Changes in Stereotypies: Effects over Time and over Generations.

Stereotypies comprise a wide range of repeated and apparently functionless behaviors that develop in individuals whose neural condition or environment results in poor welfare. While stereotypies are an indicator of poor welfare at the time of occurrence, they may have various consequences. Environmental enrichment modifies causal factors and reduces the occurrence of stereotypies, providing evidence that stereotypies are an indicator of poor welfare. However, stereotypy occurrence and consequences change over time. Furthermore, there are complex direct and epigenetic effects when mother mammals that are kept in negative conditions do or do not show stereotypies. It is proposed that, when trying to deal with challenging situations, stereotypies might initially help animals to cope. After further time in the conditions, the performance of the stereotypy may impair brain function and change brain connections, neurophysiology and eventually neuroanatomy. It is possible that reported neuroanatomical changes are an effect of the stereotypy rather than a cause.

Post COVID-19: a solution scan of options for preventing future zoonotic epidemics.

The crisis generated by the emergence and pandemic spread of COVID-19 has thrown into the global spotlight the dangers associated with novel diseases, as well as the key role of animals, especially wild animals, as potential sources of pathogens to humans. There is a widespread demand for a new relationship with wild and domestic animals, including suggested bans on hunting, wildlife trade, wet markets or consumption of wild animals. However, such policies risk ignoring essential elements of the problem as well as alienating and increasing hardship for local communities across the world, and might be unachievable at scale. There is thus a need for a more complex package of policy and practical responses. We undertook a solution scan to identify and collate 161 possible options for reducing the risks of further epidemic disease transmission from animals to humans, including potential further SARS-CoV-2 transmission (original or variants). We include all categories of animals in our responses (i.e. wildlife, captive, unmanaged/feral and domestic livestock and pets) and focus on pathogens (especially viruses) that, once transmitted from animals to humans, could acquire epidemic potential through high rates of human-to-human transmission. This excludes measures to prevent well-known zoonotic diseases, such as rabies, that cannot readily transmit between humans. We focused solutions on societal measures, excluding the development of vaccines and other preventive therapeutic medicine and veterinary medicine options that are discussed elsewhere. We derived our solutions through reading the scientific literature, NGO position papers, and industry guidelines, collating our own experiences, and consulting experts in different fields. Herein, we review the major zoonotic transmission pathways and present an extensive list of options. The potential solutions are organised according to the key stages of the trade chain and encompass solutions that can be applied at the local, regional and international scales. This is a set of options targeted at practitioners and policy makers to encourage careful examination of possible courses of action, validating their impact and documenting outcomes.

A method for assessing sustainability, with beef production as an example.

A comprehensive approach to decisions about the use of land and other world resources, taking full account of biological and other scientific information, is crucial for good decisions to be made now and in future. The sustainability of systems for producing food and other products is sometimes assessed using too narrow a range of component factors. A production system might be unsustainable because of adverse effects on a wide range of aspects of human welfare, animal welfare, or the environment. All factors should be included in sustainability evaluation, otherwise products or actions might be avoided without adequate consideration of key factors or of the diversity of production systems. A scoring method that is based on scientific information and potentially of general relevance is presented here, using beef production as a example with a review of each of its sustainability components. This includes an overall combined score and specific factors that make the system unacceptable for some consumers. The results show that, in this example, the sustainability of the best systems is very much better than that of the worst systems. By taking account of scores for a wide range of components of sustainability in comparing beef-production systems, better quality policies about beef use can be formulated than when statements referring only to one system are considered. The least sustainable beef-production systems are extensive grazing that causes land degradation and the use of feedlots or indoor housing with grain feeding. Semi-intensive silvopastoral systems are the most sustainable beef-production systems, and well-managed pasture-fed beef from areas where crop production is uneconomic is also sustainable. This simple, scientifically based scoring system could be modified to use positive as well as negative scores and is of value for policy makers, researchers, producers, organisations aiming to improve sustainability, and the general public.

