Animal Studies Commons^™

Animal Sentience: History, Science, And Politics, Andrew N. Rowan, Joyce M. D'Silva, Ian J.H. Duncan, Nicholas Palmer

Animal Sentience

This target article has three parts. The first briefly reviews the thinking about nonhuman animals’ sentience in the Western canon: what we might know about their capacity for feeling, leading up to Bentham’s famous question “can they suffer?” The second part sketches the modern development of animal welfare science and the role that animal-sentience considerations have played therein. The third part describes the launching, by Compassion in World Farming, of efforts to incorporate animal sentience language into public policy and regulations concerning human treatment of animals.

Welfare Challenges Influence The Complexity Of Movement: Fractal Analysis Of Behaviour In Zebrafish, Anthony G. Deakin, Joseph W. Spencer, Andrew R. Cossins, Iain S. Young, Lynne U. Sneddon

Experimental Research and Animal Welfare Collection

The ability to assess welfare is an important refinement that will ensure the good condition of animals used in experimentation. The present study investigated the impact of invasive procedures on the patterns of movement of zebrafish (Danio rerio). Recordings were made before and after fin clipping, PIT tagging and a standard pain test and these were compared with control and sham handled zebrafish. The fractal dimension (FD) from the 3D trajectories was calculated to determine the effect of these treatments on the complexity of movement patterns. While the FD of zebrafish trajectories did not differ over time in either the …

Reduction In Activity By Noxious Chemical Stimulation Is Ameliorated By Immersion In Analgesic Drugs In Zebrafish, Javier Lopez-Luna, Qussay Al-Jubouri, Waleed Al-Nuaimy, Lynne U. Sneddon

Anesthesia and Analgesia Collection

Research has recently demonstrated that larval zebrafish show similar molecular responses to nociception to those of adults. Our study explored whether unprotected larval zebrafish exhibited altered behaviour after exposure to noxious chemicals and screened a range of analgesic drugs to determine their efficacy to reduce these responses. This approach aimed to validate larval zebrafish as a reliable replacement for adults as well as providing a high-throughput means of analysing behavioural responses. Zebrafish at 5 days postfertilization were exposed to known noxious stimuli: acetic acid (0.01%, 0.1% and 0.25%) and citric acid (0.1%, 1% and 5%). The behavioural response of each …

What Would The Babel Fish Say?, Monica Gagliano

Animal Sentience

Starting with its title, Key’s (2016) target article advocates the view that fish do not feel pain. The author describes the neuroanatomical, physiological and behavioural conditions involved in the experience of pain in humans and rodents and confidently applies analogical arguments as though they were established facts in support of the negative conclusion about the inability of fish to feel pain. The logical reasoning, unfortunately, becomes somewhat incoherent, with the arbitrary application of the designated human criteria for an analogical argument to one animal species (e.g., rodents) but not another (fish). Research findings are reported selectively, and questionable interpretations are …

A Critical Analysis Of The British Horseracing Authority’S Review Of The Use Of The Whip In Horseracing, Bidda Jones, Jed Goodfellow, James Yeates, Paul Mcgreevy

Sport and Working Animal Welfare Collection

There is increasing controversy about the use of the whip as a performance aid in Thoroughbred horseracing and its impact on horse welfare. This paper offers a critical analysis of the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) 2011 Report Responsible Regulation: A Review of the Use of the Whip in Horseracing. It examines the BHA’s process of consultation and use of science and public opinion research through the application of current scientific literature and legal analysis. This analysis suggests that the BHA’s findings on the welfare impact and justification for whip use are insufficiently defended by the report. These findings indicate that …

Killing Kindly: Applying Jens Timmermann's Kantian Ethics Of Animal Welfare To The Modern System Of Livestock Farming, Alexander Lowe

