Life Sciences Commons^™

A Year Of Wins For Farmed Animals, Lewis Bollard

General – Farm Animal Issues

Although the European Union shelved its ambitious farmed animal welfare reforms, there were other “wins” for farmed animals in 2023. There were 130 new corporate pledges to eliminate cages for laying hens and the worst abuses of broiler chickens. So far, over 1,000 corporate pledges have been fully implemented, and 39% of American hens, 60% of European hens, and 80% of British hens are cage-free, up from 6%, 41%, and 48%, respectively, a decade ago. The US Supreme Court upheld California’s Proposition 12, which bans the sale of eggs, pork, and veal from caged animals and their offspring in California. …

Comparing U.S. Groups’ Openness To Pro-Animal Actions, Jo Anderson, Zach Wulderk

USA

As animal advocates know, an outreach tactic that is successful with one person will not necessarily be successful with all people. Advocates rarely launch campaigns with no idea of who will be seeing their ‘asks’ (i.e., requests for pro-animal actions). Even in the case of passive tactics such as billboards, advocates may know who frequents that part of the city. For example, they may be near a university, meaning their audience will include a high proportion of students. The United States public is diverse and groups of people can differ greatly in their opinions. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, …

Bringing Back Former Vegans And Vegetarians: An Obstacle Analysis, Jo Anderson, Coni Arévalo

Diet

People have a variety of motivations for switching to plant-based diets, yet not all people who begin the transition to a vegan or vegetarian (collectively called veg*n) diet maintain it long-term. In fact, Faunalytics’ study of current and former veg*ns (2014) found that the number of lapsed (former) vegans and vegetarians in the United States far surpasses the number of current veg*ns, and most who lapse do so within a year. Are these people the low-hanging fruit for diet advocates? They could be—there are many of them and they’re clearly at least somewhat willing to go veg*n, so maybe more …

Aquaculture In Africa: Aquatic Animal Welfare, Impact On The Environment And The Sustainability Of The Sector, Mwenda M. Mbaka, Janice H. Cox, Stephen Ronan

Aquaculture

The African aquaculture sector recorded the fastest growth in the world between 2006-2018, averaging 10% or more, and is expected to partially fill the growing fish supply-demand gap up to 2063. In 2018, there were about 1.2 million aquafarmers across the continent, an increase from 920 thousand in 2014. According to the African Development Bank, expansion of aquaculture in Africa is hampered by "the overwhelming predominance of tilapia farming, which relies heavily on the production of fingerlings from a limited number of genetically improved strains that are resistant to the many diseases affecting this species, and on the production of …

Nexus Between Animal Welfare, Environment, And Sustainable Development: Resource Document, Wellbeing International

Nexus – UNEP – Animal Welfare, Environment, Sustainable Development

This Resource Document has been developed to explore the Nexus (links) between Animal Welfare, the Environment, and Sustainable Development. The document includes relevant citations and reports addressing the topics encompassed by the Nexus. It will be maintained as a “living document” (subject to revision) in the WellBeing International Studies Repository. The original document and subsequent revisions will be kept in the Repository to provide a record of the changes.

Chinese Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Animal Welfare: Behaviors, Beliefs, And Responses To Messaging, Jo Anderson

General - Animal Protection

Despite being comparatively neglected until recently, the suffering of animals in Asia is starting to command more attention from global animal advocacy activists. In particular, as the largest country in the world by both human and farmed animal population, and among the largest when measured by economy and land mass, China plays a central role here. However, the key question of how best to improve outcomes for farmed animals in China remains difficult to answer, due to the recency of the movement and a comparative lack of research on the topic.

Although China’s per capita meat consumption is lower than …

Going Vegan Or Vegetarian: Motivations & Influences, Faunalytics, Jo Anderson, Marina Milyavskaya

Diet

After studying hundreds of U.S. and Canadian consumers during their transition to vegetarianism or veganism (collectively referred to as veg*nism), a new report from research organization Faunalytics found that 42% of people’s veg*n journeys were motivated by health, 20% by animal protection, and 18% by environmental concern. For animal advocates interested in helping new vegans and vegetarians maintain their change of lifestyle, study results suggest a focus on self-driven motivations (like personal values or moral identity) and experiences with animal advocacy.