The Sustainability of Keeping Birds as Pets: Should Any Be Kept?

We describe a wide range of unethical and unsustainable practices inherent to the trading and keeping of pet birds. At present, biodiversity and wild bird populations are being greatly harmed and many individual birds have poor welfare. Wild-caught birds should not be sold to the public as pets, or to breeding establishments for several reasons, including because 75-90% of wild-caught birds die before the point of sale and taking birds from the wild has negative effects on biodiversity. The housing provided for pet birds should meet the needs of birds of that species and allow good welfare, for example there should be no small cages but aviaries with space for each bird to exercise adequately, and social birds should be kept in social groups. At present, inadequate housing of many pet birds results in stereotypies and other indicators of poor welfare in birds. Owners should have knowledge of how to provide good nutrition and minimize the risk of disease. Unless these changes are made, keeping birds as pets should not be permitted. New laws are needed to prohibit taking birds from the wild and ensure captive pet birds in conditions that do meet their needs.

Human Relationships with Domestic and Other Animals: One Health, One Welfare, One Biology.

Excessive human population growth, uncontrolled use of natural resources, including deforestation, mining, wasteful systems, biodiversity reduction by agriculture, and damaging climate change affect the existence of all animals, including humans. This discussion is now urgent and people are rethinking their links with the animals we use for clothing, food, work, companionship, entertainment, and research. The concepts of one health, one welfare, and one biology are discussed as a background to driving global change. Nothing should be exploited without considering the ethics of the action and the consequences. This review concerns domesticated animals, including those used for human consumption of meat, eggs, and milk; horses kept for work; and dogs kept for company. Animal welfare includes health, emotional state, and comfort while moving and resting, and is affected by possibilities to show behavior and relationships with others of the same species or with humans. We show some examples of the relations between humans and domesticated animals in the environmental context, including zoonotic diseases, and consider the consequences and the new paradigms resulting from current awareness.

Land and Water Usage in Beef Production Systems.

This analysis, using published data, compared all land and conserved water use in four beef production systems. A widespread feedlot system and fertilised irrigated pasture systems used similar amounts of land. However, extensive unmodified pasture systems used three times more land, and semi-intensive silvopastoral systems used four times less land, so the highest use was 13 times the lowest. The amount of conserved water used was 64% higher in feedlots with relatively intensive rearing systems than in fertilised irrigated pasture; in extensive unmodified pasture systems, it was 38% and in semi-intensive silvopastoral systems, it was 21% of the fertilised irrigated pasture value, so the highest use was eight times the lowest. If there was no irrigation of pasture or of plants used for cattle feed, the feedlot water use was 12% higher than the fertilised pasture use and 57% higher than that in semi-intensive silvopastoral systems. These large effects of systems on resource use indicate the need to consider all systems when referring to the impact of beef or other products on the global environment. Whilst the use of animals as human food should be reduced, herbivorous animals that consume food that humans cannot eat and are kept using sustainable systems are important for the future use of world resources.

The environmental costs and benefits of high-yield farming.

How we manage farming and food systems to meet rising demand is pivotal to the future of biodiversity. Extensive field data suggest impacts on wild populations would be greatly reduced through boosting yields on existing farmland so as to spare remaining natural habitats. High-yield farming raises other concerns because expressed per unit area it can generate high levels of externalities such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and nutrient losses. However, such metrics underestimate the overall impacts of lower-yield systems, so here we develop a framework that instead compares externality and land costs per unit production. Applying this to diverse datasets describing the externalities of four major farm sectors reveals that, rather than involving trade-offs, the externality and land costs of alternative production systems can co-vary positively: per unit production, land-efficient systems often produce lower externalities. For GHG emissions these associations become more strongly positive once forgone sequestration is included. Our conclusions are limited: remarkably few studies report externalities alongside yields; many important externalities and farming systems are inadequately measured; and realising the environmental benefits of high-yield systems typically requires additional measures to limit farmland expansion. Yet our results nevertheless suggest that trade-offs among key cost metrics are not as ubiquitous as sometimes perceived.

