Electrocution as an alternative euthanasia method to blunt force trauma to the head followed by exsanguination for non-viable piglets.

BACKGROUND: On farms, the currently approved and most widely practised method of euthanising non-viable piglets is blunt force trauma to the head followed by exsanguination. However, the use of this method is criticised due to public perceptions and aversion to the methodology by caretakers. Therefore, electrocution after electrical stunning was examined as an alternative approach in 80 hybrid piglets. Initially, electrocution was simulated with finite element analysis using a computer piglet-model, where current density in the heart was visualised and size and position of the electrodes were defined. The following step investigated electrical parameters for electrocution in anaesthetised piglets; first, with a constant voltage power source and then with a constant current power source. The electrical stunning was examined using the constant current supply. Finally, the results of electrical stunning and electrocution were verified in 25 healthy piglets with a body weight between 1 and 2 kg. Unconsciousness was proven by testing palpebral, corneal and nociceptive reflexes. Time of death was confirmed by electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) records. RESULTS: Stunning succeeded with the preset of 1.3 A and 50 Hz, placing the electrodes on both sides of the head between the eyes and ears using different timespans between 8 and 20 s. Prolonged electrical flow resulted in reduced paddling movements after the epileptic seizure, and allowed undisturbed reflex tests and installation of electrodes for EEG and ECG recording during electrocution. Using 0.75 A and 400 Hz, pin-shaped electrodes were first positioned on both sides of the chest for 5 s, followed by a break of 20-30 s and a second current flow, whereby the electrodes were placed above the withers and the sternum for 5 s. Cardiac arrest and an isoelectric EEG were induced within 3 min after the onset of the electrical flow through the chest. The most obvious indicator of effective stunning and electrocution was termination of rhythmic breathing. Piglets with cardiac arrest showed only single gasps lasting up to 3 min after electrocution. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluated stunning and electrocution protocol might ease concerns about timely piglet euthanasia. However, this should be verified in non-viable piglets to exclude influencing factors like dehydration and diseases.

Cardiovascular and Metabolic Responses to Carbon Dioxide Euthanasia in Conscious and Anesthetized Rats.

Euthanasia is a necessary component in research and must be conducted humanely. Currently, regulated CO2 exposure in conscious rats is acceptable, but data are divided on whether CO2 alone is more distressing than anesthesia prior to CO2. To evaluate distress in rats, we compared physiologic responses to CO2 euthanasia with and without isoflurane preanesthesia. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with telemetry devices to measure mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and blood glucose. Animals recovered for 2 wk and were then exposed to either 5% isoflurane (n = 6) or 100% CO2 (n = 7; calculated 30% chamber volume/min displacement) in their home cages to induce loss of consciousness. Euthanasia was then completed with CO2 in both groups. MAP and HR increased when the gas delivery lids were placed on the home cages of both groups. Both MAP and HR gradually decreased with isoflurane exposure. MAP increased and HR decreased with CO2 exposure. Glucose levels remained stable throughout the procedure, except for a small drop in conscious animals initially exposed to 100% CO2. These data suggest that both gases affect the measured parameters in a similar manner, and that environmental factors, such as gas delivery lid placement, also change these measurements.

Are the Lives of Animals Well-spent in Laboratory Science Research? A Study of Orthopaedic Animal Studies in Turkey.