Social Referencing In The Domestic Horse, Anne Schrimpf, Marie-Sophie Single, Christian Nawroth

Recognition Collection

Dogs and cats use human emotional information directed to an unfamiliar situation to guide their behavior, known as social referencing. It is not clear whether other domestic species show similar socio-cognitive abilities in interacting with humans. We investigated whether horses (n = 46) use human emotional information to adjust their behavior to a novel object and whether the behavior of horses differed depending on breed type. Horses were randomly assigned to one of two groups: an experimenter positioned in the middle of a test arena directed gaze and voice towards the novel object with either (a) a positive or (b) …

Musical Dogs: A Review Of The Influence Of Auditory Enrichment On Canine Health And Behavior, Abigail Lindig, Paul Mcgreevy, Angela Crean

Stress Collection

Music therapy yields many positive health outcomes in humans, but the effects of music on the health and welfare of nonhuman animals vary greatly with the type of music played, the ethology of the species, and the personality and learning history of individual animals. One context in which music therapy may be used to enhance animal welfare is to alleviate stress in domestic environments. Here, we review studies of the effects of music exposure on dogs as a case study for the implementation of music therapy in veterinary medicine. Nine reports of experimental testing for the therapeutic effects of music …

Behavioural Risks In Female Dogs With Minimal Lifetime Exposure To Gonadal Hormones, Melissa J. Starling, Anne Fawcett, Bethany Wilson, James Serpell, Paul Mcgreevy

Physiology Collection

Spaying of female dogs is a widespread practice, performed primarily for population control. While the consequences of early spaying for health are still being debated, the consequences for behaviour are believed to be negligible. The current study focused on the reported behaviour of 8981 female dogs spayed before 520 weeks (ten years) of life for reasons other than behavioural management, and calculated their percentage lifetime exposure to gonadal hormones (PLGH) as a proportion of their age at the time of being reported to the online Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ). We found that 23 behaviours differed between entire …

A Global Spatial Analysis Reveals Where Marine Aquaculture Can Benefit Nature And People, Seth J. Theuerkauf, James A. Morris Jr, Tiffany J. Waters, Lisa C. Wickliffe, Heidi K. Alleway

Aquaculture and Fisheries Collection

Aquaculture of bivalve shellfish and seaweed represents a global opportunity to simultaneously advance coastal ecosystem recovery and provide substantive benefits to humanity. To identify marine ecoregions with the greatest potential for development of shellfish and seaweed aquaculture to meet this opportunity, we conducted a global spatial analysis using key environmental (e.g., nutrient pollution status), socioeconomic (e.g., governance quality), and human health factors (e.g., wastewater treatment prevalence). We identify a substantial opportunity for strategic sector development, with the highest opportunity marine ecoregions for shellfish aquaculture centered on Oceania, North America, and portions of Asia, and the highest opportunity for seaweed aquaculture …

An Epidemiological Study Of Diabetes Mellitus In Dogs Attending First Opinion Practice In The Uk, Madeleine Mattin, Dan G. O'Neill, David B. Church, Paul D. Mcgreevy, Peter C. Thomson, Dave C. Brodbelt

Epidemiology Collection

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of canine diabetes mellitus (DM) in primarycare clinics in England, to identify risk factors associated with DM and to describe the survival of affected dogs.

Methods: Cases of DM were identified within the electronic patient records of 89 small-animal practices. A nested case-control study identified risk factors for the diagnosis of DM using logistic regression models. Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyse variables associated with survival.

Results: Four-hundred and thirty-nine canine DM cases were identified, giving an apparent prevalence of 0.34% (95% confidence interval 0.31 - 0.37%). Neutered males were at an increased …

Goats Distinguish Between Positive And Negative Emotion-Linked Vocalisations, Luigi Baciadonna, Elodie Briefer, Livio Favaro, A. G. Mcelligott

Bioacoustics Collection

Background: Evidence from humans suggests that the expression of emotions can regulate social interactions and promote coordination within a group. Despite its evolutionary importance, social communication of emotions in non-human animals is still not well understood. Here, we combine behavioural and physiological measures, to determine if animals can distinguish between vocalisations linked to different emotional valences (positive and negative). Using a playback paradigm, goats were habituated to listen to a conspecific call associated with positive or negative valence (habituation phase) and were subsequently exposed to a variant of the same call type (contact call) associated with the opposite valence (dishabituation …

Crispr-Mediated Gene Editing: Scientific And Ethical Issues, Jarrod Bailey

Genetics Collection

There remains substantial evidence to warrant great concern over the poor efficiency and specificity of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-mediated genetic modification (GM), despite relatively minor improvements compared to other GM methods. These issues cause persistent, adverse, ethical, and scientific consequences for GM animals, which may never be sufficiently resolvable.

