Animal Studies Commons^™

Overview: The State Of Animals In 2001, Paul G. Irwin

State of the Animals 2001

From the animals’ perspective, the past half-century has not been one of uninterrupted progress. Indeed, as some conditions have improved, others have remained frustratingly unchanged, and still others have undoubtedly deteriorated.

How then to assess progress and failure? In the absence of a universally accepted, consistently applied set of standards for data collection and analysis, any attempt to answer the question, What is the state of animals in 2001?, must be based on a series of snapshots, an accumulation of statistics from which we can draw conclusions.

Qualitative Assessment Of Animal Behaviour As An On-Farm Welfare-Monitoring Tool, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Alistair B. Lawrence

Sentience Collection

There is a growing need to monitor the health and welfare of farm animals, and to develop methods which do so efficiently and reliably. A crucial problem with current methods is the integration of separate measurements taken during farm visits into accurate judgements of an animal’s overall welfare state. This paper proposes that the qualitative assessment of animal behaviour may serve as an integrative methodology which could guide the interpretation of other, more detailed welfare measurements. Recent research has demonstrated qualitative behaviour assessment to be reliable and repeatable under controlled experimental conditions. The paper concludes with a discussion of ways …

A Framework For Assessing The Suitability Of Different Species As Companion Animals, C. A. Schuppli, D. Fraser

Wild and Exotic Animals as Pets Collection

Municipal regulations and humane movement policies often restrict or discourage the use of 'exotic' species as companion animals. However, confusion arises because the term 'exotic' is used in various ways, and because classifying species as exotic or non-exotic does not satisfactorily distinguish suitable from unsuitable companion animals. Even among commonly kept species, some appear to be much more suitable than others. Instead, decisions about suitable companion animal species need to be based on a number of relevant issues. As ethical criteria, we considered that keeping a companion animal should not jeopardize - and ideally should enhance - its welfare, as …

The Relationship Of Animal Protection Interests To Animal Damage Management: Historic Paths, Contemporary Concerns And The Uncertain Future, John Hadidian

Conservation Biology and Animal Welfare Collection

More than a decade ago Schmidt (1989) called for consideration of animal welfare to become a "firstorder" decision rule in wildlife management concerns, including animal damage control. Although there has been movement in that direction, this clearly has not yet come to pass. This paper takes a brief look at the interests we call animal damage management, animal welfare and protection, animal rights, and environmentalism in order to speculate about their shared concerns and the uncertain future before them. Since animal damage and the management of that damage cannot be abstracted from the environmental context in which they occur, this …

Animal Ethics And Animal Welfare Science: Bridging The Two Cultures, David Fraser

Animal Welfare Collection

Since the 1970s, scientists studying animal welfare and philosophers writing about animal ethics have worked toward the common goal of understanding and articulating our proper relationship to animals of other species. However, the two groups approached this task using such different concepts, assumptions, and vocabulary that they functioned as two distinct ‘‘cultures’’ with little mutual understanding or communication. Some of the best known ethical writing created barriers for scientists because it tended (1) to focus only on the level of the individual rather than making some decisions at the level of the population, ecosystem or species, (2) to advocate single …

‘Pleasures’, ‘Pains’ And Animal Welfare: Toward A Natural History Of Affect, D. Fraser, I. J.H. Duncan

Animal Welfare Collection

In hedonic theories of motivation, 'motivational affective states' (MASs) are typically seen as adaptations which motivate certain types of behaviour, especially in situations where a flexible or learned response is more adaptive than a rigid or reflexive one. MASs can be negative (eg unpleasant feelings of hunger or pain) or positive (eg pleasant feelings associated with eating and playing). Hedonic theories often portray negative and positive MASs as opposite ends of a one-dimensional scale.

