Animal Studies Commons^™

A Framework To Evaluate Wildlife Feeding In Research, Wildlife Management, Tourism And Recreation, Sara Dubois, David Fraser

Wildlife Population Management Collection

Feeding of wildlife occurs in the context of research, wildlife management, tourism and in opportunistic ways. A review of examples shows that although feeding is often motivated by good intentions, it can lead to problems of public safety and conservation and be detrimental to the welfare of the animals. Examples from British Columbia illustrate the problems (nuisance animal activity, public safety risk) and consequences (culling, translocation) that often arise from uncontrolled feeding. Three features of wildlife feeding can be distinguished: the feasibility of control, the effects on conservation and the effects on animal welfare. An evaluative framework incorporating these three …

General Principles For The Welfare Of Animals In Production Systems: The Underlying Science And Its Application, David Fraser, Ian J.H. Duncan, Sandra A. Edwards, Temple Grandin, Neville G. Gregory, Vincent Guyonnet, Paul H. Hemsworth, Stella M. Huertas, Juliana M. Huzzey, David J. Mellor, Joy A. Mench, Marek Špinka, H. Rebecca Whay

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

In 2012, the World Organisation for Animal Health adopted 10 ‘General Principles for the Welfare of Animals in Livestock Production Systems’ to guide the development of animal welfare standards. The General Principles draw on half a century of scientific research relevant to animal welfare: (1) how genetic selection affects animal health, behaviour and temperament; (2) how the environment influences injuries and the transmission of diseases and parasites; (3) how the environment affects resting, movement and the performance of natural behaviour; (4) the management of groups to minimize conflict and allow positive social contact; (5) the effects of air quality, temperature …

Rescued Goats At A Sanctuary Display Positive Mood After Former Neglect, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Sentience Collection

Moods influence cognitive processes in that people in positive moods expect more positive events to occur and less negative ones (“optimistic bias”), whereas the opposite happens for people in negative moods (“pessimistic bias”). The evidence for an effect of mood on cognitive bias is also increasing in animals, suggesting that measures of optimism and pessimism could provide useful indicators of animal welfare. For obvious ethical reasons, serious poor treatments cannot be easily replicated in large mammals in order to study their long-term effects on moods. In this study, we tested the long-term effects (>2 years) of prior poor welfare …

Culture, Reform Politics, And Future Directions: A Review Of China’S Animal Protection Challenge, Peter J. Li, Gareth Davey

Animal Welfare Collection

Incidents of animal abuse in China attract worldwide media attention. Is China culturally inclined to animal cruelty, or is the country’s development strategy a better explanation? This article addresses the subject of animal protection in China, a topic that has been ignored for too long by Western China specialists. A review of ancient Chinese thought asks whether China lacks a legacy of compassion for animals. The article then considers how China’s reform politics underlie the animal welfare crisis. Through its discussion of the welfare crisis impacting nonhuman animals in China, this paper sheds light on the enormity of the country’s …

Rating Harms To Wildlife: A Survey Showing Convergence Between Conservation And Animal Welfare Views, S. Dubois, D. Fraser

Environment and Nature Conservation Collection

Human activities may cause conservation concerns when animal populations or ecosystems are harmed and animal welfare concerns when individuals are harmed. In general, people are concerned with one or the other, as the concepts may be regarded as separate or even at odds. An online purposive survey of 339 British Columbians explored differences between groups that varied by gender, residency, wildlife engagement level and value orientation (conservation-oriented or animal welfare-oriented), to see how they rated the level of harm to wildlife caused by different human activities. Women, urban residents, those with low wildlife engagement, and welfare-orientated participants generally scored activities …

Equine Welfare As A Mainstream Phenomenon, Bernard E. Rollin

Equine Husbandry and Welfare Collection

The 20th century has witnessed a bewildering array of ethical revolutions, from civil rights to environmentalism to feminism. Often ignored is the rise of massive societal concern across the world regarding animal treatment. Regulation of animal research exists in virtually all Western countries, and reform of “factory farming” is regnant in Europe and rapidly emerging in the United States. In 2012, a series of articles in The New York Times focused welfare attention squarely on the horse industry. Opponents of concern for animals often dismiss the phenomenon as rooted in emotion and extremist lack of appreciation of how unrestricted animal …