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

This essay seeks to contribute to this conversation in an ethically applicable way, addressing specifically the Kantian vein of animal welfare discussed by Dr. Jens Timmermann in his essay When the Tail Wags the Dog: Animal Welfare and Indirect Duty in Kantian Ethics. In Part I, I will examine the work Timmermann undertakes to extend greater protection to animals under Kantian ethics. I will also raise a critical question concerning Timmermann’s unwillingness to apply his advancements to the animal welfare problems in our modern world. In Part II, I will attempt to apply Timmermann’s conclusions to the question of …

Fish Intelligence, Sentience And Ethics, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

Fish are one of the most highly utilised vertebrate taxa by humans; they are harvested from wild stocks as part of global fishing industries, grown under intensive aquaculture conditions, are the most common pet and are widely used for scientific research. But fish are seldom afforded the same level of compassion or welfare as warm-blooded vertebrates. Part of the problem is the large gap between people’s perception of fish intelligence and the scientific reality. This is an important issue because public perception guides government policy. The perception of an animal’s intelligence often drives our decision whether or not to include …

Defining And Assessing Animal Pain, Lynne U. Sneddon, Robert W. Elwood, Shelley A. Adamo, Matthew C. Leach

Experimentation Collection

The detection and assessment of pain in animals is crucial to improving their welfare in a variety of contexts in which humans are ethically or legally bound to do so. Thus clear standards to judge whether pain is likely to occur in any animal species is vital to inform whether to alleviate pain or to drive the refinement of procedures to reduce invasiveness, thereby minimizing pain. We define two key concepts that can be used to evaluate the potential for pain in both invertebrate and vertebrate taxa. First, responses to noxious, potentially painful events should affect neurobiology, physiology and behaviour …

Prolonged Pain Research In Mice: Trends In Reference To The 3rs, Jonathan Balcombe, Hope Ferdowsian, Lauren Briese

Experimentation Collection

This literature review documents trends in the use of mice in prolonged pain research, defined herein as research that subjects mice to a source of pain for at least 14 days. The total amount of prolonged pain research on mice has increased dramatically in the past decade for the 3 pain categories examined: neuropathic, inflammatory, and chronic pain. There has also been a significant rise in the number of prolonged mouse pain studies as a proportion of all mouse studies and of all mouse pain studies. The use of transgenic mice has also risen significantly in prolonged pain research, though …

Science, Sentience, And Animal Welfare, Robert C. Jones

Ethics and Animal Welfare Collection

I sketch briefly some of the more influential theories concerned with the moral status of nonhuman animals, highlighting their biological/physiological aspects. I then survey the most prominent empirical research on the physiological and cognitive capacities of nonhuman animals, focusing primarily on sentience, but looking also at a few other morally relevant capacities such as self-awareness, memory, and mindreading. Lastly, I discuss two examples of current animal welfare policy, namely, animals used in industrialized food production and in scientific research. I argue that even the most progressive current welfare policies lag behind, are ignorant of, or arbitrarily disregard the science on …

Philosophical Background Of Attitudes Toward And Treatment Of Invertebrates, Jennifer A. Mather

Societal Attitudes Toward Animals Collection

People who interact with or make decisions about invertebrate animals have an attitude toward them, although they may not have consciously worked it out. Three philosophical approaches underlie this attitude. The fi rst is the contractarian, which basically contends that animals are only automata and that we humans need not concern ourselves with their welfare except for our own good, because cruelty and neglect demean us. A second approach is the utilitarian, which focuses on gains versus losses in interactions between animals, including humans. Given the sheer numbers of invertebrates—they constitute 99% of the animals on the planet—this attitude implicitly …

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 …

Pain Perception In Fish: Indicators And Endpoints, Lynne U. Sneddon

Aquaculture Collection

Recent evidence has shown that fish display aversive behavioral and physiological reactions and a suspension of normal behavior in response to noxious stimuli that cause pain in other animals and humans. In addition to these behavioral responses, scientists have identified a peripheral nociceptive system and recorded specific changes in the brain activity of fish during noxious stimulation. As a result of these observations teleost fish are now considered capable of nociception and, in some opinions, pain perception. From both an experimental and an ethical perspective, it is important that scientists be able to assess possible pain and minimize discomfort that …