Canine Dystocia In 50 Uk First-Opinion Emergency Care Veterinary Practices: Clinical Management And Outcomes, Dan G. O'Neill, Aoife M. O'Sullivan, Erin A. Manson, David B. Church, Paul Mcgreevy, Amanda K. Boag, Dave C. Brodbelt

Natology Collection

Canine dystocia is a relatively common veterinary presentation. First opinion emergency care clinical data from 50 Vets Now clinics across the UK were used to explore dystocia management and outcomes in bitches. Caesarean section (CS) was performed on 341/701 (48.6 per cent (95 per cent CI 44.9 to 52.4)) of dystocia cases. The bulldog (OR 7.60, 95 per cent CI 1.51 to 38.26, P=0.014), Border terrier (OR 4.89, 95 per cent CI 0.92 to 25.97, P=0.063) and golden retriever (OR 4.07, 95 per cent CI 0.97 to 17.07, P=0.055) had the highest odds of CS among dystocic bitches compared with …

Salmonid Species Diversity Predicts Salmon Consumption By Terrestrial Wildlife, Christina N. Service, Andrew N. Bateman, Megan S. Adams, Kyle A. Artelle, Thomas E. Reimchen, Paul C. Paquet, Chris T. Darimont

Habitat and Trophic Ecology Collection

1. Resource waves—spatial variation in resource phenology that extends feeding opportunities for mobile consumers—can affect the behaviour and productivity of recipient populations. Interspecific diversity among Pacific salmon species (Oncorhynchus spp.) creates staggered spawning events across space and time, thereby prolonging availability to terrestrial wildlife.

2. We sought to understand how such variation might influence consumption by terrestrial predators compared with resource abundance and intra- and interspecific competition.

3. Using stable isotope analysis, we investigated how the proportion of salmon in the annual diet of male black bears (Ursus americanus; n = 405) varies with species diversity and density of spawning …

Farm Animal Cognition—Linking Behavior, Welfare And Ethics, Christian Nawroth, Jan Langbein, Marjorie Coulon, Vivian Gabor, Susan Oesterwind, Judith Benz-Schwarzburg, Eberhard Von Borell

Social Cognition Collection

Farm animal welfare is a major concern for society and food production. To more accurately evaluate animal farming in general and to avoid exposing farm animals to poor welfare situations, it is necessary to understand not only their behavioral but also their cognitive needs and capacities. Thus, general knowledge of how farm animals perceive and interact with their environment is of major importance for a range of stakeholders, from citizens to politicians to cognitive ethologists to philosophers. This review aims to outline the current state of farm animal cognition research and focuses on ungulate livestock species, such as cattle, horses, …

Perceptual Lateralization Of Vocal Stimuli In Goats, Luigi Baciadonna, Christian Nawroth, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Communication Skills Collection

Functional asymmetries, for example, the preferential involvement of 1 brain hemisphere to process stimuli, may increase brain efficiency and the capacity to carry out tasks simultaneously. We investigated which hemisphere was primarily involved in processing acoustic stimuli in goats using a head-orienting paradigm. Three playbacks using goat vocalizations recorded in different contexts: food anticipation (positive), isolation (negative), food frustration (negative), as well as 1 playback involving dog barks (negative) were presented on the left and right sides of the test subjects simultaneously. The head-orienting response (left or right) and latency to resume feeding were recorded. The direction of the head-orienting …

Perceptual Lateralization Of Vocal Stimuli In Goats, Luigi Baciadonna, Christian Nawroth, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Social Cognition Collection

Functional asymmetries, for example, the preferential involvement of 1 brain hemisphere to process stimuli, may increase brain efficiency and the capacity to carry out tasks simultaneously. We investigated which hemisphere was primarily involved in processing acoustic stimuli in goats using a head-orienting paradigm. Three playbacks using goat vocalizations recorded in different contexts: food anticipation (positive), isolation (negative), food frustration (negative), as well as 1 playback involving dog barks (negative) were presented on the left and right sides of the test subjects simultaneously. The head-orienting response (left or right) and latency to resume feeding were recorded. The direction of the head-orienting …