BACKGROUND: As in all fields of medicine, animal studies are widely performed in orthopaedics and have increased in number over time. However, it is not clear to what extent these studies provide a basis for future research or advancements in clinical science. Concerns about the reliability and translational ability of animal studies have been reported, and major orthopaedic journals and organizations are encouraging the reduction of unnecessary experiments on animals. QUESTION/PURPOSES: (1) What proportion of animal studies conducted for orthopaedic research in Turkey were never published? And of those that were published, how long did it take to publish? (2) What proportion of those studies were published in journals with an Impact Factor of 2 or more? (3) What proportion of those published papers were never cited or cited only once? (4) What was the contribution to science of an animal euthanized for orthopaedic research in Turkey? METHODS: We reviewed all oral and poster presentations at the Turkish National Congress of Orthopaedics and Traumatology from 2009 to 2017 (retrieved from the archives of Acta Orthopaedica et Traumatologica Turcica), as well as all postgraduate theses in orthopaedics from 1991 to 2017 (retrieved from the archives of the National Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education) to identify all orthopaedic studies that involved animals. We searched the keywords "animal studies," "experimental studies," and "orthopaedics" in these archives. We defined animal research as orthopaedic studies based on animal models. From this search and using that definition, 252 studies were identified. Of those, 4% (9) were excluded as they were thesis studies with no abstract in the archives. Thus, a total of 243 animal studies performed in Turkey were included for analysis in this retrospective study. The abstracts of these studies were examined to determine the study model (such as bone fracture models, tendon healing models, cartilage models) and number of euthanized animals. Between 1991 and 2017, 9412 vertebrate animals were euthanized for these studies. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and ORCID to determine whether these papers were subsequently published, in which journal, and how long after the initial presentation publication occurred. The Web of Science 2019 database was used to determine the Impact Factor of the journals, the total citation count of each study, and the mean annual citation for each study (citations per year). For purposes of this analysis, we divided journals into those with an Impact Factor of 2 or more, 4 or more, and those with an Impact Factor below 2. The mean annual citation per euthanized animal (citations per animal per year) was calculated to determine the contribution of a euthanized animal to science. RESULTS: A total of 42% (101 of 243) of the animal studies in Turkey were never published. For all published studies, the mean time to publication was 2.2 ± 2.6 years (95% CI 1.7 to 2.6). The proportion of studies published in orthopaedic journals with an Impact Factor of 2 or more was 14% (34 of 243). Among the 142 published papers, 38% (54) were either never cited or were cited only once, and the mean citations per year was 1.1 ± 1.7 (95% CI 0.7 to 1.3). The mean citations per animal/year among the 142 published studies was 0.03 ± 0.04 (95% CI 0.02 to 0.04). CONCLUSION: In the 243 theses and national congress presentations, 9412 animals were euthanized. Based on the low percentage of papers using animals that were euthanized and the very low proportion of studies published in higher-Impact Factor journals or garnering more than a single citation, in aggregate, little seems to have been gained from the loss of animal life. Future studies should try to replicate or refute our results in other countries. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Orthopaedic researchers should try to reduce their use of unnecessary animal studies, for example, by reporting on the use of the "3Rs" (replacement, reduction, and refinement) in the development of an animal study design, as well as through following universal guidelines so that a study might have a clinical impact. Researchers should not conduct an animal study until they are convinced that the expected results are quite likely to deliver substantial benefit to people or to advance science in a meaningful way; although this seems intuitive, our results suggest that this may not be taking place. Ethics committees in Turkey should consider more detailed questioning before approving animal studies. If our results are replicated elsewhere, then a broader look at how these approvals are conducted should be performed.

Factors Contributing to the Decision to Euthanize: Diagnosis, Clinical Signs, and Triggers.

This article reviews factors contributing to the decision to euthanize a patient by exploring the diagnosis, clinical signs, and triggers behind the choice. By investigating these triggers, the article helps guide practitioners to proactively manage areas of concern that lead to the decision of euthanasia. Included in this article is a benchmark comprehensive survey for pet families that standardizes documentation of family decision making surrounding end of life and euthanasia. Increased knowledge about diagnosis, clinical signs, and triggers may improve the technical and communication skills of professionals about specific conditions that are encountered at the end of life.

Historical Perspective of Euthanasia in Veterinary Medicine.