Optimal marine mammal welfare under human care: Current efforts and future directions.

Marine mammals include cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears, many of which are charismatic and popular species commonly kept under human care in zoos and aquaria. However, in comparison with their fully terrestrial counterparts their welfare has been less intensively studied, and their partial or full reliance on the aquatic environment leads to unique welfare challenges. In this paper we attempt to collate and review the research undertaken thus far on marine mammal welfare, and identify the most important gaps in knowledge. We use 'best practice case studies' to highlight examples of research promoting optimal welfare, include suggestions for future directions of research efforts, and make recommendations to strive for optimal welfare, where it is currently lacking, above and beyond minimum legislation and guidelines. Our review of the current literature shows that recently there have been positive forward strides in marine mammal welfare assessment, but fundamental research is still required to validate positive and negative indicators of welfare in marine mammals. Across all marine mammals, more research is required on the dimensions and complexity of pools and land areas necessary for optimal welfare, and the impact of staff absence for most of the 24-h day, as standard working hours are usually between 0900 and 1700.

Key considerations for the experimental training and evaluation of cancer odour detection dogs: lessons learnt from a double-blind, controlled trial of prostate cancer detection.

BACKGROUND: Cancer detection using sniffer dogs is a potential technology for clinical use and research. Our study sought to determine whether dogs could be trained to discriminate the odour of urine from men with prostate cancer from controls, using rigorous testing procedures and well-defined samples from a major research hospital. METHODS: We attempted to train ten dogs by initially rewarding them for finding and indicating individual prostate cancer urine samples (Stage 1). If dogs were successful in Stage 1, we then attempted to train them to discriminate prostate cancer samples from controls (Stage 2). The number of samples used to train each dog varied depending on their individual progress. Overall, 50 unique prostate cancer and 67 controls were collected and used during training. Dogs that passed Stage 2 were tested for their ability to discriminate 15 (Test 1) or 16 (Tests 2 and 3) unfamiliar prostate cancer samples from 45 (Test 1) or 48 (Tests 2 and 3) unfamiliar controls under double-blind conditions. RESULTS: Three dogs reached training Stage 2 and two of these learnt to discriminate potentially familiar prostate cancer samples from controls. However, during double-blind tests using new samples the two dogs did not indicate prostate cancer samples more frequently than expected by chance (Dog A sensitivity 0.13, specificity 0.71, Dog B sensitivity 0.25, specificity 0.75). The other dogs did not progress past Stage 1 as they did not have optimal temperaments for the sensitive odour discrimination training. CONCLUSIONS: Although two dogs appeared to have learnt to select prostate cancer samples during training, they did not generalise on a prostate cancer odour during robust double-blind tests involving new samples. Our study illustrates that these rigorous tests are vital to avoid drawing misleading conclusions about the abilities of dogs to indicate certain odours. Dogs may memorise the individual odours of large numbers of training samples rather than generalise on a common odour. The results do not exclude the possibility that dogs could be trained to detect prostate cancer. We recommend that canine olfactory memory is carefully considered in all future studies and rigorous double-blind methods used to avoid confounding effects.

Animal welfare: concepts, study methods and indicators / Bienestar animal: conceptos, métodos de estudio e indicadores / Bem-estar animal: conceitos, métodos de estudos e indicadores

There is now increasing public concern about the welfare of animals in most countries of the world. Applied ethological studies of motivation, cognition and the complexity of social behaviour in animals has resulted in the rapid development of animal welfare science. A definition of animal welfare is: the state of the individual as regards its attempts to cope with its environment. Welfare concerns all of the mechanisms for coping: involving physiology, behaviour, feelings and pathological responses. Welfare is a wider term than health but health is an important part of welfare. In order to enforce laws and standards, animal welfare outcome indicators are useful. Many measures of welfare are now used and indicate how good or how poor the welfare is. The concept of animal welfare and the methods of assessment are now taught in hundreds of universities around the world. In recent years, animal welfare has become established as one of the criteria used to decide on whether a system is sustainable and whether product quality is good. Legislation on how animals should be kept is now referring to welfare outcome indicators and analysis of the scientific literature about animal welfare includes risk assessment and benefit assessment.