We suggest that natural selection has favoured negative and positive affect as separate processes to solve two different types of motivational problems. We propose that negative …

Institutional Animal Care And Use Committees: A Flawed Paradigm Or Work In Progress?, John P. Gluck, F. Barbara Orlans

Animal Welfare Collection

In his challenging article, Steneck (1997) criticized the creation of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) system established by the 1985 amendments to the Animal Welfare Act. He saw the IACUC review and approval of biomedical and behavioral research with animals as an unnecessary "reassignment" of duties from existing animal care programs to IACUC committees. He argued that the committees are unable to do the work expected of them for basically three reasons: (a) the membership lacks the expertise in matters relevant to animal research and care, (b) there exists an inherent and disabling conflict of interest, and …

A Scientific Conception Of Animal Welfare That Reflects Ethical Concerns, D. Fraser, D. M. Weary, E. A. Pajor, B. N. Milligan

Ethics and Animal Welfare Collection

Scientific research on 'animal welfare' began because of ethical concerns over the quality of life of animals, and the public looks to animal welfare research for guidance regarding these concerns. The conception of animal welfare used by scientists must relate closely to these ethical concerns if the orientation of the research and the interpretation of the findings is to address them successfully.

At least three overlapping ethical concerns are commonly expressed regarding the quality of life of animals: (1) that animals should lead natural lives through the development and use of their natural adaptations and capabilities, (2) that animals should …

Sow Preference For Types Of Flooring In Farrowing Crates, P. A. Phillips, D. Fraser, B. K. Thompson

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

A preference-testing apparatus was used to provide sows with continuous access to three identical farrowing crates, each with a different type of flooring. The crates radiated from a central hub area sufficiently large for sows to enter or leave any crate freely. In exp. 1, nine sows from a concrete-floored gestation room were offered crates over concrete, plastic-coated rod, and galvanized metal rod. In exp. 2, sows were pre-exposed for a period of 1 wk to one of the three floors before entry into the preference testing apparatus. Video recording was used to determine sow position from 3 d before …

Animal Issues In The Media: A Groundbreaking Report, George Gerbner

Film and Television Production Collection

What kinds of animals do we see on television and in print media? What are the trends, themes, scenes, and contexts in which animals appear? How are they treated? What are the roles for which they are cast and the fate for which they are destined? What issues drive press and magazine coverage, and how do animal activism, legislation, science and other issues play out in the coverage? Finally, what are some implications for further research, activity, and policy?

These are questions we shall address in this report. The report presents the findings of a benchmark study that begins the …

Evaluation Of Animal Welfare By The Self-Expression Of An Anxiety State, M. P. Carey, J. P. Fry

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

Although mental well-being has long been accepted as an important aspect of animal welfare, the subjective feelings of farm or laboratory animals are regarded as lying beyond the scope of scientific enquiry. We now report that pharmacological conditioning of pigs with a drug, pentylenetetrazole, known to induce anxiety in man, permits investigation of the presence or absence of this psychological state during exposure to a variety of environmental stimuli encountered during normal husbandry. Such pharmacological conditioning therefore provides a valuable means to assess and improve elements of animal welfare and should be applicable to other species that show operant behaviour.

Science, Values And Animal Welfare: Exploring The ‘Inextricable Connection’, D. Fraser

Animal Welfare Collection

In conceptualizing animal welfare, it is useful to distinguish among three types of concepts. 'Type l' are single, measurable attributes. 'Type 2' are single attributes that cannot be measured directly but can be estimated by correctly combining various contributing attributes. 'Type 3' are concepts involving multiple attributes which are grouped together because they serve some common function, and whose relative importance cannot be established in an entirely objective way. Individuals who treat animal welfare as a type 1 concept may propose single, objective measures of welfare, such as longevity or levels of stress-related hormones; however, this approach rests on judgements, …

Animal Well-Being In Zoos, Conservation Centers And In-Situ Conservation Programs, John Lukas

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

Well-being, as defined in reference to one's welfare, is the condition of happiness, prosperity and good health. In dealing with an animal's well-being, there are two frames of reference to consider. First, biological well-being which encompasses the spacial, social, nutritional, behavioral and reproductive needs of a species. Secondly, cultural well-being of animals concentrating on their perception of happiness, cleanliness, safety and the way the animals are treated by the people who care for them.