The history of companion animal euthanasia includes a blend of good and bad methodology, the shifting landscape of the human-animal bond, and maturation of the veterinary euthanasia experience. Time has shown us that critical exploration of what once was acceptable will lead the way to modern best practices. Animal welfare remains at the heart of the procedure, with equally matched attention now given to client and veterinary team well-being. Although euthanasia will continue to evolve, it is clear through the twenty-first century advancements, a tipping point of necessary change is upon us.

The Science of Transitional States of Consciousness and Euthanasia.

The science of transitional states of consciousness is reviewed. Despite intensive study, determining the subjective experience of animals during transitional states of consciousness remains inherently limited. Until better assessment tools become available, behavior-based observations, such as loss of righting reflex/loss of posture, remain among our most useful guides to the onset of unconsciousness in animals. To minimize potential animal suffering and to ensure a truly unconscious state is unambiguously achieved, a state of general anesthesia relying on gamma amino butyric acid type A agonists or N-methyl-d-aspartate antagonist agents continues to be a necessary component of the companion animal euthanasia process.

Culling Dogs for Zoonotic Visceral Leishmaniasis Control: The Wind of Change.

Visceral leishmaniasis, caused by Leishmania infantum, is a zoonosis, and culling seropositive dogs has been recommended to control the disease in some endemic countries. However, no scientific evidence supports the effectiveness of this strategy to reduce the incidence of visceral leishmaniasis. Economic and ethical issues concerning dog culling are discussed.

Animal Models in Forensic Science Research: Justified Use or Ethical Exploitation?

A moral dilemma exists in biomedical research relating to the use of animal or human tissue when conducting scientific research. In human ethics, researchers need to justify why the use of humans is necessary should suitable models exist. Conversely, in animal ethics, a researcher must justify why research cannot be carried out on suitable alternatives. In the case of medical procedures or therapeutics testing, the use of animal models is often justified. However, in forensic research, the justification may be less evident, particularly when research involves the infliction of trauma on living animals. To determine how the forensic science community is dealing with this dilemma, a review of literature within major forensic science journals was conducted. The frequency and trends of the use of animals in forensic science research was investigated for the period 1 January 2012-31 December 2016. The review revealed 204 original articles utilizing 5050 animals in various forms as analogues for human tissue. The most common specimens utilized were various species of rats (35.3%), pigs (29.3%), mice (17.7%), and rabbits (8.2%) although different specimens were favored in different study themes. The majority of studies (58%) were conducted on post-mortem specimens. It is, however, evident that more needs to be done to uphold the basic ethical principles of reduction, refinement and replacement in the use of animals for research purposes.

Ethical dilemmas encountered by small animal veterinarians: characterisation, responses, consequences and beliefs regarding euthanasia.

Small animal veterinarians' opinions were investigated regarding the frequency and nature of ethical dilemmas encountered, beliefs regarding euthanasia and balancing client and animal interests, prevalence and value of ethics training and proposals to mitigate the stressful effects of ethical dilemmas. The majority (52 per cent) of 484 respondents in the USA indicated via an online survey experiencing an ethical dilemma regarding the interests of clients and those of their patients at least weekly. Scenarios involving client financial concerns were commonly reported causes of ethical conflicts. While only 20 per cent of respondents indicated that other practitioners prioritise patient interests, 50 per cent of respondents characterised their own behaviour as prioritising patients. Most respondents (52 per cent) reported that ethical dilemmas are the leading cause, or are one of many equal causes, of work-related stress. Less experienced practitioners, general practitioners and associate veterinarians were more likely to encounter situations they defined as ethical dilemmas, and female respondents were more likely to find ethical dilemmas stressful. Most small animal veterinarians experience ethical dilemmas regularly, which contribute to moral stress. Results suggested that most small animal practitioners believe that greater awareness of moral stress and providing training in ethical theories and tools for coping with ethical dilemmas can ameliorate moral stress.

Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in a Tertiary Care Veterinary Specialty Hospital: Adaptation of the Human Clinical Consultation Committee Model.

