993;FAWC, 2009;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012;Broom, 2017). ...
... Attention was largely focused on the negative consequences of poor animal welfare (Yeates and Main, 2008;FAWC, 2009;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012). Examples of how animal welfare has been defined in the past include the definition of Simonsen (1982) of animal welfare as "a state in which animals are free of pain and suffering" and the Five Freedoms as stated by the British Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) in 1993, based on the requirements for animal welfare formulated by the Brambell Committee in 1965 (FAWC, 1993;FAWC, 2009;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012;Broom, 2017). These Five Freedoms are as follows: ...
One of the aims of the Dutch Animals Act is to protect animal welfare. The assumption that animal welfare risks are managed and mitigated by the Act, however, has not been studied before. The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether or not animal welfare risks can be managed adequately under the current Dutch Animals Act and what modifications to the legislation could improve animal welfare in the Netherlands. For that purpose, welfare consequences identified in various supply chain risk assessments from the Office of Risk Assessment & Research (BuRO) were assessed in conjunction with the Dutch Animals Act and related legislation. A distinction was made between means- and goal-oriented legislation. The current Dutch Animals Act uses the “Five Freedoms” to define animal welfare. However, this seems outdated, given that current scientific insight also indicates that positive experiences should be included as an integral part of animal welfare. Currently, most welfare consequences in supply chains are linked to factors that are regulated by Dutch legislation as qualitative, goal-oriented, open standards. Furthermore, there is no species-specific legislation for some of the most common farm animals in the Netherlands, e.g., dairy cattle. By applying the latest scientific insights, both the current Dutch Animals Act and associated legislation can be improved to more appropriately manage animal welfare risks. As suggestions for improvement, we propose that the definition of animal welfare in the Dutch Animals Act is updated, that species-specific legislation for farm animals is developed where not already applicable, and that animal-based measures (ABMs) are integrated into legislation. As amendments to animal welfare legislation at the European level are currently being developed, our proposals to include the most recent scientific insights in animal welfare legislation also hold for European legislators.
... Another survey in 2016 showed that 82 % of EU citizens argue that farm animal welfare should be enhanced (European Commission, 2016). Thus, it has been an ongoing discussion about how farm animals should be treated for several years (Ohl and van der Staay, 2012). ...
... These results are in line with earlier research which reported a low societal acceptance of modern animal husbandry (e.g. European Commission, 2016; Boogaard et al., 2011;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012;Weible, 2016). ...
This paper presents the actual perception of German citizens regarding the importance of different husbandry aspects. In 2017, an online survey with 2.400 respondents, based on a qualitative pilot study with focus groups, was conducted. Participants discussed about their perception of actual animal husbandry with respect to the design of stables and animal-related aspects. Using two different ranking procedures, main points of criticism as well as sideshows could be identified for fattening pigs, dairy cattle production and laying hens. The results will contribute to establishing livestock production systems in consensus with citizens’ preferences.
... Naber et al. Human-Animal Interactions (2023 11:1 https://doi.org/10.1079/hai.2023.0039 2 best practices, stable design, and management practices for horses to ensure optimal welfare (Fraser, 2008;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012;Hediger and Zink, 2017). However, additional factors must be considered when integrating horses into human health services. ...
... In therapy, horses are not just passive participants but are actively encouraged and reinforced to engage in the therapeutic process and actively respond to their environment, including the emotions and behavior of clients (Hanggi, 2005;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012). Regular training with a primary caregiver is necessary to train and reinforce this feedback. ...
Background: Human-animal interactions in human services are on the rise, with an increased focus on the welfare of animals involved as well as on client safety. Based on scientifically based training methods, it has been proposed that horses involved in therapy settings could benefit from learning proactive strategies to reduce stress. One possible strategy is audible exhale communication (AEC). Inviting horses to actively use this strategy with humans could enhance the welfare of horses in equine-assisted therapy (EAT), thereby increasing client safety.
Methods: A pilot project was conducted to test the feasibility of training 20 therapy horses to use AEC as a veto signal for an activity, while therapists responded to the signals. The number of audible exhales from the horses was compared between the initial and final training sessions. Furthermore, we tested whether age, years of training experience, and therapy experience served as moderating variables for the outcome. Additionally, qualitative observations were made by therapists working with the horses.
Results: It has become apparent that training the horses to use AEC was successful. After 6 months of training, the horses showed a significantly higher number of audible exhales than in the initial training session, with a large effect size. Neither age nor years of training or therapy experience was found to be a moderating variable. The horses were eagerly engaged with newly acquired tools. These showed fewer indications of stress, greater sense of relaxation, and more positive emotions.
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this pilot study, training horses to use AEC might be a feasible approach to reduce stress in horses working in therapeutic settings, increase client safety, enhance human-animal relationships, and open up new possibilities for improving the therapeutic process. This method is applicable to all horses, regardless of their age, training level, or experience in therapy. For future research, it would be interesting to replicate and extend the approach by addressing the aforementioned limitations and using a randomized controlled design to investigate the introduction and impact of AEC in a therapeutic setting and to gain more comprehensive insights.
... Since animal welfare is more than a biological concept and includes ethical and societal dimensions (Haynes 2008;Ohl & Van der Staay 2012), we analysed whether and to what extent projects addressed this aspect of animal welfare. From those included, 50 refer to the societal dimensions of animal welfare, i.e. the research proposal or the related output explicitly mention the legal, philosophical, economic, policy or sociological dimensions. ...
... It seems logical therefore to start with a strong focus on the veterinary and biological dimensions. However, as has been argued previously, animal welfare is more than a biological concept (Ohl & van der Staay 2012). Furthermore, there is no clear division of labour, with scientists working only on the biological dimensions of welfare, while social scientists or ethicists work on the societal dimensions. ...
This paper presents results of a search and analysis of research projects on animal welfare registered in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database in the period 1996–2019, with the aim of gaining a better understanding of developments in animal welfare science in China. The title-abstract search of publications in this database resulted in over 260 articles that could be linked to 200 research projects with an animal welfare component. These projects were analysed for: (a) involved academic disciplines; (b) studied animal species; (c) contexts of animal use; (d) concepts of animal welfare; and (e) attention to ethical dimensions of animal welfare. The analysis shows an increased attention to animal welfare science, with a particular focus on farm and laboratory animals. We observed an increase in the number of studies and of animal species studied. The majority of research projects start in or include a view of animal welfare that is close to Fraser’s ‘biological function’ view. We conclude that the increased attention to animal welfare in science reflects recent developments in China in terms of public concern about animal use, academic debate about the importance of animal welfare, and animal-related political and economic developments linked to China’s ambitions to be a global player in science and food production. For the further development of animal welfare science in China stable funding and more interdisciplinary collaboration are necessary to study and publish on fundamental aspects of animal welfare, on issues not directly related to applied problems, and on the ethical dimensions of animal welfare.
... However, ensuring all five freedoms for laboratory animals remains challenging, as experimental procedures often require necessitate controlled physiological or pathological manipulations. The widely accepted ethical framework balancing scientific research and animal suffering is the 3Rs principle: Replacement, Reduction and Refinement [56,57]. ...
Background
Research on animal models of neurological diseases has primarily focused on understanding pathogenic mechanisms, advacing diagnostic strateggies, developing pharmacotherapies, and exploring preventive interventions. To facilitate comprehensive and systematic studies in this filed, we have developed the Neurological Disease Animal Model Database (ND‐AMD), accessible at https://www.uc‐med.net/NDAMD. This database is signed around the central theme of “Big Data ‐ Neurological Diseases ‐ Animal Models ‐ Mechanism Research,” integrating large‐scale, multi‐dimensional, and multi‐scale data to facilitate in‐depth analyses. ND‐AMD serves as a resource for panoramic studies, enabling comparative and mechanistic research across diverse experimental conditions, species, and disease models.
Method
Data were systematically retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, and other relevant databases using Boolean search strategies with standardized MeSH terms and keywords. The collected data were curated and integrated into a structured SQL‐based framework, ensuring consistency through automated validation checks and manual verification. Heterogeneity and sensitivity analyses were conducted using Cochran's Q test and the I² statistic to assess variability across studies. Statistical workflows were implemented in Python (SciPy, Pandas, NumPy) to support multi‐scale data integration, trend analysis, and model validation. Additionally, a text co‐occurrence network analysis was performed using Natural Language Processing (TF‐IDF and word embeddings) to identify key conceptual linkages and semantic structures across studies.
Results
ND‐AMD integrates data from 483 animal models of neurological diseases, covering eight disease categories, 21 specific diseases, 13 species, and 152 strains. The database provides a comprehensive repository of experimental and phenotypic data, covering behavioral, physiological, biochemical, molecular pathology, immunological, and imaging characteristics. Additionally, it incorporates application‐oriented data, such as drug evaluation outcomes. To enhance data accessibility and facilitate in‐depth analysis, ND‐AMD features three custom‐developed online tools: Model Frequency Analysis, Comparative Phenotypic Analysis, and Bibliometric Analysis, enabling systematic comparison and trend identification across models and experimental conditions.
Conclusions
The centralized feature of ND‐AMD enables comparative analysis across different animal models, strains, and experimental conditions. It helps capture intricate interactions between biological systems at different levels, ranging from molecular mechanisms to cellular processes, neural networks, and behavioral outcomes. These models play a vital role as tools in replicating pathological conditions of neurological diseases. By offering users convenient, efficient, and intuitive access to data, ND‐AMD enables researchers to identify patterns, trends, and potential therapeutic targets that may not be apparent in individual studies.
... As income levels rise, consumers, especially in high-income European markets, increasingly prioritize ethical production methods (Cembalo et al., 2016). The growing demand for animal welfarefriendly products reflects a broader shift in consumer behavior, shaped by psychological, social, and cultural factors, as animal welfare is not solely assessed through biological indicators but is also influenced by societal values (Ohl et al., 2012). In addition, consumers who prioritize ethical food attributes often perceive these products as higher quality, leading to a willingness to pay a premium (Zander & Hamm, 2010;Cornish et al., 2020). ...
This study examines how consumer attitudes toward animal welfare influence food selection and pricing using real-world market data from a Swiss supermarket. Our findings indicate that higher animal welfare standards are consistently associated with higher prices, suggesting that ethical considerations play a significant role in generating price premiums based on consumer preferences. On average, a one-point increase in the animal welfare score (ranging from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest) corresponds to a 16.4% price increase, with the effect being most pronounced in Dairy & Eggs (25.3%), compared to Meat & Fish (14.3%). These results highlight the psychological and behavioral factors underlying consumer preferences for ethically produced foods. Additionally, we find limited evidence of a price premium for climate-friendly food products, observed only in Yogurts & Desserts, a subcategory within Dairy & Eggs. Our findings contribute to the understanding of how ethical food attributes influence consumer decision-making and pricing in retail settings.