Actualmente existe una creciente preocupación pública por el bienestar de los animales en la mayoría de los países del mundo. Los estudios etológicos aplicados de motivación, cognición y de complejidad del comportamiento social en los animales, han generado un veloz desarrollo de la ciencia del bienestar animal. Una definición de bienestar animal es: el estado del individuo respecto a sus intentos de enfrentar el ambiente en que se encuentra. El bienestar está relacionado con todos los mecanismos para enfrentarlo: involucrando la fisiología, el comportamiento, las sentimientos y las respuestas patológicas. Bienestar es un término más amplio que salud, pero la salud es una parte importante del bienestar. Con el objetivo de respetar las leyes y normas, el bienestar animal cuenta con algunos indicadores que son de gran utilidad. Gran cantidad de las mediciones del bienestar se utilizan para indicar que tan bueno o que tan pobre es el bienestar. El concepto de bienestar animal y sus métodos de evaluación se enseñan ahora en cientos de universidades de todo el mundo. En los últimos años, el bienestar animal se ha establecido como uno de los criterios utilizados para decidir si un sistema es sostenible y si la calidad del producto es buena. La legislación sobre cómo los animales deben mantenerse ahora se refiere a los indicadores de resultados de bienestar y al análisis de la literatura científica sobre el bienestar animal incluyendo la evaluación de beneficio-riesgo.

Atualmente há uma crescente preocupação pública sobre bem-estar animal na maioria dos países. Aplicados estudos etológicos de cognição, motivação e complexidade do comportamento social nos animais, levaram a um rápido desenvolvimento da ciência do bem-estar animal. A definição de bem-estar animal é o estado do indivíduo em suas tentativas de lidar com o ambiente em que ele está localizado. O bem-estar está relacionada com todos os mecanismos para lidar: envolver a fisiologia, comportamento, sentimentos e resposta patológica. Bem-estar é um termo mais amplo de saúde, mas a saúde é uma parte importante do ser. A fim de respeitar as leis e regulamentos, bem-estar animal tem alguns indicadores que são úteis. Um grande número de medidas a ser utilizado para indicar o quão bom ou quão pobre é o bem- estar. O conceito de bem-estar animal e os seus métodos de avaliação são agora ensinadas em centenas de universidades ao redor do mundo. Nos últimos anos, bem-estar animal foi estabelecida como um dos critérios utilizados para decidir se um sistema é sustentável e se a qualidade do produto é bom. A legislação sobre como os animais devem ser mantidos agora se refere a indicadores de resultados bem-estar e análise da literatura científica sobre bem-estar animal, incluindo a avaliação benefício-risco.

A history of animal welfare science.

Human attitudes to animals have changed as non-humans have become more widely incorporated in the category of moral agents who deserve some respect. Parallels between the functioning of humans and non-humans have been made for thousands of years but the idea that the animals that we keep can suffer has spread recently. An improved understanding of motivation, cognition and the complexity of social behaviour in animals has led in the last 30 years to the rapid development of animal welfare science. Early attempts to define welfare referred to individuals being in harmony with nature but the first usable definition incorporated feelings and health as part of attempts to cope with the environment. Others considered that welfare is only about feelings but it is argued that as feelings are mechanisms that have evolved they are a part of welfare rather than all of it. Most reviews of welfare now start with listing the needs of the animal, including needs to show certain behaviours. This approach has used sophisticated studies of what is important to animals and has replaced the earlier general guidelines described as freedoms. Many measures of welfare are now used and indicate how good or how poor the welfare is. Naturalness is not a part of the definition of welfare but explains why some needs exist. In recent years, welfare has become established as one of various criteria used to decide on whether a system is sustainable because members of the public will not accept systems that cause poor welfare. The study of welfare has become part of the scientific basis upon which important political decisions are made.