Technological advances in veterinary medicine have produced considerable progress in the diagnosis and treatment of numerous diseases in animals. At the same time, veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and owners of animals face increasingly complex situations that raise questions about goals of care and correct or reasonable courses of action. These dilemmas are frequently controversial and can generate conflicts between clients and health care providers. In many ways they resemble the ethical challenges confronted by human medicine and that spawned the creation of clinical ethics committees as a mechanism to analyze, discuss, and resolve disagreements. The staff of the North Carolina State University Veterinary Hospital, a specialty academic teaching institution, wanted to investigate whether similar success could be achieved in the tertiary care veterinary setting. We discuss the background and rationale for this method, as well as the approach that was taken to create a clinical ethics committee.

When is the right time?

Veterinary medicine is veering further towards prolongation of life at all costs, without the safeguard of being able to robustly measure quality of life. Jacky Reid, Andrea Nolan and Marian Scott discuss major steps forward in the ability to measure changes in health-related quality of life.

Principles for ethical treatment decision-making in veterinary oncology.

Many owners of companion animals with cancer are overwhelmed by having to choose the "right course of action." With the aim of reducing the burden on owners who are forced to act as surrogates for their animals, this work discusses principles that apply to ethical treatment decision-making for animal patients with cancer. Four principles frequently used for ethical decision-making in human medicine will be considered for their potential applicability in veterinary medicine. As a result of these considerations, preliminary guidelines are presented, along which a decision-making discussion can be held. The deliberate integration of the non-maleficence and beneficence principles into the purely empirical facts of what is medically possible helps to maintain a moral perspective in specialized veterinary medicine. At the same time, such guidelines may contribute to individual decision-making in a way that animal patients neither have to endure unnecessarily severe side effects, nor that they are euthanized prematurely.

The application of humane endpoints and humane killing methods in animal research proposals: A retrospective review.

Refinement refers to the use of methods that help to minimise animal suffering in the laboratory. Research in this area has increased significantly over the past two decades. However, the extent to which refinements are applied in practice is uncertain. To provide an indication of the implementation and awareness of refinements, we reviewed the experimental techniques for 684 surgical interventions described in 506 animal research applications sent to the German competent authorities for approval in 2010. In this paper, we describe and discuss the appropriateness of the proposed humane endpoints and killing methods. We found that, when the investigators included humane endpoints in their application, these were often lacking in detail and/or were to be implemented at a late stage of suffering. In addition, the choice of method to kill the animals could be improved in the majority of the applications. We provide recommendations for future improvements, based on the recent literature. To ensure scientific rigour, avoid needless animal suffering and enable an accurate harm-benefit analysis, animal researchers have to be knowledgeable about refinement methods and apply them effectively. To assess compliance and ensure that only those studies in which potential benefits outweigh the harms are carried out, reviews such as ours - as well as retrospective assessments of actual harms and benefits - should be conducted widely and regularly, and the findings should be published.

L'euthanasie de convenance des animaux de compagnie : portrait du dilemme au sein de la profession vétérinaire québécoise.

Convenience euthanasia in companion animals: Dilemma among veterinarians in Quebec. Many veterinarians working in the field of companion animal medicine have to deal with requests for convenience euthanasia in their practices. As it is the case in other medical fields, veterinarians are trained to treat their patients. It is thus easy to understand that veterinarians consider convenience euthanasia as one of the most difficult ethical dilemmas they have to deal with in their practice. Regulatory boundaries concerning the practice of euthanasia are limited to the method use to induce the death of the animal but do not give any indication as to what should be the proper circumstances surrounding the request. To date, there are few articles on this matter and the perspective of veterinarians on the subject was rarely addressed. This article reports results obtained following a study conducted upon Québec's veterinarians on the topic of convenience euthanasia. The data was obtained via an online survey created by the research team to evaluate the perspective of veterinarians on the topic, how they perceived consequences of convenience euthanasia and what were the solutions they would take into consideration in order to help the profession on resolving their dilemma. The data collected sheds light on the existing duality between double allegiance regarding the duties emerging from the relation with the patient (animal) and the client (pet owner) veterinarian are facing in their daily practice. On one hand veterinarians recognized that 'convenience euthanasia' is contrary to animal welfare. On the other hand they also recognized the pet owner's right to ask for 'convenience euthanasia' when he can no longer care for its pet.(Translated by Dr. Rathwell-Deault).