Benchmarking Cow Comfort On North American Freestall Dairies: Lameness, Leg Injuries, Lying Time, Facility Design, And Management For High-Producing Holstein Dairy Cows, Marina A.G. Von Keyserlingk, A. K. Barrientos, K. Ito, E. Galo, Daniel M. Weary

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

In this paper, we describe a novel approach to corporate involvement in on-farm assessment, driven by the desire to provide a service for dairy producers and to create a vehicle for engagement on issues of dairy cow welfare. This program provides producers with feedback on animal-based (including gait score, leg injuries, and lying time) and facility-based (including freestall design, bedding practices, feed bunk design and management, and stocking density) measures that can be used to better address their management goals. The aim of this paper is to describe variation in the prevalence of lameness and leg injuries, lying behavior, facility …

A ‘‘Practical’’ Ethic For Animals, David Fraser

Ethics and Animal Welfare Collection

Drawing on the features of ‘‘practical philosophy’’ described by Toulmin (1990), a ‘‘practical’’ ethic for animals would be rooted in knowledge of how people affect animals, and would provide guidance on the diverse ethical concerns that arise. Human activities affect animals in four broad ways: (1) keeping animals, for example, on farms and as companions, (2) causing intentional harm to animals, for example through slaughter and hunting, (3) causing direct but unintended harm to animals, for example by cropping practices and vehicle collisions, and (4) harming animals indirectly by disturbing life-sustaining processes and balances of nature, for example by habitat …

Attitudes Of Canadian Beef Producers Toward Animal Welfare, J. M. Spooner, C. A. Schuppli, D. Fraser

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

Commercial beef production in western Canada involves raising cows and calves on large tracts of grassland, plus grain-based ‘finishing’ of animals in outdoor feedlots. This study used open-ended, semi-structured interviews to explore views on animal welfare of 23 commercial beef producers in this system. Although wary of the term ‘animal welfare’, participants understood the concept to encompass three well-known elements: (i) basic animal health and body condition; (ii) affective states (comfort, contentment, freedom from hunger or thirst); and (iii) the ability to live a ‘natural’ life. Participants attached importance to protecting animals from natural hardships (extreme weather, predators), yet many …

Bias During The Evaluation Of Animal Studies, Andrew Knight

Morality and Ethics of Animal Experimentation Collection

My recent book entitled The Costs and Benefits of Animal Experiments seeks to answer a key question within animal ethics, namely: is animal experimentation ethically justifiable? Or, more precisely, is it justifiable within the utilitarian cost:benefit framework that fundamentally underpins most regulations governing animal experimentation? To answer this question I reviewed more than 500 scientific publications describing animal studies, animal welfare impacts, and alternative research, toxicity testing and educational methodologies. To minimise bias I focused primarily on large-scale systematic reviews that had examined the human clinical and toxicological utility of animal studies. Despite this, Dr. Susanne Prankel recently reviewed my …

Research On Pre-Slaughter Stress And Meat Quality: A Review Of Challenges Faced Under Practical Conditions, A. Y. Chulayo, O. Tada, V. Muchenje

Slaughter and Slaughtering Practices Collection

Transportation and handling of animals are important components in meat production systems. Animals destined for slaughter are stressed by factors such as loading, transportation, restraint, handling, and novelty of the slaughter environment, adverse weather conditions, hunger, thirst and fatigue. When an animal is stressed in the pre-slaughter environment, there is a rapid release of enzymes, cortisols and catecholamines which may lead to depletion of glycogen, high meat ultimate pH (pHu) and dark cuts. Pre-slaughter stress also affects the physiology of the animal resulting in an increase in creatine kinase (CK) activity, glucose, lactate and other blood metabolites. Pre-slaughter stress and …

Animal Learning And Training: Implications For Animal Welfare, Sabrina I.C.A. Brando

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

KEY POINTS

• A definition of animal welfare is the state of the individual as it attempts to cope with its environment.
• Welfare concerns all of the mechanisms for coping, involving physiology, behavior, feelings, and pathologic responses.
• When training programs are not in place the animal’s welfare could be impaired.
• Some of the behaviors an animal exhibits can be used to gain insight into how the animal feels about the environment, caretakers, and procedures.
• Many contemporary animal trainers and care specialists focus on building relationships using positive reinforcement.