... It is motivated by the widely held moral principle that we ought to err on the side of caution, recognising that it is often right to take precautionary measures instead of running the risk of causing gratuitous suffering (O'Riordan & Cameron 1994;Bradshaw 1998). This fits with the substantial surge in social and political interest in animal welfare, reflecting a growing societal commitment to improving our treatment of non-human beings (Bayvel & Cross 2010;Ohl & van der Staay 2012), even when evidence for sentience is limited. ...
It is widely accepted that we ought to avoid taking excessive risks of causing gratuitous suffering. The practical implications of this truism, however, depend on how we understand what counts as an excessive risk. Precautionary frameworks help us decide when a risk exceeds the threshold for action, with the recent Birch et al. (2021) framework for assessing invertebrate sentience being one such example. The Birch et al. framework uses four neurobiological and four behavioural criteria to provide an evidence-based standard that can be used in determining when precautionary action to promote invertebrate welfare may be warranted. Our aim in this discussion paper is to provide a new motivation for the threshold approach that the Birch et al. framework represents while simultaneously identifying some possible revisions to the framework that can reduce false positives without abandoning the framework’s precautionary objectives.
... Animal ethicists and some welfare scientists, however, instead emphasised the subjective experiences of animals. As to the latter, most attention initially was directed at negative subjective experiences (poor welfare), while positive experiences are more recently being recognised as important (Bracke et al., 2008b;Ohl et al. 2012), although they are more difficult to measure scientifically. The Farm Animal Welfare Council's Five Freedoms Approach, which was based on the Brambell report (1965) and has for a long time been the prevalent model to assess farm animal welfare, has been criticized for emphasising negative experiences, even though the 5th freedom was to express normal/natural behaviour (Korte et al. 2007). ...
... In order to survive, animals need to gain information about the environment [1,2]. The concept of animal welfare developed by Ohl and van der Staay [3] states: "An individual is in a positive welfare state when it is able to actively adapt to its living conditions and to reach the state that it perceives as a positive" [4]. Adaptation to change may be a variable trait and is likely to be influenced by conditions during an individual's development [1,2]. ...
This study analysed stocking density as a major stress factor for laying hens and assessed its impact on selected behavioural and physiological traits of the birds. The study population included 142 birds of the Green-legged Partridge breed (12 males and 132 females). The birds were randomly assigned to three experimental groups of standard, low, and high stocking density, and a modified open-field test was conducted to assess their behavioural traits. The following blood parameters were analysed: corticosterone, cortisol, and testosterone. The behavioural test results demonstrated an impact of stocking density on laying hens’ behaviour. The birds kept at a low density exhibited the greatest diversity in behaviour as well as the most frequent and longest locomotion. There were no differences between the groups in terms of stress hormone results. All groups showed a significant decrease in testosterone levels compared to the control. This may suggest that, despite differences in stocking, the structure was established quickly, resulting in decreased competition and, consequently, a positive impact on the birds. When kept in lower-stocking-density groups with a stable structure, birds are less competitive; this stable structure improves their well-being to a greater extent than the stocking density.
... Някои автори дори стигат още по-далеч, смятайки, че приспособеността на месните породи пилета към местните условия на отглеждане може да надскочи желана цел (Tixier-Boichard et al., 2009). Друг аспект, който допълнително играе положителна роля в случая може да се окаже и адаптираността на линиите към производствената среда (Tixier-Boichard et al., 2009) заедно с доброто здраве и физическа издръжливост (Ohl and van der Staay, 2012). ...
During the recent decades, the scientific community turned its attention towards the dual purpose lines and crosses that might offer a suitable solution for two problems in poultry breeding - the use of male chickens for meat and the use of female chickens for rearing in alternative types of systems for egg production. Hence, a study with four groups of birds: a dual purpose cross „Salmon“, a dual purpose purebred line „BB“, a laying line „L“ and a laying hybrid line „ISA-Brown“ was conducted. The aim was to compare the morphological traits, as well as the fertility and the hatchability of the eggs, obtained from „ISA-Brown“, compared to the dual purpose „Salmon“ reared at IAS-Kostinbrod, and the local dual purpose and laying lines involved in its creation. As a result of the conducted research, we can conclude that the selection for high performance, larger eggs and the presence of heterosis in hybrids has to some extent a positive influence on most of the morphological traits determining the quality of the eggs produced. In addition, negative consequences for their hatchability, embryo survival and some morphological parameters such as increased width of the egg and increased diameter of the yolk were also observed. On the other hand, in the stock hybrids, compared to the purebred lines and the dual purpose crosses, this can also be considered as a sign of deterioration of the nutritional quality of the eggs.
... Hayvan refahı canlının bulunduğu ortama adaptasyonu ile yakından ilişkilidir. Hayvan refahı aynı zamanda, hayvanlarda hareketlerin kısıtlanıp, kısıtlanmadığı durumlarda adaptasyonlarını etkileyen önemli durumlardır (Korte ve ark., 2007;Ohl & Van Der Staay, 2012). Bu nedenle büyükbaş hayvancılık işletmelerinin hem ekonomisi hem de karlılığı bir çok faktörün etkisinde kalmaktadır. ...
Bu çalışma, Kahramanmaraş ili Onikişubat ilçelerinde 10 baş ve üzeri büyükbaş hayvana sahip işletmelerde hayvan refahı ve yetiştirici uygulamalarının incelenmesi için yürütülmüştür. Çalışmada yetiştiricilerin ortalama olarak; yaş ve mesleki tecrübeleri sırasıyla 42.0 yaş ve 18.1 yıl, sığır varlığı 53.2 baş, barınak kapasitesi (sağmal inek) ve ömrü sırasıyla 37.5 baş ve 12.7 yıl olduğu belirlenmiştir. Yetiştiricilerin yüksek oranda (%80.0) hayvan refahı konusunda farkındalıklarının olduğu tespit edilmiştir. İşletmelerde %74.0 oranında hayvanları soğuk stresinden korumak için yem artırma yöntemi uygulanmıştır. Hayvanları sıcak stresinden korumak için ise işletmelerde fan çalıştırma, serinletme ve pencere açma uygulaması oranları sırasıyla %17.0, %45.0 ve %38.0 olarak tespit edilmiştir. İneklere ve buzağılara septisemi aşısı/serumu yapılma oranı sırasıyla %15.0 ve %71.0 oranında olmuştur. İnekleri doğuma iki ay kala kuruya ayıran işletme oranı %80.0 olarak belirlenmiştir. İşletmelerde hayvan refahı açısından olumsuz olarak değerlendirilen faktörlerden; ahırların kaygan zemine sahip olması %35.0, ahıra girildiğinde gözlerin yanması %22.0, havalandırma yetersizliği %38.0, yetersiz pencere %21.0, hasta ve doğum bölmesi yokluğu eşit olarak %80.0, ahır konumunun ev altı olması %36.0 oranında olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak yetiştiricilerin hayvan refahı konusunda farkındalıklarının oluştuğu, fakat bu farkındalığın pratiğe de yansıması gerektiği sonucuna varılmıştır. Konu ile ilgili daha çok gözleme dayalı çalışmaların yapılmasına ihtiyaç vardır.
... Livestock production is a continuous topic of public interest and present in debates on consumption and food (VANHONACKER et al., 2008;TONSOR et al., 2009;VANHONACKER et al., 2012). For several years it has been an ongoing discussion about how farm animals should be treated (OHL and VAN DER STAAY, 2012). According to cross-border studies, citizens believe that the welfare of livestock should be improved. ...
In this study, we examine citizens’ perceptions of recent livestock production in Germany. Thereby, we focus against the backdrop of seven animal species-specific guidelines written by Scientific Advisory Board on Agricultural Policy, Food and Consumer Health Protection at the Federal Minis-try (WBA, 2015). We combine a qualitative study with focus group discussions about pig, cattle and poultry production systems and a quantitative online survey with factor analysis. Based upon the findings of the exploratory factor analysis, a clus-ter analysis was conducted to assign respondents to groups. The results provide an overview of citi-zens’ recent perceptions and attitudes, show differ-ences and commonalities with regard to the three main livestock production systems pig, cattle and poultry production. We sum up our qualitative results as thesis for each animal species. Further-more, we show relevant factors for respondents and divide them into clusters. We discuss these results against the background of the guidelines stated by the WBA.
... Animal welfare refers to the state of quality of life experienced by animals (Broom, 1991;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012). In fish, welfare encompasses physical and mental aspects of health, e.g., their behaviors, emotions, and/or ability to engage in natural activities (Branson, 2008;Huntingford et al., 2006), and fish are recognized as sentient beings capable of experiencing pain, stress, and a range of negative and/or positive emotions (Braithwaite, 2010;Sneddon, 2007). ...
Animal welfare science recognizes fish as sentient beings capable of experiencing pain, stress, and various emotions. As social interactions and mutual relationships are essential for fish welfare, the social environment in aquacultures is important for fish welfare. Pigmentation influences fish social behavior, e.g., communication and/or shoaling behavior. We investigated how pigmentation and shoal phenotypic composition affect locomotor activity in relation to feeding, exploratory behavior, sheltering and lateralization in holding tanks and Y-mazes in pigmented and albino Bronze Corydoras (Corydoras aeneus). The fish were divided into three treatment groups: pigm only, alb only, and mix groups. Each group comprised 12 shoals, with a total of 288 fish distributed across 36 shoals, each containing eight individuals. The study revealed behavioral differences between fish with pigmented and albino phenotypes, both within and among shoals. For both phenotypes, an increase in locomotor activity before feeding was followed by a decrease in activity after food consumption, indicating an anticipatory response and a shift from foraging to postfeeding behavior. In the mixed shoals, pigmented fish exhibited greater activity and sheltering behavior than albino fish. Both albino and pigmented fish showed lateralization toward the right arm of the Y-maze; however, in the mixed shoals, the preference for the right arm was not significant. Albino fish reached the shelter at the end of the Y-maze more often; however, in the mixed shoals, albino fish maintained their success rate in exploring the maze, while pigmented fish showed an increased success rate. We emphasize the significance of considering phenotypic variation and shoal composition when evaluating fish behavior and welfare. Such insights can inform the management of practices in aquaculture and ornamental breeding to ensure optimal fish welfare and enhance their overall quality of life.
... Besides, all procedures were strictly adhere to the internationally recognized basic principles of the "three R's" of laboratory animal welfare, including Replace, Reduce and Refine. 18 ...
Background
In the context of progressively uncontrolled drug resistance of bacteria, the difficulty of treating Klebsiella (KP)-induced pneumonia increases. Searching for drugs other than antibiotics has become an urgent task. Vitamin D (VD), meanwhile, is shown to be capable of treating pneumonia. Therefore, we aimed to explore the effects and mechanisms of VD on KP-infected rats.