In this paper, we are not addressing freedom as a condition of well-being, only happiness, prosperity and good health. Free-ranging wild animals are not free but …

Wild / Captive And Other Suspect Dualisms, Dale Jamieson

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

Dualisms have had a hard time in recent years. Philosophers used to think that facts and values were distinct, and that philosophy and science were radically different enterprises. While scientists employed empirical methods to discover the way the world happens to be, the job of philosophers was to use conceptual analysis to reveal how the world necessarily is. In the wake of the revolution unleashed by Quine in the early 1950s, philosophers either had to learn some science, find another job, or fight an irredentist action on behalf of conceptual analysis that is mainly of interest only to a few …

The Wild And The Tame, Juliet Clutton-Brock

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

The Western belief that the world is divided into the "human" and the "natural" stems from the philosophy, first propounded by the ancient Greeks, notably Aristotle, that all living organisms could be placed in a Scale of Nature or Great Chain of Being with "primeval slime" at its base and "Man" at its summit. This belief, which is imbued in Christianity and in all aspects of western civilization, has led to a great divide with "the wild" on one side and "the tame", that is all the animals and plants that are exploited by human, on the other.

Animal Well-Being In The Wild And In Captivity, Stephen Bostock

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

I want to compare wild and captivity. This isn't a straight comparison of good with bad. Animals do suffer in the wild, and they are protected in good captivity. I will fill out the details of this in the following sections, before discussing how captivity can be more benign, whether or not it can ever strictly be regarded as better than life in the wild.

What Do "Wild" And "Captive" Mean For Large Ungulates And Carnivores Now And Into The Twenty-First Century, Michael Hutchins

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

The terms "wild" and "captive" have stimulated considerable debate among academicians, animal protectionists and conservationists. Some argue that animals have a right to freedom and that there is a "moral predis-position" against holding them in zoos (Jamieson, 1985; 1995; Varner and Monroe, 1991). Others argue that modern zoos and their living collections are becoming increasing important to wildlife conservation and science, and that the collective benefits so derived may override this predisposition (Hutchins and Wemmer, 1991; Conway, 1995; Hutchins et al, 1995; Norton, 1995). The purpose of this paper is to explore the concepts of "wild" and "captive" and their …

Animal Protection And Medical Science, David O. Wiebers, Jennifer Leaning, Roger D. White

Experimentation Collection

Over the past decade, the debate concerning animal use in biomedical research, education, and testing has contributed to an environment of public posturing on both sides. Many in the medical and animalprotection communities have come to view one another as adversaries with hopelessly different goals.

In the face of rapid and substantial increases in public concern over the wellbeing of animals, many in the medical community have sought to fend off what they see as an increasingly threatening social trend. Those who have spoken out on behalf of various medical organisations or institutions have generally been avid animal-research advocates. Those …

Transportation Of Animals And Welfare, D. B. Adams

Transport of Farm Animals Collection

All forms of transport are potentially hazardous for animals, regardless of whether travel is between or within countries, or by road, rail, air or sea. However, experience shows that animals can be transported under suitable conditions without harm to their welfare.

The provision of suitable conditions and the establishment of a mutually satisfactory framework for regulating the international transport of animals depends on an understanding of welfare needs and of the biological basis for disease, stress and suffering. The author examines the biological aspects of this framework.

The capacity of animals to adapt to the different demands of different forms …

Animal Welfare And Individual Characteristics: A Conversation Against Speciesism, Marc Bekoff, Lori Gruen

Animal Welfare Collection

It seems impossible for a human being not to have some point of view concerning nonhuman animal (hereafter animal) welfare. Many people make decisions about how humans are permitted to treat animals using speciesist criteria, basing their decisions on an individual's species membership rather than on that animal's individual characteristics. Although speciesism provides a convenient way for making difficult decisions about who should be used in different types of research, we argue that such decisions should rely on an analysis of individual characteristics and should not be based merely on species membership. We do not argue that the concept of …

Sow Preference For Farrowing-Crate Width, P. A. Phillips, David Fraser, B. K. Thompson

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

A preference-testing apparatus was designed to provide sows with continuous access to three farrowing crates of different widths. The crates radiated from a central hub area sufficiently large for sows to enter or leave any crate freely. In exp. 1, nine sows were offered crates of 450-, 600- and 750-mm width at standing height. In exp. 2, 12 sows were offered widths of 450, 750 and 1200 mm, the largest being of sufficient width for the sow to turn around. Video recording was used to determine sow position from 3 d before to 6 d after farrowing. In exp. 1, …