Impact Of Different Handling Styles (Good Vs. Adverse) On Growth Performance, Behavior, And Cortisol Concentrations In Beef Cattle, Joan Bauer, Beth Kegley, John Richeson, Doug Galloway, J. A. (Pete) Hornsby, Jana Reynolds

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Our objective was to determine effects of aggressive handling on growth performance, behavior, and cortisol concentrations in beef calves. Crossbred calves (313 ± 4.7 kg; n = 54; 24 steers, 30 heifers) from a single herd were stratified by gender, body weight, and initial chute score, then allocated randomly to one of six pens. Each pen was randomly assigned to one of two handling treatments (good or adverse) applied on days 7, 35, 63, and 91. The objective of good treatment was to handle the calves quietly and gently to minimize stress. The objective of adverse treatment was to move …

Four Types Of Activities That Affect Animals: Implications For Animal Welfare Science And Animal Ethics Philosophy, D. Fraser, A. M. Macrae

Ethnozoology and Animal Welfare Collection

People affect animals through four broad types of activity: (1) people keep companion, farm, laboratory and captive wild animals, often while using them for some purpose; (2) people cause deliberate harm to animals through activities such as slaughter, pest control, hunting, and toxicology testing; (3) people cause direct but unintended harm to animals through crop production, transportation, night-time lighting, and many other human activities; and (4) people harm animals indirectly by disturbing ecological systems and the processes of nature, for example by destroying habitat, introducing foreign species, and causing pollution and climate change. Each type of activity affects vast numbers …

Cognitive Relatives Yet Moral Strangers?, Judith Benz-Scharzberg, Andrew Knight

Animal Welfare Collection

This article provides an empirically based, interdisciplinary approach to the following two questions: Do animals possess behavioral and cognitive characteristics such as culture, language, and a theory of mind? And if so, what are the implications, when long-standing criteria used to justify differences in moral consideration between humans and animals are no longer considered indisputable? One basic implication is that the psychological needs of captive animals should be adequately catered for. However, for species such as great apes and dolphins with whom we share major characteristics of personhood, welfare considerations alone may not suffice, and consideration of basic rights may …

Critical Evaluation Of The Use Of Dogs In Biomedical Research And Testing In Europe, Nina Hasiwa, Jarrod Bailey, Peter Clausing, Mardas Daneshian, Sándor Farkas, István Gyertyán, Robert Hubrecht, Werner Kobel, Goran Krummenacher, Marcel Leist, Hannes Lohi, Adám Miklósi, Frauke Ohl, Klaus Olejniczak, Georg Schmitt, Patrick Sinnett-Smith, David Smith, Kristina Wagner, James D. Yager, Joanne Zurlo, Thomas Hartung

Companion Animals as Laboratory Research Subjects Collection

Dogs are sometimes referred to as “man’s best friend” and with the increase in urbanization and lifestyle changes, dogs are seen by their owners as family members. Society expresses specific concerns about the experimental use of dogs, as they are sometimes perceived to have a special status for humans. This may appear somewhat conflicting with the idea that the intrinsic value of all animals is the same, and that also several other animal species are used in biomedical research and toxicology. This aspect and many others are discussed in an introductory chapter dealing with ethical considerations on the use of …

The Effect Of Claw Horn Disruption Lesions And Body Condition Score At Dry-Off On Survivability, Reproductive Performance, And Milk Production In The Subsequent Lactation, V. S. Machado, L. S. Caixeta, J. A. A. Mcart, R. C. Bicalho

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of claw horn disruption lesions (CHDL; sole ulcers and white line disease) and body condition score (BCS) at dry-off on survivability, milk production, and reproductive performance during the subsequent lactation. An observational prospective cohort study was conducted on a large commercial dairy in Cayuga County, New York, from September 2008 until January 2009. A total of 573 cows enrolled at dry-off were scored for body condition and hoof trimmed; digits were visually inspected for the presence of CHDL. The BCS data were recategorized into a 3-level variable BCS group (BCSG), …