A Global Reassessment Of Solitary-Sociable Dolphins, Laetitia Nunny, Mark P. Simmonds

Personality Collection

Dolphins are typically regarded as highly social animals. However, some individuals live apart from their own species and may come to socialize with people through a recognized series of stages which are presented and expanded on in this paper. The term “solitary-sociable dolphins” has been used to describe these animals and such individuals have been identified from several different species and reported in many parts of the world. In many instances, the interactions with people that may follow their original isolation, and which typically become more intense over time, have created situations where the welfare of the animal has been …

Perceptions Of On-Farm Emergency Slaughter For Dairy Cows In British Columbia, Katherine E. Koralesky, David Fraser

Slaughter and Slaughtering Practices Collection

Some jurisdictions permit on-farm emergency slaughter (OFES) as one end-of-life option for dairy cows and other animals that cannot be transported humanely but are deemed fit for human consumption. Anecdotal reports suggest that OFES is controversial among dairy industry professionals, but to date their perceptions of OFES have not been studied systematically. Twentyfive individual interviews and 3 focus groups with 40 dairy producers, veterinarians, and other professionals in British Columbia, Canada, revealed positive and negative perceptions of OFES influenced by (1) individual values, (2) the perceived operational legitimacy of OFES, and (3) concern over social responsibility and public perception of …

Elevated Sensitivity To Tactile Stimuli In Stereotypic Horses, Sabrina Briefer Freymond, Déborah Bardou, Sandrine Beuret, Iris Bachmann, Klaus Zuberbühler, Elodie Briefer

Personality Collection

Although stereotypic behaviors are a common problem in captive animals, why certain individuals are more prone to develop them remains elusive. In horses, individuals show considerable differences in how they perceive and react to external events, suggesting that this may partially account for the emergence of stereotypies in this species. In this study, we focused on crib-biting, the most common stereotypy displayed by horses. We compared how established crib-biters (“CB” = 19) and normal controls (“C” = 18) differed in response to a standard “personality” assessment test battery, i.e., reactivity to humans, tactile sensitivity, social reactivity, locomotor activity, and curiosity …

Management Of Cull Dairy Cows—Consensus Of An Expert Consultation In Canada, Jane Stojkov, G. Bowers, M. Draper, Todd Duffield, P. Duivenvoorden, M. Groleau, Deb Haupstein, R. Peters, Jane Pritchard, C. Radom, N. Sillett, W. Skippon, H. Trépanier, David Fraser

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

Many cull dairy cows enter the marketing system and travel to widely dispersed and specialized slaughter plants, and they may experience multiple handling events (e.g., loading, unloading, mixing), change of ownership among dealers, and feed and water deprivation during transport and at livestock markets. The objectives of this study were to describe the diverse management of cull dairy cows in Canada and establish consensus on ways to achieve improvements. A 2-day expert consultation meeting was convened, involving farmers, veterinarians, regulators, and experts in animal transport, livestock auction, and slaughter. The 15 participants, recruited from across Canada, discussed regional management practices …

Demographics Regarding Belief In Non-Human Animal Sentience And Emotional Empathy With Animals: A Pilot Study Among Attendees Of An Animal Welfare Symposium, Amelia Cornish, Bethany Wilson, David Raubenheimer, Paul Mcgreevy

Societal Attitudes Toward Animals Collection

Attitudes to animals are linked to beliefs about their ability to experience pain and suffering, their cognition, and their sentience. Education and awareness-raising play a pivotal role in increasing society’s consideration of non-human animal welfare. The current pilot study explores the attitudes towards animal welfare among a unique population of people who attended an animal welfare symposium at the University of Sydney. It involved administration of a validated questionnaire that assessed attitudes to animals; specifically exploring participants’ (n = 41) beliefs about the sentience of animals and their emotional empathy with animals. The resultant data revealed significant associations between participants’ …

Looking On The Bright Side Of Livestock Emotions—The Potential Of Their Transmission To Promote Positive Welfare, Luigi Baciadonna, Sandra Duepjan, Elodie Briefer, Mónica Padilla De La Torre, Christian Nawroth