Conceptualization of convenience euthanasia as an ethical dilemma for veterinarians in Quebec.

Companion animal welfare in our society has become increasingly important, yet many healthy animals are euthanized in veterinary facilities. How is it possible to explain the simultaneous presence of these opposing views of obligation toward animals? The goal of this study was to describe convenience euthanasia of companion animals as experienced by veterinarians in order to understand their thought processes. A qualitative study was undertaken to analyze the results of interviews of 14 veterinarians. The study showed that veterinarians interviewed assessed convenience euthanasia based mainly on their subjective evaluation of the owner-animal bond. As most owner-animal bonds stem from an anthropocentric point of view, decisions on convenience euthanasia were taken mostly by considering the veterinarian's and the client/owner's interests.

Conceptualisation de l'euthanasie pour des raisons de commodité comme dilemme éthique pour les vétérinaires du Québec. Le respect du bien-être des animaux de compagnie dans notre société est devenu de plus en plus important. Fait paradoxal, beaucoup d'animaux en santé sont euthanasiés dans les établissements vétérinaires. Comment peut-on expliquer la présence concomitante de ces vues opposées à l'égard des obligations envers les animaux? Le but de cette étude consistait à décrire l'euthanasie des animaux de compagnie pour des raisons de commodité selon les expériences des vétérinaires afin de comprendre leurs processus de réflexion. Une étude qualitative a été entreprise afin d'analyser les résultats d'entrevues avec 14 médecins vétérinaires. L'étude a signalé que les vétérinaires interviewés évaluaient l'euthanasie pour des raisons de commodité surtout en se basant sur leur évaluation subjective du lien entre le propriétaire et l'animal. Comme la majorité des liens entre propriétaires et animaux découlent d'un point de vue anthropocentrique, les décisions pour l'euthanasie pour des raisons de commodité étaient prises surtout en considérant l'intérêt du médecin vétérinaire et du client/propriétaire.(Traduit par Isabelle Vallières).

Leishmaniose visceral humana: reflexões éticas e jurídicas acerca do controle do reservatório canino no Brasil / Human visceral leishmaniasis: ethical and legal reflections on the canine reservoir control in Brazil

O Brasil enfrenta atualmente dificuldades no combatea leishmaniose visceral humana.De acordo a Organização Mundial da Saúde, a eutanásia dos cães sintomáticos e soropositivos é uma das medidas de controle do agravo, conforme decreto vigente 51.838, de 14 de março de 1963, o que se torna importantediscutir o diálogo entre Saúde e Direito como estratégia para se evitar a expansão da doença, devido à resistência dos proprietários em entregar seus cães, com alto valor afetivo, a zoonoses. Conclui-se que para uma política pública efetiva vários elementos devem levados em consideração, sobretudo a interdisciplinaridade, enfatizando reflexões jurídicas e saúde, envolvendo questões que permeiam as relações humanas no contexto da ética e da legislação (AU)

Brazil currently faces difficulties in combating human visceral leishmaniasis. According to the World Health Organization, euthanasia of symptomatic and seropositive dogs is one of injury control measures, according to current Decree 51838 of March 14, 1963, which becomes important to discuss the dialogue between health and law as a strategy to prevent the spread of the disease, due to the owners ' resistance to deliver their dogs with high emotional value, zoonoses. It is concluded that for effective public policy more elements are taken into consideration, especially interdisciplinary, emphasizing legal and health considerations involving issues that permeate the human relationships in the context of ethics and law (AU)