Toward A Synthesis Of Conservation And Animal Welfare Science, David Fraser

Conservation Biology and Animal Welfare Collection

Conservation biology and animal welfare science are multidisciplinary fields of research that address social concerns about animals. Conservation biology focuses on wild animals, works at the level of populations, ecological systems and genetic types, and deals with threats to biodiversity and ecological integrity. Animal welfare science typically focuses on captive (often domestic) animals, works at the level of individuals and groups, and deals with threats to the animals’ health and quality of life. However, there are many areas of existing or potential overlap: (i) many real-life problems, such as environmental contamination, urban development and transportation, create problems for animals that …

Noncompliance With Public Health Service (Phs) Policy On Humane Care And Use Of Laboratory Animals: An Exploratory Analysis, Leah M. Gomez, Kathleen Conlee, Martin Stephens

Laboratory Experiments Collection

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a major biomedical research-funding body in the United States. Approximately 40% of NIH-funded research involves experimentation on nonhuman animals (Monastersky, 2008). Institutions that conduct animal research with NIH funds must adhere to the Public Health Service (PHS) care and use standards of the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW, 2002a). Institutions deviating significantly from the PHS’s animal care and use standards must report these incidents to the NIH’s OLAW. This study is an exploratory analysis of all the significant deviations reported by animal-research facilities to OLAW during a 3-month period. The study identifies …

Integrated Pest Management (Ipm) For Vertebrates: Do We Need To Broaden This Concept?, John Hadidian

Ecology Collection

The concepts and practices of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) are historically grounded in programs aimed at insects and disease-causing organisms affecting agriculture. When applied to vertebrates, IPM concepts have most often been used in rodent control programs. Still, IPM is a powerful model that arguably can, and should, apply to conflicts with any “pest” or problem-causing organism. It may be time to examine contemporary IPM approaches and their relation to traditional vertebrate pest control more closely. Vertebrate IPM should encompass not only the development of sound and practical steps to shape decision-making and actions, but a dialogue about ethics as …

Assessing Animal Welfare: Different Philosophies, Different Scientific Approaches, David Fraser

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

Attempts to improve animal welfare have commonly centered around three broad objectives: (1) to ensure good physical health and functioning of animals, (2) to minimize unpleasant ‘‘affective states’’ (pain, fear, etc.) and to allow animals normal pleasures, and (3) to allow animals to develop and live in ways that are natural for the species. Each of these objectives has given rise to scientific approaches for assessing animal welfare. An emphasis on health and functioning has led to assessment methods based on rates of disease, injury, mortality, and reproductive success. An emphasis on affective states has led to assessment methods based …

Preference And Usage Of Pasture Versus Free-Stall Housing By Lactating Dairy Cattle, A. L. Legrand, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk, D. M. Weary

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

The aim of the current study was to assess if cows preferred pasture or indoor housing, and how diurnal and environmental factors affected this preference. Lactating dairy cows (n = 5 groups, each containing 5 cows) were sequentially housed either in a free-stall barn on pasture, or given the choice between the 2 environments. Each group was tested 3 times under each condition, for a total of 21 d, to assess the effects of varying climatic conditions (outdoor temperature ranged from 9.9 to 28.2°C and daily rainfall from 0 to 65 mm/d over the course of the experiment). When provided …

Preference For Pasture Versus Freestall Housing By Dairy Cattle When Stall Availability Indoors Is Reduced, A. C. Falk, D. M. Weary, C. Winckler, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Providing cattle with access to pasture has been shown to yield benefits, including access to more space, fewer agonistic interactions, better air quality, and the ability to perform a greater range of normal behaviors. Preference for pasture appears to depend on several parameters, including weather conditions and availability of shade. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the preference for pasture versus inside a freestall barn with variable stocking densities at the stalls. We also investigated the effect of temperature-humidity index (THI) and precipitation on this preference. Overall, cows spent on average 13.7 ± 2.6 h/d (mean ± …

Preference And Usage Of Pasture Versus Free-Stall Housing By Lactating Dairy Cattle, A. L. Legrand, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk, D. M. Weary