Methods
Male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into the Control, VD, KP and KP+VD groups. A rat pneumonia model was induced using an intratracheal drop of 2.4×10⁸ CFU/mL KP. VD treatment was performed by gavage using 5 μg/kg. Subsequently, the survival of the rats was recorded, and the lungs, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and feces of the rats were collected 4 days after KP infection. Next, the water content of lung tissues was measured by the wet-to-dry weight ratio. Histopathological changes of lung tissues were observed by Hematoxylin and Eosin staining and the levels of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β, MCP1) were detected using ELISA. The feces of rats in each group were also subjected to 16S rDNA gene analysis of intestinal microbiota.
Results
Compared with the KP group, the KP+VD group showed a significant increase in survival, a significant decrease in water content and bacterial counts in the lungs, a significant improvement in lung injury, and a significant decline in the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and MCP1. According to the 16S rDNA sequencing, VD altered the structure of the intestinal bacterial community in the KP-infected rats and made the species richness similar to that of healthy rats. Additionally, the abundance of Anaeroglobus was significantly increased in the KP+VD group.
Conclusion
VD modulates intestinal microbiota to increase the resistance of rats to pneumonia caused by Klebsiella infection.
... In this regard, the milk presents itself as an easily collected, simple, readily-available and non-invasive source of DNA. It is also animal friendly and with minimal concern of animal welfare and consistent with Brambell's five freedom [17,18]. Milk somatic cells include the epithelial cells from the gland and leukocytes from the blood and the milk somatic cell count (MSCC) has become the basis for abnormal milk control programs. ...
Halari donkey breed is one of the indigenous breeds of India and its population is rapidly decreasing. The Jenny milk is more similar to human milk, exhibits a wide range of probiotic diversity and hypo-allergenicity, especially among infants suffering from cow and buffalo milk protein allergy. Some studies indicated low levels of κ-casein fraction of casein protein in donkey milk. The k-casein gene was not amplified from the DNA derived from the milk somatic cells of Halari donkeys. The Halari donkey milk has low somatic cells count. We report the first isolation of DNA from milk somatic cells of Halari donkeys with subsequent characterization of k-casein gene. Through our work, we showed that the milk somatic cells can be used as a non-invasive source for DNA isolation towards molecular studies. It also proved the presence of k-casein gene in Halari donkey milk by its amplification from isolated DNA.
... Yet, recent articles focus more on the specific positive aspects of animal welfare (Panksepp, 2005;Boissy et al., 2007;Serpell, 2008;Hemsworth et al., 2015;Lawrence et al., 2019;Csoltova and Mehinagic, 2020). These studies emphasize that welfare encompasses more than the absence of negative aspects-such as fear, pain, stress, hunger, and thirst-by stating that positive behaviors, such as playing, exploring, showing affiliative behavior, and tail wagging are also important to measure (Boissy et al., 2007;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012;Polgár et al., 2019). ...
... While the Five Freedoms are still relevant, it has been widely acknowledged that the mention of positive welfare is missing (e.g. Ohl and Van der Staay, 2012), which is a concept animal welfare science is embracing (see Chapter 5). By encouraging positive welfare states, the focus is rightly shifting away from simply preventing suffering and providing minimum animal welfare standards towards standards based on an animal's emotional state. ...
... Since the early 2000 s the practice of free-range egg production has increased in developed countries, partly driven by consumer perception that free-range housing is better for hen welfare (Lay et al., 2011;Campbell et al., 2021). Society expects that birds should be free from thirst, hunger, injury, pain, discomfort, disease, distress and fear and be able to express their normal behaviours (Ohl and van der Staay, 2012). The ability of animals to express natural behaviours is highly valued by consumers (Vanhonacker et al., 2008). ...
... While this requires further analysis, it may indicate that the definition of AW could be expanded in the future, as has recently been the case for OH (OHHLEP-FAO, 2021). These findings underscore the dynamic nature of OH and AW concepts (Ohl and van der Staay, 2012;Mackenzie and Jeggo, 2019;Prata et al., 2022), hinting at a trend toward consolidating a unified definition as this expansion broadens the scope of each concept. The inclusion of diverse perspectives further emphasizes the necessity of adopting comprehensive and inclusive approaches to address the complex challenges and issues related to human, animal, and environmental well-being. ...
Introduction: The recent COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the crucial role of the “One Health” (OH) concept in the prevention, early detection, and mitigation of health issues involving humans, animals, and the environment. Recognizing the intrinsic interdependence among human health, animal health, and environmental well-being is crucial, demanding heightened emphasis. Many health challenges stem from situations that compromise animal welfare (AW), human well-being, environmental sustainability, and vice versa. Recognizing the significance of AW across its five domains is essential for preventing future pandemics and advancing global objectives such as food security, reduction of human suffering, biodiversity conservation, and enhanced productivity in the agricultural-livestock sector.
Methods: From March to May 2023, we conducted an online survey using QuestionPro® to explore perceptions, experiences, ongoing strategies, and activities within disciplines linked to AW and the OH approach in Latin America. Respondents included stakeholders from various disciplines associated with OH and AW.
Results: Our findings reveal that both concepts are currently undergoing an expansion phase in Latin America. However, the interdependencies between AW and OH are not widely recognized. While animal welfare frequently receives significant attention from diverse educational perspectives, the OH approach has gained considerable momentum over the past decade. Academic sectors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are driving initiatives bridging AW and OH in Latin America, underscoring the need for robust public policies to ensure sustainable strategies.
Discussion: Advocating for greater awareness of the interdependence between AW and OH, this study highlights knowledge gaps among the scientific community and policymakers. Actively engaging with these connections can foster comprehensive strategies to address global health challenges and enhance overall well-being. The “One Welfare” framework and other integrative frameworks hold promise in strengthening the linkages between AW and OH, facilitating theory translation into practical action. Establishing comprehensive, integrated policies that unite these domains is imperative for addressing complex health challenges and advancing the welfare of both animals and humans. Further research and collaborative efforts are essential to transform these concepts into tangible, impactful outcomes.
... Studies were driven initially by ethical concepts and popular empathy and later by economic and political interests that have increased around this topic (Lesimple 2020). Society progressively demands scientific-based evidence to define objective and quantifiable parameters to measure the welfare of animals and to provide solutions to major animal welfare issues (Ohl and Van der Staay 2012). Historically, welfare concerns started with Ruth Harrison's Book and continued with the subsequent Brambell report and the first animal protection legislation (Brambell Committee (Report) 1965;Harrison 2013). ...
Animal welfare protection is a challenge for which policy-makers are demanding scientific-based evidence. Considering horses, the challenge is even greater, as their role in society varies from production to companion animals. This review aimed to describe the evolution and geographical distribution of horse welfare literature over the years, to identify the most studied research topics and to highlight the still present gaps in knowledge. A search on Scopus V R bibliometric database was performed using different welfare-related keywords. Predetermined filters were posed on time range, language and subject area. A total of 6584 records were downloaded and screened retaining only the ones dealing with horse welfare and behavioural sciences. Descriptive statistics, text mining (TM) and topic analysis (TA) were performed on the abstract of 801 eligible records. The results showed the number of studies on horse welfare is exponentially increasing, especially in the European continent. 'Transport' was the most frequent word, but also 'behaviour' and 'pain' emerged. Nine topics were identified and covered different subject areas: stress analysis, pain assessment, equitation science, human-horse interactions, breeding management, transport, working equids and health. The evaluation of stress and pain, horse social behaviour and the human-horse relationship resulted to be the most studied aspects related to animal welfare. On the contrary, the concept of positive welfare and the welfare assessment at slaughter of horses were underrepresented, confirming the limited literature on these subjects. This review confirmed the growing impact of research on horse welfare and highlighted how some important areas still do not provide sufficient scientific evidence.
... Here, we define welfare as a dynamic concept including both physical and affective states: "an individual animal is likely in a positive welfare state when it is mentally and physically capable and possesses the ability and opportunity to react adequately to sporadic or lasting appetitive and adverse internal and external stimuli, events, and conditions" (Arndt et al., 2022;Ohl and van der Staay, 2012). ...
... In animal husbandry, stress is considered as a reflex reaction when animals face adverse environmental conditions causing mere discomfort to death. Feeling of intimidation either through handling procedures or change of the environment puts the animal in agony (Villarroel et al. 2003, Ohl andVan der Staay 2012). Stress encountered during routine handling and restraint of meat animals declines quality in meat production (Dodzi and Muchenje 2011). ...
Domestic animals like sheep, goat and pig are subjected to many chronic stressful conditions regularly. The stressors include handling, transportation, cold, heat, temperament, diseases, parasites and introduction to a new group. Irrespective of the etiology, stress decreases the normal wellbeing and productivity of the animal. Farm animals attempt to deal with these stressors through behavioural and physiological adaptations aimed at restoring homeostasis. When these responses fail, common signs of persistent stress arise. As the symptoms of stress are unidentifiable by the farmers, there can be a significant deterioration in quality and quantity of meat produced. The increasing need for food due to population growth and urbanization has to be met through proper health managementof farm animals. More research is needed to alleviate stress in farm animals and improve product quality and yield. This review paper aims to emphasize on stress factors in farm animals like sheep, goat and pig, and their impact on productivity and meat quality. With a greater understanding of stressors, altered physiological mechanisms, stress adaptability, it would be possible to implement methodologies for stress mitigation in farm animals.
... In this regard, the milk presents itself as an easily collected, simple, readily-available and non-invasive source of DNA. It is also animal friendly and with minimal concern of animal welfare and consistent with Brambell's five freedom [17,18]. Milk somatic cells include the epithelial cells from the gland and leukocytes from the blood and the milk somatic cell count (MSCC) has become the basis for abnormal milk control programs. ...
... 1.2 | The role of zookeeper perceptions in welfare assessment | 1 from the nearest proxy: zookeepers (Mellor, 2016;Ohl & Van der Staay, 2012;Whitham & Wielebnowski, 2013;Wolfensohn et al., 2018). Empirical evidence has demonstrated that zookeepers can be a reliable source of information when it comes to welfare indicators and animal states due to their intimate knowledge of the individuals under their care (Clegg, 2018;Maher et al., 2021). ...
Zookeepers working with felids were asked to complete an online survey to examine their perceptions of animal welfare. A total of 121 zookeepers in an AZA-accredited zoo completed the survey. Results from this study suggest that institutional offerings of professional development programming in animal welfare have the greatest potential to influence zookeeper perceptions of animal welfare. Participants also identified four areas of improvement for felid welfare, including 1) larger and more dynamic spaces, 2) increased attention to behavioral husbandry, 3) more unique diet presentations, and 4) the ability for the animal to remain out of the view of the public. In addition, there appear to be differences in perception between traditionally described "small cat" and "large cat" keepers in terms of the ability to deliver the Five Freedoms.
... Von Essen, Lindsjö and Berg (2020), in their study reflected the different aspects of animal-based tourism starting from zoo to hunting based tourism product and then collated the various concern in animal-based tourism and their welfare issues. Ohl and Van der Staay (2012), in their study claimed that a country's morals and ethics may be directly linked to the practices being followed in terms of animal welfare. Moorhouse, D'Cruze and Macdonald (2017), recommended that the tourists lack the specialized knowledge on animal well-being and upkeep impacts of Wildlife Tourism Attractions and therefore should be empowered by providing unequivocal assessments of animal welfare impacts. ...