Emotion Collection

Emotions can be defined as an individual’s affective reaction to an external and/or internal event that, in turn, generates a simultaneous cascade of behavioral, physiological, and cognitive changes. Those changes that can be perceived by conspecifics have the potential to also affect other’s emotional states, a process labeled as “emotional contagion.” Especially in the case of gregarious species, such as livestock, emotional contagion can have an impact on the whole group by, for instance, improving group coordination and strengthening social bonds. We noticed that the current trend of research on emotions in livestock, i.e., investigating affective states as a tool …

Welfare-Adjusted Life Years (Waly): A Novel Metric Of Animal Welfare That Combines The Impacts Of Impaired Welfare And Abbreviated Lifespan, Kendy Tzu-Yun Teng, Brecht Devleesschauwer, Charline Maerten De Noordhout, Peter Bennett, Paul Mcgreevy, Po-Yu Chiu, Jenny-Ann L.M.L. Toribio, Navneet Dhand

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

Currently, separate measures are used to estimate the impact of animal diseases on mortality and animal welfare. This article introduces a novel metric, the Welfare-Adjusted Life Year (WALY), to estimate disease impact by combining welfare compromise and premature death components. Adapting the Disability-Adjusted Life Year approach used in human health audits, we propose WALY as the sum of a) the years lived with impaired welfare due to a particular cause and b) the years of life lost due to the premature death from the same cause. The years lived with impaired welfare are the product of the average duration of …

Human-Directed Behaviour In Goats Is Not Affected By Short-Term Positive Handling, Jan Langbein, Annika Krause, Christian Nawroth

Social Cognition Collection

In addition to domestication, interactions with humans or task-specific training during ontogeny have been proposed to play a key role in explaining differences in human–animal communication across species. In livestock, even short-term positive interactions with caretakers or other reference persons can influence human–animal interaction at different levels and over different periods of time. In this study, we investigated human-directed behaviour in the ‘unsolvable task’ paradigm in two groups of domestic goats (Capra aegagrus hircus). One group was positively handled and habituated to a plastic box by the experimenter to retrieve a food reward, while the other group only received standard …

Work-Type Influences Perceived Livestock Herding Success In Australian Working Kelpies, Jonathan B. Early, Elizabeth R. Arnott, Lisa J. Mascord, Diane Van Rooy, Paul Mcgreevy, Claire M. Wade

Genetics Collection

Background

Working dog handlers and breeders have very different behavioural requirements in the animals that they employ for managing livestock. The Australian Working Kelpie breed may be used in several working contexts, notably yards, paddocks and a combination of both. The working context influences the skillsets required and gives rise to three corresponding work-types: Yard, Paddock and Utility Kelpies. In particular, dogs used for working stock in the confines of yards and trucks interact with stock more forcefully than those mustering in larger areas (paddocks) where they can herd stock effectively from a greater distance. This article explores owner assessments …

Goats Prefer Positive Human Emotional Facial Expressions, Christian Nawroth, Natalia Albuquerque, Carine Savalli, Marie-Sophie Single, Alan G. Mcelligott

Social Cognition Collection

Domestication has shaped the physiology and the behaviour of animals to better adapt to human environments. Therefore, human facial expressions may be highly informative for animals domesticated for working closely with people, such as dogs and horses. However, it is not known whether other animals, and particularly those domesticated primarily for production, such as goats, are capable of perceiving human emotional cues. In this study, we investigated whether goats can distinguish human facial expressions when simultaneously shown two images of an unfamiliar human with different emotional valences (positive/ happy or negative/angry). Both images were vertically attached to a wall on …

Use Of On-Farm Emergency Slaughter For Dairy Cows In British Columbia, Katherine E. Koralesky, David Fraser

Slaughter and Slaughtering Practices Collection

On-farm emergency slaughter (OFES), whereby inspection, stunning, and bleeding occur on the farm before the carcass is transported to a slaughterhouse, is permitted in some jurisdictions as a means to avoid inhumane transportation while salvaging meat from injured animals. However, OFES is controversial and its use for dairy cows has been little studied. Inspection documents for 812 dairy cows were examined to identify how OFES was used for dairy cows in British Columbia, Canada, over 16.5 mo. Producers used OFES for dairy cows aged 1 to 13 yr (median of 4 yr). Leg, hip, nerve, spinal, foot, and hind-end injuries …