Effect Of Noxious Stimulation Upon Antipredator Responses And Dominance Status In Rainbow Trout, Paul J. Ashley, Sian Ringrose, Katie L. Edwards, Emma Wallington, Catherine R. Mccrohan, Lynne U. Sneddon

Aquaculture Collection

A potentially painful experience may modify normal behavioural responses. To gauge the importance of pain relative to predation or social status, we presented competing stimuli, a predator cue or an unfamiliar social group, to two groups of noxiously treated rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. In the predator cue experiment, fish were classified as bold or shy. Noxiously stimulated fish did not show antipredator responses, suggesting that pain is the imperative. In the social status experiment, noxiously stimulated fish held individually and undisturbed showed an increase in respiration rate and plasma cortisol. As a comparison, we used the dominant or subordinate fish …

The Minimization Of Research Animal Distress And Pain: Conclusions And Recommendations, Kathleen Conlee, Martin Stephens, Andrew N. Rowan

Laboratory Experiments Collection

While the attention given to preventing, assessing, and alleviating pain in research animals has increased noticeably in recent decades, much remains to be done both in terms of implementing best practices and conducting studies to answer outstanding questions. In contrast, the attention to distress (particularly non-pain induced distress) has shown no comparable increase. There are many reasons for this discrepancy, including the conceptual untidiness of the distress concept, the paucity of pharmacological treatments for distress, and perceived lack of regulatory emphasis on distress. These are challenges that need to be addressed and overcome. This book is intended to help meet …

Recognition Of Distress In Animals – A Philosophical Prolegomenon, Bernard E. Rollin

Sentience Collection

For those who continue to doubt the studiability of distress or suffering or misery in all of its forms in animals, consider the following thought experiment: If the government were to come up with a billion dollars in research funding for animal distress, would that money go a-begging? We can study these states just as we studied pain—excellent work on boredom by Franciose Wemelsfelder in a volume on laboratory animal welfare I co-edited made the methodology for such study quite explicit. (Wemelsfelder, 1990) And when the ideological scales fall from our eyes, we realize that the work of scientists like …

Measurement And Mitigation Of Laboratory Animal Distress Sources Of Distress In The Animal Laboratory, Larry Carbone

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Pain and distress differ, but overlap. For the purposes of this discussion, we will consider pain to involve nociceptive input of stimuli that are potentially tissue damaging, and that further include an unpleasant emotional component (Merskey and Bogduk 1994). Pain need not necessarily induce distress, as when an animal or human willingly undergoes some painful situation in order to achieve a desired reward. In that case, while the pain may be unpleasant, it is not so severe as to be intolerable. Likewise, there are many potential causes of distress that do not involve physical pain.

Resolving Animal Distress And Pain: Principles And Examples Of Good Practice In Various Fields Of Research, Alicia Karas, Matthew C. Leach, Karl A. Andrutis, Kathleen Conlee, John P. Gluck, Andrew N. Rowan, Martin L. Stephens

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Pain and distress are central topics in legislation, regulations, and standards regarding the use of animals in research. However, in practice, pain has received greatly increased attention in recent years, while attention to distress has lagged far behind, especially for distress that is not induced by pain. A contributing factor is that there is less information readily available on distress, including practical information on its recognition, assessment and alleviation.

This chapter attempts to help fill that void by reversing the usual pattern and giving greater attention to distress than to pain. In addition, we also bypass the pain versus distress …

Behavioural Analysis Of A Nociceptive Event In Fish: Comparisons Between Three Species Demonstrate Specific Responses, Siobhan C. Reilly, John P. Quinn, Andrew R. Cossins, Lynne U. Sneddon

Sentience Collection

Nociception is the sensory mechanism by which potentially harmful stimuli are detected in animals and humans. The behavioural responses to noxious stimulation have been studied in two fish species thus far. However, since species-specific differences are seen in mammals, more species need to be examined to determine whether nociceptive responses are generic in fish. The present study investigated the behavioural and respiratory response to an acute noxious or potentially painful stimulus in common carp (Cyprinus carpio), zebrafish (Danio rerio) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Behavioural parameters such as frequency of swimming, use of cover and any anomalous behaviour were measured …