Purpose: The connection between Tourism and Wildlife and their uses in terms of show and attractions are an age-old practice. In India it is one of the important components during visits to Historical places like Rajasthan. But today the Animal welfare is a significant issue and a matter of high concern. We could see and read many incidents of animal exploitation and hence this study makes a modest attempt to study the tourist's mindset towards the various practices & activities which may fall under the category of tourist responsibility to Animal's wellbeing. We strongly believe that the Tourist will play a very important and vital role in ensuring that these animals are not exploited in the name of Tourism Attraction. Design & Methodology: We surveyed 120 participants who experienced the role of Elephants in the Forts and palaces of Rajasthan using the contacts from pre-visited data collected from 3 well known Travel Agencies. Approach: Statistical tools like One-Way ANOVA (Welch's), is being used to measure and compare significant relationship amongst different variables.
Agri‐food policies are in the midst of far‐reaching transitions, including the transformation towards sustainable production and food consumption. The European Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy prioritize food safety and animal welfare issues, aiming to transform food systems towards more sustainability. Despite existing EU legislation, little is known about how EU agri‐food policies are implemented across member states. Our analysis addresses this gap by examining the conditions that shape how EU requirements are implemented in 16 EU member states in two policy areas: food safety and farm animal welfare. Through our qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), we identify distinct pathways to differentiated implementation in both sectors, with a shared emphasis on political engagement, green party influence, and public advocacy, while also highlighting domain‐specific governance dynamics. Understanding variations in the implementation of EU demands among member states is crucial to identify gaps, assess governance effectiveness, and promote harmonization within the EU.
Animal cruelty is widespread, yet it is often overlooked by professionals as a form of trauma and not perceived as a serious crime. This study explores current challenges to the effective management of animal abuse and neglect cases in the state of Colorado, USA, to better understand systemic barriers and their impact on those involved, and offers concrete, practical suggestions for improvement. Interviews with 24 law enforcement and Bureau of Animal Protection (BAP) agents/staff were conducted, and an integrated thematic analysis method was utilized to inductively analyze participants’ responses to interview questions. The most common barriers to addressing animal cruelty cases identified by law enforcement/BAP personnel included (1) a lack of places to take removed animals and resources to care for them; (2) challenges working with the district attorney’s office; (3) a general lack of knowledge and training on how to address cases and the documentation required; and (4) insufficient enforcement personnel to conduct investigations and conduct required follow-up. Suggested changes include expansion of temporary housing options, additional training, expert investigators and social workers/mental health professionals, and possible amendments to state statutes. In addition, the use of a trauma-informed model is recommended to best meet the psychological needs of all those involved in animal welfare work.
When, if ever, is it better to spend money to improve pig welfare over chicken welfare? Which species of fish is worst off in commercial aquaculture operations? When, if ever, would humans benefit less from a policy than animals stand to lose? The answers to these questions involve making interspecies welfare comparisons—assessments of how well or poorly the members of one species are faring compared to the members of another species. It’s important to answer these questions, as governments, NGOs, and private actors regularly make decisions that assume particular views about them. However, there is no accepted method for making interspecies welfare comparisons; welfare assessment tools are designed to make comparisons within species, not across them. This volume addresses this crucial gap in the literature: it proposes a methodology for making such comparisons, it puts that methodology into practice, and then reports some tentative, proof-of-concept results. This book reports the results of a collaborative, 20-month, interdisciplinary project on making interspecies welfare comparisons. It includes contributions from philosophers, neuroscientists, comparative psychologists, animal welfare scientists, and many others. Unlike many edited volumes, this book is the product of a joint enterprise with a specific, shared goal: to develop a way to make principled comparisons between courses of action that affect different kinds of animals. This book reflects the contributors’ collective view about one way to achieve that goal.
Within the European socio-cultural landscape, which is increasingly attuned to animal welfare concerns and characterized by growing multiculturalism, ritual slaughter has become a subject of considerable debate due to its legal, economic, and health implications. This debate is increasingly fueled by interventions by judicial bodies that, not infrequently, have filled protection gaps in legislation on the relationship between human rights and the treatment of animals. In this review, the authors aim to describe the evolutionary path of supranational jurisprudence in the case of religious slaughter, focusing on the most recent animal welfare decision rendered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on 13 February 2024. This innovative judgement, in line with other precedents, indicates the orientation of the international and European law, which, driven by public morality, is increasingly characterized by the compression of human rights in favor of animal interests.
Firework (noise) aversion is seen in cats and dogs relatively often and comes with a risk of animal welfare impairment. Affected animals may show behaviours like freezing, hiding, fleeing, but also inappropriate elimination, loss of appetite and (social) withdrawal. In The Netherlands, firework regulation has been a much-debated topic and we aimed to provide insight into how owners in this country report on their cat's or dog's firework aversion. We gathered reports on 3,009 dogs’ and 622 cats’ firework-related behaviours, exposure, animal (early life) characteristics and owner (dis)agreement with statements relating to firework aversion and animal guidance. We hypothesized that 1) suboptimal early life factors come with higher prevalence of firework aversion and 2) owners that report less firework aversion for their animal, agree more to the statement that owner behaviour affects an animal's future reactions to firework. Our findings confirm the first hypothesis for dogs and the second hypothesis for both species. Firework affects Dutch cats, dogs and their owners not just on New Year's Eve, but for multiple months a year: 64 % of the owners heard firework noise from September onwards. Suboptimal early life factors, of for instance not being noise habituated as a young animal came with higher prevalence of firework fear for dogs, but not cats and habituating particularly kittens seemed uncommon (4 % of kittens). Advice seeking was more common for dogs (54 %) than cats (23 %) with firework aversion. For both species reporting of lasting effects of therapeutic interventions was uncommon. <30 % of the most often applied interventions were reported to have a lasting mitigating effect on firework aversion. This may indicate a high importance of hereditary and early life preventive measures, but our respondents were not in high agreement with statements reflecting such importance. Although our study presents associative evidence only and was based on owner report, not on direct animal observations, we present attention points for future studies. One such attention point is a seemingly low awareness of the lifelong influence of an animal's early life factors. Studying how such awareness affects people that opt for a puppy or kitten as to facilitate acquisition decisions that may or may not come with firework resilient animals, may ultimately benefit animals that were in this study seen to experience firework aversion for multiple months a year, with limited long-term effectiveness of therapeutic interventions.
p style="text-align: justify;">The analytical review formulates a scientific justification for the possibility of using indicators of the disturbing behavior of companion dogs as signs of abuse. Based on the analysis of publications presented in international databases (Elibrary, Pubmed, Science Direct, Google Academy and Scopus), approaches to the classification and interpretation of cruelty to companion dogs have been identified, on the basis of which an appropriate legislative framework has been developed. As a methodological basis that can be used in the Russian Federation, the concept of Five Freedoms and the concept of Five Domains are considered, which make it possible to analyze the contribution of various spheres of life (nutrition, health, environment) to the behavioral and psychological aspects of dog welfare. Behavioral signs are formulated that are indicators of a decrease in the level of well-being of dogs, and are available for detection by both veterinarians and specialists in other fields. These include, first of all, indicators of an increased level of anxiety. The presence of these signs can be regarded as a predictor of a decrease in the quality of life, manifestations of aggressive behavior, maladaptation, which will lead to the owner’s rejection of the animal, placement in a shelter or euthanasia.</p
To simplify fast-growth broiler welfare assessments and use them as a benchmarking tool, decision trees were used to identify iceberg indicators discriminating flocks passing/failing welfare assessments as with the complete AWIN protocol. A dataset was constructed with data from 57 flocks and 3 previous projects. A final flock assessment score, previously not included in the dataset, was calculated and used as the benchmarking assessment classifier (pass/fail). A decision tree to classify flocks was built using the Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) criterion. Cost-complexity pruning, and tenfold cross-validation were used. The final decision tree included cumulative mortality (%), immobile, lame birds (%), and birds with back wounds (%). Values were (mean ± se) 2.77 ± 0.14%, 0.16 ± 0.02%, 0.25 ± 0.02%, and 0.003 ± 0.001% for flocks passing the assessment; and 4.39 ± 0.49%, 0.24 ± 0.05%, 0.49 ± 0.09%, and 0.015 ± 0.006% for flocks failing. Cumulative mortality had the highest relative importance. The validated model correctly predicted 80.70% of benchmarking assessment outcomes. Model specificity was 0.8696; sensitivity was 0.5455. Decision trees can be useful to simplify welfare assessments. Model improvements will be possible as more information becomes available, and predictions are based on more samples.
Η παρούσα εργασία έχει ως σκοπό να διερευνήσει αν ο ανθρωπομορφισμός έχει
κάποια επίδραση στην ποιότητα ζωής των κατοικίδιων σκύλων. Αρχικά ορίζεται η
ευζωία των ζώων και ο τρόπος με τον οποίο μπορεί να αξιολογηθεί. Στην συνέχεια,
γίνεται μια προσπάθεια να εντοπιστούν οι συνέπειες του ανθρωπομορφισμού σε
καθεμία από τις πέντε νομοθετημένες ανάγκες των κατοικίδιων ζώων. Για την
διεκπεραίωση της εργασίας χρησιμοποιήθηκαν δύο ερωτηματολόγια- ένα για την
μέτρηση του ανθρωπομορφισμού και ένα για την ποιότητα ζωής των ζώων. Αφού έγινε η επεξεργασία τους και σημαντικές αλλαγές για να ανταποκρίνονται καλύτερα στις δέκα ερευνητικές υποθέσεις που προέκυψαν, κοινοποιήθηκε και προωθήθηκε μέσω σελίδων κοινωνικής δικτύωσης. Οι δυο από τις δέκα ερευνητικές υποθέσεις επιβεβαιώθηκαν, με τις γυναίκες να παρουσιάζουν μεγαλύτερα ποσοστά ανθρωπομορφισμού και τα σκυλιά των οποίων οι ιδιοκτήτες έχουν μεγαλύτερο ανθρωπομορφισμό, να βιώνουν μεγαλύτερη γενική ανησυχία. Παρατίθενται τα αποτελέσματα, ο σχολιασμός τους και προτάσεις για μελλοντική έρευνα.
Farm animal health and welfare are important topics amongst global conversations and strategies surrounding food security and sustainability, including the social sustainability of food systems. Animal production systems, especially more intensive systems, are of concern to members of the public in relation to animal health and welfare and the environment. There is a large body of research demonstrating consumer and wider public concern over the welfare of farm animals, with a smaller body of research looking at production diseases in particular. This chapter looks to explore what the public know and think about production diseases. Given the limited research into this topic, the chapter first outlines the broader context of growing consumer concern over food production including animal products, in relation to food safety and farm animal health and welfare, and how concerns are addressed by government and industry. It is within this context that public attitudes towards production diseases are discussed.