Animal Welfare, Animal Rights And Agriculture, Bernard E. Rollin

Animal Welfare Collection

The past decade has witnessed a major revolution in social concern with animals. Philosophically, this revolution entails a significant revision in traditional ways of conceiving our mod obligations to other creatures. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the social and conceptual basis for what is widely termed “animal rights.” The agricultural community has mistakenly tended to dismiss this new thinking as tkinge and emotionally based. In actuality, it is a natural extension of earlier social thought. The case of new laws regulating biomedical research illustrates the rapidity of social change in this area, as do recent developments in European regulation …

The Hidden Costs Of Beef, Michael W. Fox, Nancy E. Wiswall

eBooks

No abstract provided.

A New Invasiveness Scale: Its Role In Reducing Animal Distress, Kenneth J. Shapiro, Peter B. Field

Experimentation Collection

No abstract provided.

The Case Against The Use Of Animals In Science, Donald J. Barnes

Experimentation Collection

As a scientist long committed to the understanding, prediction, and control of biological, physiological, and behavioral events, I have no objection to the animal as a legitimate focus of science. As a parent, a son, a sibling, and the proud recipient of unconditional positive regard from a few special people, I am vitally interested in matters of health and in the most ethically efficient use of available resources. As a member of a species which has evolved sufficiently to allow the relatively broad perspective of a "web of life" and at least a rudimentary concept of altruism, I have laboriously …

The Psychology And Ethics Of Humane Equine Treatment, Sharon E. Cregier

Equines Collection

The effect on animals of man-induced stressors, such as the disruption of herd bonds, stabling, medication procedures and the like, has been the subject of increasing investigation. Obvious and shocking abuses against animals, bullfighting, certain training practices in the racehorse industry, and rodeo events such as wild horse races, steerbusting or calf-roping, are readily recognized and have, in some instances been stopped. (Steerbusting refers to roping, from horseback, of running cattle in such a manner as to flip the animal backward or jerk it down, knocking the wind out of the animal and occasionally breaking ribs, vertebrae, and neck.)

However, …

Wildlife Conservation And Animal Rights: Are They Compatible?, Michael Hutchins, Christen Wemmer

Conservation Collection

The purpose of this paper is to explore the philosophical tenets of the animal rights/humane ethic as they relate to the environmental ethic and, more specifically, as they relate to wildlife management and conservation. The two ethics will be compared in an effort to identify potential sources of conflict. Recent criticisms of the animal rights ethic, most notably by Fox (1978, 1979), Rodman (1977), Callicott (1980), Gunn (1980), and Hutchins et al. (1982) have identified several major discrepancies. The implications of these differences will be discussed.

Bringing Us Together, John W. Grandy

Animal Welfare Collection

In recent years, much has been made of the differences between animal protection/welfare/rights and conservation. In simplistic terms, the difference is said to be between a view of wild animals as individuals and as populations. Some conservationists claim to see it as a waste to devote time and energy to ensuring the survival and health of individual animals. Conversely, others seem to take the view that the health and welfare of the individual animal is of highest importance.

But like many other discussions based on philosophical differences between largely compatible philosophies, the differences are far more apparent than real-and differences …

Cruel Cosmetic Testing Could Be Stopped Today If Consumers Demanded It!

Close Up Reports

The HSUS is launching an all-out offensive to bring an end to the terror and torture endured by millions of animals used in product-safety tests for cosmetics. In recent years, pressure from the animal-welfare community has prompted cosmetic companies to begin developing more humane methods of testing their products. Despite what appears to be progress, findings of a new HSUS study indicate that non-animal alternatives for testing cosmetics may never be implemented on an industry-wide basis unless consumers take action now.

Animal Pain, Bernard E. Rollin

Experimentation Collection

Some time ago, I received a telephone call from an eminent primatologist asking me to give the keynote address at a scientific seminar on animal pain. My first response was to express surprise that they were inviting a philosopher. His reply was remarkable, if only for its rarity among scientists: "The truly interesting and important issues concerning pain in animals are not scientific ones," he said. "They are moral, philosophical, and conceptual ones. And the total failure of science to engage or even acknowledge these issues discredits biomedical science and weakens its conceptual base." I hope to show you that …