Animal Welfare Perspectives On Recreational Angling, Steven J. Cooke, Lynne U. Sneddon

Animal Welfare Collection

Fish captured by recreational anglers are often released either voluntarily or because of harvest regulations in a process called ‘‘catch-and-release’’. Catch-and-release angling is thought to be beneficial for the conservation of fish stocks based on the premise that most of the fish that are released survive. However, expanding interest in animal welfare has promoted debate regarding the ethics of catch-and-release angling. There is a growing recognition that fish can consciously experience nociception and that they have some capacity to experience pain and fear. Indeed, empirical anatomical, physiological, and behavioural evidence supports the notion that fish could experience these two forms …

A Holistic Approach To Taking Research Animal Suffering Seriously, Martin Stephens, Kathleen Conlee

Experimentation Collection

It is widely agreed, and often legally required, that distress and pain in research animals should be minimized--for the sake of animal welfare, ethical obligation, and public concern, as well as scientific quality. As testimony to the importance of distress and pain to stakeholders interested in research animals, many countries compile and publish annual statistics documenting overall patterns and trends on distress and pain in research animals.

We argue for a holistic approach to minimizing research animal suffering, with all relevant parties sharing in this responsibility. Researchers, laboratory personnel, oversight committees, and facility administrators are central to day-to-day animal care. …

Report Of The Working Group On Animal Distress In The Laboratory, Marilyn Brown, Larry Carbone, Kathleen Conlee, Marian Dawkins, Ian J. Duncan, David Fraser, Gilly Griffin, Victoria A. Hampshire, Lesley A. Lambert, Joy A. Mench, David Morton, Jon Richmond, Bernard E. Rollin, Andrew N. Rowan, Martin L. Stephens, Hanno Würbel

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Finding ways to minimize pain and distress in research animals is a continuing goal in the laboratory animal research field. Pain and distress, however, are not synonymous, and often measures that alleviate one do not affect the other. Here, the authors provide a summary of a meeting held in February 2004 that focused on distress in laboratory animals. They discuss the difficulties associated with defining ‘distress,’ propose methods to aid in recognizing and alleviating distressful conditions, and provide recommendations for animal research conduct and oversight that would minimize distress experienced by laboratory animals.

Ethics And Welfare: Pain Perception In Fish, L. U. Sneddon

Aquaculture Collection

Fish welfare is currently a controversial subject with many scientific studies now demonstrating the possibility for fish to experience negative events such as pain, fear and stress. This has important implications in the treatment of fish during commercial and experimental procedures in terms of ethics and welfare. In this review, the evidence for pain perception in fish is considered and the repercussions for the use of fish as a research model as well as in aquaculture and largescale fisheries. These issues are discussed briefly from a welfare and ethical perspective.

Carbon Dioxide For Euthanasia: Concerns Regarding Pain And Distress, With Special Reference To Mice And Rats, Kathleen Conlee, Martin Stephens, Andrew N. Rowan, Lesley A. King

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is the most commonly used agent for euthanasia of laboratory rodents, used on an estimated tens of millions of laboratory rodents per year worldwide, yet there is a growing body of evidence indicating that exposure to CO₂ causes more than momentary pain and distress in these and other animals. We reviewed the available literature on the use of CO₂ for euthanasia (as well as anaesthesia) and also informally canvassed laboratory animal personnel for their opinions regarding this topic. Our review addresses key issues such as CO₂ flow rate and final concentration, presence …

Evolution Of Nociception In Vertebrates: Comparative Analysis Of Lower Vertebrates, Lynne U. Sneddon