1.Animal welfare assessments have recently been suggested to be useful for free-ranging animals. Nevertheless, few standardized welfare assessment frameworks have been built for wildlife, including cetaceans.
2.Coastal cetaceans like Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis, IPHDs) that form resident populations impacted by a wide range of human activities are subject to reliable photo-identification efforts and thus represent perfect candidates for welfare monitoring.
3. Parameters that may inform us on some aspects of the welfare of free-ranging IPHDs were selected through literature review. A panel survey including three consecutive rounds was then conducted to collect the opinion of selected experts on these parameters.
4. The survey allowed the validation of a list containing 31 parameters that provide information on the welfare of IPHDs. The opinion of experts also allowed to set the modalities of the data collection required to measure/observe these parameters.
5. After establishing a consistent scoring method and testing it on existing data, this standardized framework will allow for obtaining a wide picture of the living conditions of IPHDs. Variations across time periods, among dolphin populations and locations, or following major environmental changes (e.g., conservation measures or human disturbances) could then be analysed.
6. Added to traditional conservation approaches, standardized welfare monitoring will greatly participate in the conservation of these animals.
Good health is one welfare principle. However, minor species such as camels continue to be generally disregarded for prevention and clinical management of disease, injury and pain. Hence, detrimental effects on camel health, production and welfare emerge when diseases, injuries and noxious stimuli cannot be properly managed. Such negative repercussions are susceptible to becoming increasingly patent in a contemporaneous scenario in which dromedary camels are being translated from traditional extensive to more intensive production regimes. Notwithstanding, the relatively high presence of camels in extensive nomadic systems that practice ancient husbandry and medicine has also many impediments that prejudice the basic principles of animal welfare assurance. Hence, the present chapter aims to provide an overview of the most common injuries and diseases compromising dromedary camel health, welfare and productivity to serve as a practical guide for owners, researchers and stakeholders in this field. Concerning pain assessment, given the fact that no sensitive scales do exist for pain recognition and scoring in camels through physiological and behavioural responses, a camel composite pain scale was developed based on the literature. Additionally, a theoretical body on risk factors for poor health, the animal-dependent variables potentially modulating camel reactivity to pain/discomfort and the limitations of traditional farming and medicine for good health promotion are presented. To sum up, a list of recommendations on how to enhance physical and psychological health in dromedary camels is derived from the outlined content.
Dogs in shelters are faced with the challenge of adapting to a kennel after relinquishment and to a novel home after adoption. To measure adaptability of dogs, more feasible behavioural and physiological parameters need to be validated in different contexts. To evaluate nocturnal activity as an indicator of adaptability, we compared nocturnal activity, urinary cortisol:creatinine ratio (UCCR), and body weight changes of sheltered dogs the first period after intake in the shelter and after adoption. Nocturnal activity and UCCRs were significantly lower the first days after adoption than in the shelter. After adoption, nocturnal activity was significantly lower on night 2 than night 1, but not on night 3 and 4, suggesting a form of rebound of resting’ during night 2 in the new home. UCCRs significantly decreased 7 days after adoption. Body weight decreased in the shelter but increased again after adoption. These findings suggest that overall, dogs rest better in a novel home than in a novel shelter but, in both contexts, some form of adaptation takes place. Nocturnal activity measured by an accelerometer differentiated well between shelter and home environments, and corresponded to UCCR responses, which supports usefulness of the method to monitor canine adaptability to novel environments.
Animal welfare is an important field of study due to animal sentience, yet there is to date no consensus on the definition of animal welfare. There have been four key developments in the field of animal welfare science since its birth: the theoretical and empirical study of affective states, and hence our understanding thereof, has increased; there has been a shift from a primary focus on unpleasant experiences towards an inclusion of pleasant experiences; there has been an increasing mention and investigation of the notion of cumulation of experiences in time, and with this, the importance of the time component of both affective states and animal welfare has come forward. Following others, we define welfare as a balance or cumulation of pleasant and unpleasant experiences over time. The time period of welfare depends on when welfare considerations are necessary, and may range from the duration of single and relatively short-term experiences to the entire life of an animal. We further propose that animal welfare conceptualised in this way can be assessed at three levels: level 1 represents the assessment of the environment and 'internal factors' such as health and personality, which interact in their impact on the affective experiences of animals; level 2 represents the assessment of affective states; and level 3 represents the assessment of the balance or cumulation of these affective states in time. The advancement of research necessitates studies to be more or less comparable, and this would be facilitated by researchers mentioning which concept of animal welfare they are basing their work on, at which level of assessment they are working, which assumptions they might be drawing from to infer welfare and which time period of interest they are focusing on, even if this is not mirrored by the timing of the assessment in practice. Assessment at levels 2 and 3 still needs much study, at both the theoretical and empirical levels, including agreements on validation tools.
a investigación biomédica requiere métodos confiables, reproducibles y perfectibles, acorde a las regulaciones bioéticas, de bioseguridad y jurídicas implicadas.
Esto ha llevado a la creación de diversos modelos, los cuales se definen como protocolos o técnicas estructurados y avalados que permiten el estudio de un fenómeno en especial. En este trabajo se realizó una revisión bibliográfica en PubMed y Google académico para dar al lector una descripción general de cada uno de los modelos biológicos empleados en ciencias biomédicas. En este artículo presentamos las principales características de los modelos in silico, in vitro, ex vivo, e in vivo, destacando sus ventajas, regulaciones bioéticas y limitaciones.
Palabras clave: Bióetica, bioseguridad, células en cultivo, modelos animales.
Agriculture in Western Europe has become efficient and productive but at a cost. The quality of biodiversity, soil, air, and water has been compromised. In the search for ways to ensure food security and meet the challenges of climate change, new production systems have been proposed. One of these is the transition to circular agriculture: closing the cycles of nutrients and other resources to minimise losses and end the impact on climate change. This development aims to address existing problems in food production but also raises questions about animal health and welfare. Although the role animals can play in this development is not ignored, the animal welfare dimension of circular agriculture seems to be overlooked. We argue that this is a problem both for the success of circular agriculture and for the animals involved. To substantiate this claim, we analyse the background to this lack of attention, which we find in (a) the way circular agriculture is conceptualised; (b) the institutional hurdles related to the legal, political and economic context; and (c) the concept of animal welfare, which requires further innovation. By analysing these aspects, we develop stepping stones for an animal-welfare inclusive concept of circular agriculture. These stepping stones include: recognising the animal as a participant with its own interests in the innovation towards circular agriculture; using a dynamic concept of animal welfare; a concept of circularity that provides space for social values, including animal welfare; and attention to institutional innovation by improving public engagement and building trust.
Animal welfare legislation in Australia is influenced by “community expectations.” Given a major source of publicly available information on animal welfare law is that from media articles, it is likely the information discussed online could be influencing public opinion and consequently shaping animal welfare legislation reform efforts. This study examined the social media discourse in response to news articles on animal welfare law in Australia. A content analysis was applied to Facebook comments from posts originating from a formal news agency discussing animal cruelty and penalties over a 6-month period between 1 June 2019 to 1 December 2019. All posts were screened against eligibility criteria and imported into NVivo for inductive coding. A total of 24 Facebook posts with an accumulative 1,723 comments were coded and thematically analyzed. Six primary themes were generated from the analysis: (1) failure of the court system; (2) failure of the legislation; (3) failure of the government; (4) emotive reactions; (5) risk of violence; and (6) mistrust in the media. The social media discourse was scathing of the legal system, with a particular focus on failings of the animal welfare law justice system. It is likely that this type of discourse surrounding animal law enforcement could be playing an influential role over the “expectations” influencing animal welfare legislation reform in Australia.
Many researchers believe that the concept of adaptation is useful for understanding the human mind and human behavior.1-7 These researchers agree that adaptations are design features of organisms that evolved because they enhanced fitness in ancestral environments. They see the psychological mechanisms that make up the human mind as evolved adaptations. Further they are convinced that these adaptations are more likely to produce adaptive effects in environments similar to ancestral ones. In other words, the more similar the present environment to the ancestral one, the more likely the adaptation is to confer the reproductive advantage that led to its evolution. On the other hand, adaptations are less likely to confer an adaptive advantage in novel environments.
Despite these shared views, the question of exactly how to characterize these expectations has led to a major disagreement among researchers who study human behavior and psychology from an evolutionary perspective. One group, whose members label themselves evolutionary psychologists, has dealt with this problem by elaborating the concept of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness, (EEA).8-9 Other researchers, who are variously labeled behavioral ecologists, evolutionary ecologists, sociobiologists, or human paleontologists, have tended to question the value of this concept.10-14
In this paper, I review and critique the concept of the EEA and the associated evolutionary psychological view that the human mind consists of many specific-purpose decision-making mechanisms rather than just a few general-purpose ones. I then suggest an alternative to the EEA concept that I believe will serve better the purpose of modeling the relationship between adaptations and environments. I see this concept as a more logical complement than the EEA to the view that the human mind consists of many specific mechanisms. I refer to this new concept as the adaptively relevant environment (ARE). The expression "relevant environment" may also serve as a shorter label. The key idea motivating the ARE concept is that an organism consist of a large number of special-purpose adaptations, each interacting with only a part of the organism's environment. Thus, when a particular element of an environment changes, it is likely to affect some adaptations but not others. Logically, this idea is closely related to the idea that evolutionary change is mosaic: In the course of evolutionary change, some aspects of organisms change while others remain the same. In order to understand an adaptation fully at the proximate level, we need to study its design, the structure of its relevant environment, and the interaction of the two.
Before proceeding, a word of caution is necessary regarding the label evolutionary psychology. The label has both a broad and a narrow meaning. In its narrow meaning, it refers to the research program of scholars such as Barkow, Cosmides, Symons, and Tooby who rely heavily on the EEA and associated concepts and who insist that others who do not share this emphasis are not strict Darwinians or true adaptationists.2 However, many writers use the terms in a broader sense that includes all recent attempts to study human behavior and psychology in evolutionary terms. Robert Wright's recent book, The Moral Animal,15 uses the word in this broader sense.
Observation of behaviour, especially social behaviour, and experimental studies of learning and brain function give us information about the complexity of concepts that animals have. In order to learn to obtain a resource or carry out an action, domestic animals may: relate stimuli such as human words to the reward, perform sequences of actions including navigation or detours, discriminate amongst other individuals, copy the actions of other individuals, distinguish between individuals who do or do not have information, or communicate so as to cause humans or other animals to carry out actions. Some parrots, that are accustomed to humans but not domesticated, can use words to have specific meanings. In some cases, stimuli, individuals or actions are remembered for days, weeks or years. Events likely to occur in the future may be predicted and changes over time taken into account. Scientific evidence for the needs of animals depends, in part, on studies assessing motivational strength whose methodology depends on the cognitive ability of the animals.