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

The aim of the current study was to assess if cows preferred pasture or indoor housing, and how diurnal and environmental factors affected this preference. Lactating dairy cows (n = 5 groups, each containing 5 cows) were sequentially housed either in a free-stall barn on pasture, or given the choice between the 2 environments. Each group was tested 3 times under each condition, for a total of 21 d, to assess the effects of varying climatic conditions (outdoor temperature ranged from 9.9 to 28.2°C and daily rainfall from 0 to 65 mm/d over the course of the experiment). When provided …

Exponential Growth, Animal Welfare, Environmental And Food Safety Impact: The Case Of China’S Livestock Production, Peter J. Li

Agribusiness Collection

Developmental states are criticized for rapid “industrialization without enlightenment.” In the last 30 years, China’s breathtaking growth has been achieved at a high environmental and food safety cost. This article, utilizing a recent survey of China’s livestock industry, illustrates the initiating role of China’s developmental state in the exponential expansion of the country’s livestock production. The enthusiastic response of the livestock industry to the many state policy incentives has made China the world’s biggest animal farming nation. Shortage of meat and dairy supply is history. Yet, the Chinese government is facing new challenges of no less a threat to political …

Animal Pleasure And Its Moral Significance, Jonathan Balcombe

Sentience Collection

This paper presents arguments for, and evidence in support of, the important role of pleasure in animals’ lives, and outlines its considerable significance to humankind’s relationship to other animals. In the realms of animal sentience, almost all scholarly discussion revolves around its negative aspects: pain, stress, distress, and suffering. By contrast, the positive aspects of sentience – rewards and pleasures – have been rarely broached by scientists. Yet, evolutionary principles predict that animals, like humans, are motivated to seek rewards, and not merely to avoid pain and suffering. Natural selection favours behaviours that enhance survival and procreation. In the conscious, …

Animal Behaviour, Animal Welfare And The Scientific Study Of Affect, David Fraser

Emotion Collection

Many questions about animal welfare involve the affective states of animals (pain, fear, distress) and people look to science to clarify these issues as a basis for practices, policies and standards. However, the science of the mid twentieth century tended to be silent on matters of animal affect for both philosophical and methodological reasons. Philosophically, under the influence of Positivism many scientists considered that the affective states of animals fall outside the scope of science. Certain methodological features of the research also favoured explanations that did not involve affect. The features included the tendency to rely on abstract, quantitative measures …

Increasing Our Compassion Footprint: The Animals’ Manifesto, Marc Bekoff

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

Our relationships with animals are wide-ranging. When people tell me that they love animals and then harm or kill them I tell them I’m glad they don’t love me. Many individuals, including scientists, ignore their responsibility when they interact with animals and fail to recognize that doing something in the name of science, which usually means in the name of humans, is not an adequate reason for intentionally causing suffering, pain, or death. “Good welfare” usually is not “good enough.” Existing regulations allow animals to be treated in regrettable ways that demean us as a species. Compassion is the key …

Why “Good Welfare” Isn’T “Good Enough”: Minding Animals And Increasing Our Compassionate Footprint, Marc Bekoff

Animal Welfare Collection

In this brief essay I take a broad perspective on the notion of unraveling welfare and consider animals living in different conditions ranging from caged individuals in laboratories and zoos to free-living or almost free-living wildlife. I’ll step outside of the laboratory because billions of animals are slaughtered for food in an industry that tortures them on the way to their reprehensible deaths and at the places at which they are slaughtered. Furthermore, government agencies around the world kill millions of free-living and wild animals because they’re supposedly “pests”. This is a different sort of essay but I hope it …

What Is A Humane Wildlife Control Service?, John Griffin, Lori Thiele, Pamela Lough, Janet Snyder, Maggie Brasted, John Hadidian

Wildlife Population Management Collection

In May 2007, The Humane Society of the United States launched a for-fee business called Humane Wildlife Servicessm to engage in wildlife control jobs in the Washington, D.C. metro area. We had several purposes in launching this service. First, we felt it necessary to offer a service to customers in our home base area that allowed them to choose a wildlife removal company that did not trap and relocate, or trap and kill, animals. Second, we wished to directly experience and test the operational and conceptual challenges associated with this sort of service. Third, we wished to develop a model …