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Nociception is an important sensory system of major fundamental and clinical relevance. The nociceptive system of higher vertebrates is well studied with a wealth of information about nociceptor properties, involvement of the central nervous system and the in vivo responses to a noxious experience are already characterised. However, relatively little is known about nociception in lower vertebrates and this review brings together a variety of studies to understand how this information can inform the evolution of nociception in vertebrates. It has been demonstrated that teleost fish possess nociceptors innervated by the trigeminal nerve and that these are physiologically similar to …

The Evidence For Pain In Fish: The Use Of Morphine As An Analgesic, Lynne U. Sneddon

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

This paper discusses the evidence for pain perception in fish and presents new data on morphine analgesia in fish. Recent anatomical and electrophysiological studies have demonstrated that fish are capable of nociception, the simple detection of a noxious, potentially painful stimulus and the reflex response to this. To prove pain perception, it must be demonstrated that an animal’s behaviour is adversely affected by a potentially painful event and this must not be a reflex response. The present study examined the acute effects of administering a noxious chemical to the lips of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to assess what changes occurred …

Do Fishes Have Nociceptors? Evidence For The Evolution Of A Vertebrate Sensory System, Lynne U. Sneddon, Victoria A. Braithwaite, Michael J. Gentle

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Nociception is the detection of a noxious tissue-damaging stimulus and is sometimes accompanied by a reflex response such as withdrawal. Pain perception, as distinct from nociception, has been demonstrated in birds and mammals but has not been systematically studied in lower vertebrates. We assessed whether a fish possessed cutaneous nociceptors capable of detecting noxious stimuli and whether its behavior was sufficiently adversely affected by the administration of a noxious stimulus. Electrophysiological recordings from trigeminal nerves identified polymodal nociceptors on the head of the trout with physiological properties similar to those described in higher vertebrates. These receptors responded to mechanical pressure, …

Pain And Distress Associated With Polyclonal Antibody Production: Discussion And Recommendations, The Humane Society Of The United States

ANIMAL RESEARCH

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) held a workshop in August 2002 in order to develop recommendations for minimizing pain and distress associated with polyclonal antibody (Pab) production. A small group of experts in the fields of antibody production, animal welfare, in vitro alternatives, and/or regulatory compliance participated in the roundtable discussion. The workshop was a scientifically based meeting, and recommendations were based on the extensive experience of the workshop participants as well as published literature regarding the relevant issues.

Participants recognized that insufficient attention has been paid to animal welfare aspects of Pab production, in part because …

Taking Animal Welfare Seriously: Minimizing Pain And Distress In Research Animals, The Humane Society Of The United States

ANIMAL RESEARCH

Pain and distress caused by specific research models and techniques raise serious concerns for those in the animal welfare community as well as in the scientific community. Yet good estimates of how much animal pain and/or animal distress is caused by particular techniques or methods are not yet available. The HSUS has compiled a preliminary list of research models and techniques that cause pain and distress. Analyses by the USDA and HSUS indicate that the majority of the animals reported in Column E are used in various testing procedures, with vaccine testing prominent among them. More data are needed to …

Assessment Of Side Effects Induced By Injection Of Different Adjuvant/Antigen Combinations In Rabbits And Mice, P.P.A.M. Leenaars, M. A. Koedam, P. W. Wester, V. Baumans, E. Claassen, C. F.M. Hendriksen

Biomedicine and Animal Models in Research Collection

We evaluated the side effects induced by injection of Freund's adjuvant (FA)and alternative adjuvants combined with different antigens. Rabbits and mice were injected subcutaneously, intramuscularly (rabbits) and intraperitoneally (mice)with different adjuvants (FA, Specol, RIBI,TiterMax, Montanide ISA50)in combination with several types of antigens (synthetic peptides, autoantigen, glycolipid, protein, mycoplasma or viruses). The effects of treatment on the animals' well-being were assessed by clinical and behavioural changes (POTand LABORASassays) and gross and histopathological changes. In rabbits, treatment did not appear to induce acute or prolonged pain and distress. Mice showed behavioural changes immediately after (predominantly secondary) immunization. Injection of several adjuvant/antigen mixtures …