There are many definitions of animal welfare. These do not only differ in their meaning, but also in their function for making a broad concept accessible for scientific research. Lexical [dictionary] definitions establish what the common meaning is of the concept to be studied, and help to find some concrete phenomena which are related to the often vague and general descriptive terms. Explanatory definitions provide an elementary theoretical background for studying the phenomena. Operational definitions contain the parameters used in concrete measurements. In each step we reduce the concept to more measurable elements but lose other elements of the concept. In the case of animal welfare this results in an evolution of definitions which makes animal welfare more objectively assessable. But it also results in an erosion: development of a confusing diversity in parameters and a loss of the moral aspect of the concept of animal welfare. This erosion has a negative influence on political decisionmaking. It is important to recognize the possibilities and limitations of problem solving, based on 'animal welfare science'.
Although the term 'quality of life' (QoL) is not unfamiliar to veterinary surgeons, only recently has the scientific community attempted to measure it in farm and companion animals. Typically such studies have applied methodologies from the field of human health-related quality of life (HRQoL), without due consideration of the applicability of both the term and its measurement to animals. However, it is necessary to clarify the philosophical basis of QoL if it is to be defended as a rigorous and reliable aid to decision-making in animal welfare science. In this paper we review common concepts in human HRQoL and discuss the value of, and difficulties regarding, the transfer of the concept of human HRQoL to companion animals. Human definitions tend to focus on individuals and their assessment of the state of their life in terms of physical, social and psychological functioning. The use of the term 'quality of life' for animals may therefore expand on what is usually considered when using the term 'welfare', and thereby improve on current practice, which tends to focus on relatively few outcome measures that are largely indicative of poor welfare. However, failure in the human literature to properly define QoL and defend the choice of measures accordingly, together with the common use of objective indicators and proxies, has led to confusion over the relative roles of objective and subjective measures in the determination and constitution of QoL. A suggestion for an appropriate definition of animal QoL that clarifies these relationships is offered, together with a list of social/environmental and physical/psychological health-related domains that may be suitable for a generic companion animal QoL assessment tool. In the absence of knowledge on both basic needs and individual preferences, particularly for institutionalised animals, QoL tools may be more appropriately designed as outcome-based tools, focussing on observable signs of health and behaviour. The extent to which recent QoL assessment tools for companion animals have covered these domains, and the extent to which the psychometric properties of the tools have been addressed, is also briefly discussed.
Forestry practices may directly kill animals as well as destroy and fragment their habitat. Even without habitat destruction, logging and its associated forest management practices (which include road building, re-forestation, and often increased recreational use) create noise, frighten animals, and may lead to changes in species composition as well as evolutionary responses to the myriad of anthropogenic impacts. Thus, forestry practices may create conservation problems. Forestry practices may also create welfare problems that may act on different temporal and spatial scales than the conservation problems. The individuals affected by forestry may have heightened glucocorticoid levels that may lead to a predictable set of deleterious consequences. Individuals may no longer be able to communicate, or they may no longer be attractive to potential mates. Such welfare problems may generate conservation problems if fitness is reduced. Identifying the set of possible impacts is the first step towards improving welfare and aiding wildlife conservation in managed forests.
In this paper, we present and defend the theoretical framework of an empirical model to describe people’s fundamental moral
attitudes (FMAs) to animals, the stratification of FMAs in society and the role of FMAs in judgment on the culling of healthy
animals in an animal disease epidemic. We used philosophical animal ethics theories to understand the moral basis of FMA convictions.
Moreover, these theories provide us with a moral language for communication between animal ethics, FMAs, and public debates.
We defend that FMA is a two-layered concept. The first layer consists of deeply felt convictions about animals. The second
layer consists of convictions derived from the first layer to serve as arguments in a debate on animal issues. In a debate,
the latter convictions are variable, depending on the animal issue in a specific context, time, and place. This variability
facilitates finding common ground in an animal issue between actors with opposing convictions.
Evolutionary biologists often use phenotypic differences between species and between individuals to gain an understanding of organismal design. The focus of much recent attention has been on developmental plasticity – the environmentally induced variability during development within a single genotype. The phenotypic variation expressed by single reproductively mature organisms throughout their life, traditionally the subject of many physiological studies, has remained underexploited in evolutionary biology. Phenotypic flexibility, the reversible within-individual variation, is a function of environmental conditions varying predictably (e.g. with season), or of more stochastic fluctuations in the environment. Here, we provide a common framework to bring the different categories of phenotypic plasticity together, and emphasize perspectives on adaptation that reversible types of plasticity might provide. We argue that better recognition and use of the various levels of phenotypic variation will increase the scope for phenotypic experimentation, comparison and integration.
A better understanding of animal emotion is an important goal in disciplines ranging from neuroscience to animal welfare science. The conscious experience of emotion cannot be assessed directly, but neural, behavioural and physiological indicators of emotion can be measured. Researchers have used these measures to characterize how animals respond to situations assumed to induce discrete emotional states (e.g. fear). While advancing our understanding of specific emotions, this discrete emotion approach lacks an overarching framework that can incorporate and integrate the wide range of possible emotional states. Dimensional approaches that conceptualize emotions in terms of universal core affective characteristics (e.g. valence (positivity versus negativity) and arousal) can provide such a framework. Here, we bring together discrete and dimensional approaches to: (i) offer a structure for integrating different discrete emotions that provides a functional perspective on the adaptive value of emotional states, (ii) suggest how long-term mood states arise from short-term discrete emotions, how they also influence these discrete emotions through a bi-directional relationship and how they may function to guide decision-making, and (iii) generate novel hypothesis-driven measures of animal emotion and mood.
The formulation of corporate social responsibility standards must deal with conflicting interests among stakeholders. The standards formulation process occurs at the junction between market stakeholders and special interest groups, which implies that it may help increase understanding of the marketing–society relationship. Drawing on the power and urgency dimensions of stakeholder identification theory and decision process analysis, this study examines four case studies pertaining to animal welfare issues in food marketing. The standards formulation processes contain control mechanisms that solve the potential conflicts between stakeholders by constraining commercial and/or special interests. These mechanisms vary in the degree to which discussion centers on the relationship between commercial and special interests, the presence of new parties that may alter the negotiations, the stage at which special interest groups become involved in the process, and the extent to which commercial and special interests constrain each other. The findings have critical implications for how companies and their stakeholders can organize the process of formulating corporate social responsibility standards. Keywords: stakeholder marketing, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder identification theory, legitimacy, standards
Domestication of livestock species and a long history of migrations, selection and adaptation have created an enormous variety of breeds. Conservation of these genetic resources relies on demographic characterization, recording of production environments and effective data management. In addition, molecular genetic studies allow a comparison of genetic diversity within and across breeds and a reconstruction of the history of breeds and ancestral populations. This has been summarized for cattle, yak, water buffalo, sheep, goats, camelids, pigs, horses, and chickens. Further progress is expected to benefit from advances in molecular technology.
Negative emotions do not compromise welfare, as long as they do not exceed the individual’s adaptive capabilities. Anxiety, though a negative emotion, is highly conserved during evolution, and essential for enabling an individual to both escape from dangerous situations and to avoid them in the future, i.e. to adapt to environmental challenges. However, the interactions between anxiety and environment are highly dynamic and can result in non-adaptive anxiety responses. Non-adaptive anxiety responses not only compromise the animal’s welfare, but may be substantially detrimental to experimental results even in non-behavioural studies by dramatically reducing the reliability of the study results obtained. Detailed knowledge about the emotional phenotype of experimental animals used is necessary to reach a balance between reliability of experimental research and the welfare of laboratory animals.
Welfare concerns that matter to animals is their state of need. Satisfaction and frustration of needs are associated with emotional states, the subjective experience of which directly determines the welfare status of an animal. Because emotional states are difficult to assess, overall welfare assessment (OWA) is best approached as an assessment of needs. For actual OWA, a list of needs must be formulated. Different authors have formulated different lists. From these lists a concept need-list was constructed. For validation the needs-based approach for OWA was discussed in interviews with experts (n=21) in the field of ethology and other welfare related sciences. These experts generally used mental terminology to define welfare, but when asked to classify their definition of welfare, many preferred a definition in terms of measurable parameters or a combination of both mental terms (feelings) and measurables. Most experts believed that welfare can be assessed objectively and that the problem of OWA is indeed best approached through an assessment of needs. Experts differ as to the exact composition of the list of needs. A list of needs is formulated which we intend to use for OWA in the case of sows.
In the field of anxiety research, animal models are used as screening tools in the search for compounds with therapeutic potential and as simulations for research on mechanism underlying emotional behaviour. However, a solely pharmacological approach to the validation of such tests has resulted in distinct problems with their applicability to systems other than those involving the benzodiazepine/GABAA receptor complex. In this context, recent developments in our understanding of mammalian defensive behaviour have not only prompted the development of new models but also attempts to refine existing ones. The present review focuses on the application of ethological techniques to one of the most widely used animal models of anxiety, the elevated plus-maze paradigm. This fresh approach to an established test has revealed a hitherto unrecognized multidimensionality to plus-maze behaviour and, as it yields comprehensive behavioural profiles, has many advantages over conventional methodology. This assertion is supported by reference to recent work on the effects of diverse manipulations including psychosocial stress, benzodiazepines, GABA receptor ligands, neurosteroids, 5-HT1A receptor ligands, and panicolytic/panicogenic agents. On the basis of this review, it is suggested that other models of anxiety may well benefit from greater attention to behavioural detail.
Exposure to novelty has been shown to induce anxiety responses in a variety of behavioural paradigms. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether exposition of naïve rats to novelty would result in a comparable or a different pattern of responses in an open space versus enclosed space with or without the presence of an object in the centre of the field. Lewis and Wistar rats of both genders were used to illustrate and discuss the value and validity of these anxiety paradigms. We examined a wide range of measures, which cover several aspects of animals’ responses.
Animal welfare is an increasing issue of public concern and debate. As a result, many countries are reconsidering the way animal welfare is embedded in the legislation and rules for housing and care of animals. This requires general agreement of what animal welfare is. Unfortunately, the current science of animal welfare is less scientific than what has been claimed. In our view, it is overly guided by anthropocentric thinking about how animals ought to be handled and neglects the latest concept of physiology: 'The Allostasis Concept'. Allostasis, which means stability through change, has the potential to replace homeostasis as the core model of physiological regulation. Not constancy or freedoms, but capacity to change is crucial to good physical and mental health and good animal welfare. Therefore, not homeostasis but allostasis is at the basis of our new animal welfare concept. This paper is aimed at a broader scientific discussion of animal welfare that includes knowledge from the latest scientific developments in neurobiology and behavioral physiology, and generates views that are extremely relevant for the animal welfare discussion.
Increased production has been the major goal of animal breeding for many decades, and the correlated side-effects have grown to become a major issue in animal welfare. In this paper, the main genetic mechanisms in which such side-effects may occur are reviewed with examples from our own research in chickens. Pleiotropy, linkage and regulatory pathways are the most important means by which a number of traits may be affected simultaneously by the same selection pressure. Pleiotropy can be exemplified by the gene PMEL17 which causes a lack of black pigmentation in chickens and, simultaneously, predisposes them to become the victims of feather pecking. Linkage is a probable reason why a limited region on chicken chromosome 1 affects many different traits, such as growth, reproduction and fear-related behaviour. Gene regulation is affected by stress, and may cause modifications in behaviour and phenotype which are transferred from parents to offspring by means of epigenetic modifications. Insights into phenomena, such as these, may increase our understanding not only of how artificial selection works, but also evolution at large.
A flood of new studies explores people's subjective well-being (SWB) Frequent positive affect, infrequent negative affect, and a global sense of satisfaction with life define high SWB These studies reveal that happiness and life satisfaction are similarly available to the young and the old, women and men, blacks and whites, the rich and the working-class Better clues to well-being come from knowing about a person's traits, close relationships, work experiences, culture, and religiosity We present the elements of an appraisal-based theory of happiness that recognizes the importance of adaptation, cultural world-view, and personal goals
The concepts of alternative strategy and coping strategy and their relevance to applied studies of social behaviour are considered. It is clear that a universally agreed definition of “strategy” is not available, and that there are few good examples of discrete social strategies in applied ethology. However, general principles emerging from theoretical and empirical studies of behavioural strategies do have some value for applied ethology research. Alternative strategy theory emphasises the importance of measuring the costs and benefits of different types of social behaviour, and of being aware that different behavioural solutions to the same problem may be equally successful. There are significant problems in using a cost/benefit currency of inclusive fitness in applied studies of domestic animals, but a currency related to measures of animal welfare may be of use and of relevance to applied ethologists. Cost/benefit analysis may reveal that the “traditional” view of a positive linear relationship between social rank and measures of welfare or fitness is not always correct. In some cases, animals of quite different social rank may do similarly well in terms of their welfare and reproduction. The idea that individuals respond to threatening or challenging situations using specific coping strategies may have some applicability in social contexts. During introduction to novel conspecifics, or social upheaval, individuals may behave in ways in which are reasonably predictable from a knowledge of their coping strategies. However, it is argued that such predictability is unlikely in stable social groupings and thus has limited practical value. Nevertheless, this remains to be investigated experimentally. If consistent coping strategies in social situations are found to exist, it is possible that they may represent frequency-dependent alternative strategies whose costs and benefits can be analysed. If so, there will be a population equilibrium point at which followers of different strategies are, on average, equally successful. From a practical perspective, it is possible that this population structure also results in minimal welfare problems and maximal growth rates.
This paper discusses the current state of development of on-farm cattle welfare assessment systems with special regard to the approach of Welfare Quality® that focuses on animal-related measures. The central criteria validity, reliability and feasibility are considered with regard to selected welfare measures. All welfare measures incorporated into the Welfare Quality® protocol possess face validity, but for most of them construct or criterion validity as, eg shown for lameness, have not been demonstrated. Exemplarily the cases of qualitative behaviour assessment and measurement of avoidance distance towards humans or social licking are discussed. Reliability issues have often been neglected in the past and require more thorough investigation and discussion in the future, especially with respect to appropriate test statistics and limits of acceptability. Means of improving reliability are the refinement of definitions or recording methods and training. Consistency of results over time requires further attention, especially if farms are to be certified, based on infrequent recordings. Considering feasibility, time constraints are the main concern for assessment systems that focus seriously on animal-based measures; currently they require several hours of on-farm recordings, eg about 6 h for a herd of 60 dairy cows. The Welfare Quality® project has promoted knowledge and discussion about validity, reliability and feasibility issues. Many welfare measures applied in the Welfare Quality® on-farm assessment approach can be regarded sufficiently valid, reliable and feasible. However, there are still a considerable number of challenges. They should be tackled while using the present assessment system in order to constantly improve it.
Assessing the experience of pain in animals is a difficult task, yet one that is important in animal welfare research. Some approaches to pain assessment in animals are reviewed here. General qualities of pain scales and specific parameters suitable for clinical and experimental pain assessments are discussed. It is argued that pain assessment will progress through an integration of objective and subjective observations of behaviour coupled with multiple measures in various other areas. Such multidimensional pain scales allow an adequate characterisation of the complexity of an individual animal's pain experience to be made. This knowledge improves the recognition and treatment of pain and will allow informed moral debate on the acceptability of practices such as castration and tail-docking of lambs.
The scientific study of animal welfare has generated a welter of complex, equivocal and often contradictory results. Consequently, there is little agreement about how impairment of welfare should be measured. While some solutions to this have been suggested, these have usually relied on more sophisticated versions of, or more control over, existing measures. However, we argue that the difficulties arise because of questionable assumptions in the definition and measurement of welfare, in particular the measurement of suffering and the assumed importance of individual well-being. We contend that welfare can be interpreted only in terms of what natural selection has designed an organism to do and how circumstances impinge on its functional design. Organisms are designed for self-expenditure and the relative importance of self-preservation and survival, and the concomitant investment of time and resources in different activities, varies with life history strategy. The traditional notions of coping and stress are anthropomorphisms based on homeostatic mechanisms of self-preservation in a long-lived species. Suffering-like states are viewed as generalized subjective states that are geared to avoiding deleterious circumstances with which the organism does not have specific adaptive mechanisms to deal. Attempts to measure suffering-like states directly are likely to remain inconclusive, at least for the foreseeable future, because such states are private and subjective, may take many forms fundamentally different from our own and are likely to depend on the operation of phenotype-limited priorities and decision rules. However, measuring the impact of circumstances on functional design via the organism's decision rules provides a practicable means of giving benefit of the doubt by indicating when suffering, or an analogous subjective state, is likely.
The impact of animal welfare on the food chain is considerable. Firstly, an animal's welfare, its health status, level of stress prior to slaughter etc. has a direct impact on the quality of the product from that animal. The second impact is via citizens, whose strong commitment to animal welfare has led to increasing EU policy in the area. The third is by consumers concerned about the welfare quality of the products they buy. Although linked to food safety, this concern incorporates the whole area of animal welfare including the different criteria inherent in the concept of good animal welfare.
Can suffering in non-human animals be studied scientifically? Apart from verbal reports of subjective feelings, which are uniquely human, I argue that it is possible to study the negative emotions we refer to as suffering by the same methods we use in ourselves. In particular, by asking animals what they find positively and negatively reinforcing (what they want and do not want), we can define positive and negative emotional states. Such emotional states may or may not be accompanied by subjective feelings but fortunately it is not necessary to solve the problem of consciousness to construct a scientific study of suffering and welfare. Improvements in animal welfare can be based on the answers to two questions: Q1: Will it improve animal health? and Q2: Will it give the animals something they want? This apparently simple formulation has the advantage of capturing what most people mean by ‘improving welfare’ and so halting a potentially dangerous split between scientific and non-scientific definitions of welfare. It can also be used to validate other controversial approaches to welfare such as naturalness, stereotypies, physiological and biochemical measures. Health and what animals want are thus not just two of many measures of welfare. They provide the definition of welfare against which others can be validated. They also tell us what research we have to do and how we can judge whether welfare of animals has been genuinely improved. What is important, however, is for this research to be done in situ so that it is directly applicable to the real world of farming, the sea or an animal’s wild habitat. It is here that ethology can make major contributions.
Living things are not created identical: In sexually reproducing species, individuals—except monozygotic twins—are different.
Although widely acknowledged, behavioral individuality has received relatively little empirical or theoretical attention.
Yet it seems likely that research focusing on individual differences will yield important insights for evolutionarily minded
students of behavioral biology, including those interested in better understanding Homo sapiens.
Although the study of adaptation is central to biology, two types of adaptation are recognized in the biological field: physiological
adaptation (accommodation or acclimation; an individual organism’s phenotype is adjusted to its environment) and evolutionary–biological
adaptation (adaptation is shaped by natural selection acting on genetic variation). The history of the former concept dates
to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and has more recently been systemized in the twenty-first century. Approaches
to the understanding of phenotypic plasticity and learning behavior have only recently been developed, based on cellular–histological
and behavioral–neurobiological techniques as well as traditional molecular biology. New developments of the former concepts
in phenotypic plasticity are discussed in bacterial persistence, wing di-/polymorphism with transgenerational effects, polyphenism
in social insects, and defense traits for predator avoidance, including molecular biology analyses. We also discuss new studies
on the concept of genetic accommodation resulting in evolution of phenotypic plasticity through a transgenerational change
in the reaction norm based on a threshold model. Learning behavior can also be understood as physiological phenotypic plasticity,
associating with the brain–nervous system, and it drives the accelerated evolutionary change in behavioral response (the Baldwin
effect) with memory stock. Furthermore, choice behaviors are widely seen in decision-making of animal foragers. Incorporating
flexible phenotypic plasticity and learning behavior into modeling can drastically change dynamical behavior of the system.
Unification of biological sciences will be facilitated and integrated, such as behavioral ecology and behavioral neurobiology
in the area of learning, and evolutionary ecology and molecular developmental biology in the theme of phenotypic plasticity.
The concept of natural behavior is a key element in current Dutch policy-making on animal welfare. It emphasizes that animals
need positive experiences, in addition to minimized suffering. This paper interprets the concept of natural behavior in the
context of the scientific framework for welfare assessment. Natural behavior may be defined as behavior that animals have
a tendency to exhibit under natural conditions, because these behaviors are pleasurable and promote biological functioning.
Animal welfare is the quality of life as perceived by the animal. Animals have evolved cognitive-emotional systems (“welfare
needs”) to deal with a variable environment. Animals do not only have so-called physiological needs such as the need for food,
water, and thermal comfort. They also need to exercise certain natural behaviors such as rooting or nest-building in pigs,
and scratching or dust-bathing in poultry. All needs must be taken into account in order to assess overall welfare. The degree
of need satisfaction and frustration can be assessed from scientific information about the intensity, duration, and incidence
of (welfare) performance criteria such as measurements of behavior and/or (patho)physiology. Positive welfare value relates
to how animals are inclined to behave under natural conditions, in preference tests, and in consumer-demand studies. Negative
welfare value relates to stress, frustration, abnormal behavior, aggression, and reduced fitness. Examples are given to illustrate
how the need to perform natural behaviors can be assessed following the general principles for welfare assessment, providing
a first approximation of how different natural behaviors affect animal welfare.
In animals, including humans, free access to high-quality (generally energy-dense) food can result in obesity, leading to physiological and health problems. Consequently, various captive animals, including laboratory and companion animals and certain farm animals, are often kept on a restricted diet. Quantitative restriction of food is associated with signs of hunger such as increases in feeding motivation, activity and redirected oral behaviours which may develop into stereotypies. An alternative approach to energy intake restriction is to provide more food, but of a reduced quality. Such alternative diets are usually high in fibre and have lower energy density. The benefits of these alternative diets for animals are controversial: some authors argue that they result in more normal feeding behaviour, promote satiety and so improve animal welfare; others argue that ‘metabolic hunger’ remains no matter how the restriction of energy intake and weight gain is achieved. We discuss the different arguments behind this controversy, focusing on two well-researched cases of food-restricted farmed livestock: pregnant sows and broiler breeders. Disagreement between experts results from differences in assumptions about what determines and controls feeding behaviour and food intake, from the methodology of assessing animal hunger and from the weighting placed on ‘naturalness’ of behaviour as a determinant of welfare. Problems with commonly used behavioural and physiological measures of hunger are discussed. Future research into animal feeding preferences, in particular the relative weight placed on food quantity and quality, would be valuable, alongside more fundamental research into the changes in feeding physiology associated with alternative diets.
1. Due to intensive selection, broiler chickens became the most efficient meat-producing animals because of their fast growth, supported by a virtually unlimited voluntary feed intake. These characteristics cause many problems in the management of broiler breeder hens because of the negative correlation between muscle growth and reproduction effectiveness. 2. This problem, namely the fast muscle growth versus reproduction health paradox, induces a second paradox, acceptable reproduction and health versus hunger stress and impaired welfare, because broiler breeder hens require dedicated programmes of feed restriction (1) to maximise egg and chick production and (2) to avoid metabolic disorders and mortality in broiler breeders. 3. Given that poultry selection is a global large-scale business and chickens are a prolific species, improvement in profit can only be obtained by selecting on feed conversion and/or for higher breast meat percentage, which will intensify the broiler-breeder paradox. 4. New feeding strategies are being studied, but it is questionable if the paradox can be solved by management tools alone. Because breeding and selection are long-term processes, involving animals, farmers, consumers, industry, environment etc., a more sustainable breeding goal needs to be determined by a multidisciplinary approach and an open debate between several actors in the discussion. 5. Using dwarf broiler breeder hens could be one alternative, because dwarf hens combine relatively good reproductive fitness with ad libitum feeding. Another possibility is to accept lower broiler productivity by assigning economic values to welfare and including integrity traits in an extended breeding goal.
The demand for replicability of behavioral results across laboratories is viewed as a burden in behavior genetics. We demonstrate how it can become an asset offering a quantitative criterion that guides the design of better ways to describe behavior. Passing the high benchmark dictated by the replicability demand requires less stressful and less restraining experimental setups, less noisy data, individually customized cutoff points between the building blocks of movement, and less variable yet discriminative dynamic representations that would capture more faithfully the nature of the behavior, unmasking similarities and differences and revealing novel animal-centered measures. Here we review ten tools that enhance replicability without compromising discrimination. While we demonstrate the usefulness of these tools in the context of inbred mouse exploratory behavior they can readily be used in any study involving a high-resolution analysis of spatial behavior. Viewing replicability as a design concept and using the ten methodological improvements may prove useful in many fields not necessarily related to spatial behavior.
Animal-welfare issues are usually portrayed in the media in a black-and-white fashion, with simple, single-perspective solutions proposed for what are often, in fact, complex policy issues. In this article, we argue that animal welfare is a multifaceted international and domestic public-policy issue that must take account of not only scientific, ethical, and economic issues but also religious, cultural, and international trade policy considerations. Management of animal welfare at a government policy level also requires an approach based on incremental change. Such change must be both science based and ethically principled, and the rate of change must recognize both the expectations of society and the constraints on the animal user. Ideally, such change should involve full ownership and buy-in from the affected animal user group. The range of stakeholders involved in the animal-welfare debate includes industry and producer groups, science bodies, and animal-welfare non-governmental organizations and professional groups, including the veterinary and legal professions. The veterinary profession, in particular, is expected to play an animal-welfare leadership role, and we discuss expectation versus reality at both a national and an international level. This latter discussion includes specific reference to the role of the World Organisation for Animal Health (the OIE) as an intergovernmental organization representing 175 countries and details some of the major achievements since the OIE assumed its international animal-welfare standard-setting role in 2002. We also address the role of the veterinary profession at national, regional, and international levels.
Various studies have shown the associations between differences in human behavioral traits and genetic polymorphism of neurotransmitter-related proteins such as receptors, transporters and monoamine oxidase. To clarify the genetic background of animal behavior, corresponding regions in animals have been analyzed. The study has been especially focused on primates, as the evolutionally closest animal to humans, and on dogs, as the socially closest animal to humans. In primates, polymorphisms were discovered between or within species, and the functional effects on neural transmission were found to be different by alleles. Even in apes, the closest species to humans, function was different from that in humans. In dogs, allele distributions of several genes were different among breeds showing different behavioral traits, and genes associated with individual differences in aggressiveness and aptitude of working dogs were surveyed. The survey of behavior-related genes has also been carried out in other mammals such as horses and cetaceans. Genes controlling various behaviors in birds have also been reported. The marker genes for behavior will provide useful information for human evolution, welfare of zoo animals and effective selection of working dogs and industry animals.
There remains a lack of a clear overarching policy framework for decision-making in pest control programmes. In comparison, ethical principles have been extensively developed for scientific procedures, such as those underlying the UK's Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This paper assesses the extent to which the principles and methodology underlying the act and secondary guidance could be used to provide principles of rodent management. Useful principles include that any programme has a legitimate purpose; that methods are used only if the harms are outweighed by the benefits; that harms are minimised by refinement, replacement and reduction and that there is personal responsibility. The usefulness and implications for pest control of each principle and the overall approach are discussed.
Normal anxiety is an adaptive emotional response. However, when anxiety appears to lack adaptive value, it might be defined as pathological. Adaptation in animals can be assessed for example by changes in behavioural responses over time, i.e. habituation. We hypothesize that non-adaptive anxiety might be reflected by impaired habituation. To test our hypothesis, we repeatedly exposed male mice from two inbred strains to a novel environment, the modified hole board. BALB/cJ mice were found to be initially highly anxious, but subsequently habituated to the test environment. In contrast, 129P3/J mice initially showed less anxiety-related behaviour compared with the BALB/cJ mice but no habituation in anxiety-related behaviour was observed. Notably, anxiety-related behaviour even increased during the experimental period. Complementary, 129P3/J mice did not show habituation in other parameters such as locomotor and exploratory activity, whereas significant changes appeared in these behaviours in BALB/c mice. Finally, the expression of the immediate early gene c-fos differed between the two strains in distinct brain areas, known to regulate the integration of emotional and cognitive processes. These results suggest that 129P3/J mice might be a promising (neuro)-behavioural animal model for non-adaptive, i.e. pathological anxiety.
Join a global conversation at http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2008/12/10/alex-jadad-on-defining-health/
On 7 April 1948, the member states of the United Nations ratified the creation of the World Health Organization. It was set up with the fundamental objective of “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.” This lofty goal was coupled with an equally ambitious opening statement that defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”1
This definition invited nations to expand the conceptual framework of their health systems beyond the traditional boundaries set by the physical condition of individuals and their diseases, and it forced us to pay attention to what we now call social determinants of health. Consequently, WHO challenged political, academic, community, and professional organisations devoted to …
Animal welfare is a topic often thought to reside outside mainstream biology. The complexity of the methods used to assess welfare (such as health, physiology, immunological state, and behavior) require an understanding of a wide range of biological phenomena. Furthermore, the "welfare" of an animal provides a framework in which a diversity of its responses can be understood as fitness-enhancing mechanisms. Different methods for assessing animal welfare are discussed, with particular emphasis on the role of an animal's own choices and reinforcement mechanisms. No part of biology is as yet able to explain consciousness, but by confronting the possibility that nonhuman animals have conscious experienced of suffering, animal welfare studies force a consideration of even this hardest problem of all biological phenomena in a particularly direct and evolutionary way.
Contemporary researchers regard emotional states as multifaceted, comprising physiological, behavioural, cognitive and subjective components. Subjective, conscious experience of emotion can be inferred from linguistic report in humans, but is inaccessible to direct measurement in non-human animals. However, measurement of other components of emotion is possible, and a variety of methods exist for monitoring emotional processes in animals by measuring behavioural and physiological changes. These are important tools, but they have limitations including difficulties of interpretation and the likelihood that many may be sensitive indicators of emotional arousal but not valence-pleasantness/unpleasantness. Cognitive components of emotion are a largely unexplored source of information about animal emotions, despite the fact that cognition-emotion links have been extensively researched in human cognitive science indicating that cognitive processes-appraisals of stimuli, events and situations-play an important role in the generation of emotional states, and that emotional states influence cognitive functioning by inducing attentional, memory and judgement biases. Building on this research, it is possible to design non-linguistic cognitive measures of animal emotion that may be especially informative in offering new methods for assessing emotional valence (positive as well as negative), discriminating same-valenced emotion of different types, identifying phenotypes with a cognitive predisposition to develop affective disorders, and perhaps shedding light on the issue of conscious emotional experiences in animals.
The closely associated concepts of welfare and stress may be considered as opposites since welfare cannot be achieved under stress and vice versa. Stress was first considered as an unspecific response to any challenge taxing the organism's resources where the HPA axis plays a central role [Selye H. A syndrome produced by diverse nocuous agents. Nature 1936:32]. Along the same lines, welfare was considered as the state of an individual on a continuum between poor and good depending on the efforts required to adapt to the environment [Broom DM. Animal welfare: concepts and measurement. J Anim Sci 1991;69:4167-75]. However, these views cannot explain opposite results such as up- vs. down-regulation of the HPA axis and hypo- vs. hyper-behavioural reactivity under chronic stress. Later, it was shown that aversive situations trigger stress responses only if the individual perceives them as aversive. Mason [Mason JW. A re-evaluation of the concept of 'non-specificity' in stress theory. J Psychiatr Res 1971;8:323-33] suggested that the unspecificity of stress responses originates from a common emotion that produces them. Welfare has also been defined in terms of emotional states by Dawkins [Dawkins MS. Animal suffering, the science of animal welfare. London: Chapman and Hall Ltd.; 1980] and Duncan [Duncan IJH. Welfare is to do with what animals feel. J Agric Environ Ethics 1993;6:8-14]. Hence, both concepts are linked to mental states. Recent advances in psychology suggest that the very nature of an emotion results from a series of evaluations of the triggering situation that the individual makes based on criteria including novelty, predictability, controllability, and others [Scherer KR. Appraisal considered as a process of multi-level sequential checking. In: Scherer KR, Schorr A, Johnstone T, editors. Appraisal processes in emotion: theory, methods, research. New York: Oxford University Press; 2001. p. 92-120]. It is therefore suggested that the discrepancies found in the literature in terms of responses of the HPA axis or modification of behaviour under aversive conditions may stem from differences in the way a situation is evaluated. It is argued that stress comes from the animal's evaluation of the outcome of a situation, and that welfare is the state resulting from that evaluation.