Animal welfare: an aspect of care, sustainability, and food quality required by the public.

People feel that they have obligations to the animals that they use and show some degree of care behavior toward them. In addition, animal welfare is an aspect of our decisions about whether animal-usage systems are sustainable. A system that results in poor welfare is unsustainable because it is unacceptable to many people. The quality of animal products is now judged in relation to the ethics of production, including impact on the animal's welfare on immediate features and on consequences for consumers. Because genetic selection and management for high productivity may lead to more disease and other aspects of poor welfare, consumers demand some major changes in animal-production systems. In teaching animal welfare, a clear definition that can be related to other concepts such as needs, health, and stress is needed. The methodology for the scientific assessment of animal welfare has developed rapidly in recent years and has become a major scientific discipline. No veterinary degree course should be approved unless a full course on the science of animal welfare and relevant aspects of ethics and law have been taught. Each country should have a national advisory committee on animal-welfare science, made up of independent scientists, including veterinarians, who can write impartial reviews of the state of scientific knowledge.

Measuring zoo animal welfare: theory and practice.

The assessment of animal welfare relates to investigations of how animals try to cope with their environment, and how easy or how difficult it is for them to do so. The use of rigorous scientific methods to assess this has grown over the past few decades, and so our understanding of the needs of animals has improved during this time. Much of the work in the field of animal welfare has been conducted on farm animals, but it is important to consider how the methods and approaches used in assessing farm animal welfare have been, and can be, adapted and applied to the measurement of welfare in animals in other domains, such as in zoos. This is beneficial to our understanding of both the theoretical knowledge, and the practicability of methods. In this article, some of the commonly-used methods for measuring animal welfare will be discussed, as well as some practical considerations in assessing the welfare of zoo animals.

Effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on long-term pain in calves castrated by use of an external clamping technique following epidural anesthesia.

OBJECTIVE: To compare efficacy of flunixin meglumine versus carprofen in controlling pain under field conditions following castration by use of an external clamping technique in calves that received epidural anesthesia. ANIMALS: 40 male 5- to 6-month-old calves. PROCEDURES: Calves were allocated to 4 groups: castrated only (control calves; n=8); castrated 5 minutes after epidural injection of 2% lidocaine (epidural-alone treated calves; 8), castrated after epidural anesthesia and s.c. administration of flunixin meglumine (epidural-flunixin treated calves; 12), and castrated after epidural anesthesia and s.c. administration of carprofen (epidural-carprofen-treated calves; 11 [1 calf not included]). Plasma cortisol concentration was measured before and 6, 24, and 48 hours after castration. Time of arrival at the feed trough at 24 and 48 hours was observed. Calves were observed at 24 and 48 hours for 4 pain-related behaviors. RESULTS: At 6 hours, control calves had significantly higher plasma cortisol concentrations, compared with baseline values and those of epidural-flunixin- and epidural-carprofen-treated calves. At 24 hours, epidural-carprofen-treated calves had significantly lower plasma cortisol concentrations, compared with control calves. At 48 hours, epidural-carprofen-treated calves had plasma cortisol concentrations that were similar to baseline values and significantly lower than epidural-flunixin- and epidural-alone-treated calves. At 24 and 48 hours, epidural-carprofen-treated calves were first to arrive at the feed trough and had fewer pain-related behaviors. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: s.c. administration of carprofen in combination with epidural injection of lidocaine may improve the welfare of calves castrated by use of an external clamping technique for up to 48 hours.

Adaptation.

The term adaptation is used in biology in three different ways. It may refer to changes which occur at the cell and organ level, or at the individual level, or at the level of gene action and evolutionary processes. Adaptation by cells, especially nerve cells helps in: communication within the body, the distinguishing of stimuli, the avoidance of overload and the conservation of energy. The time course and complexity of these mechanisms varies. Adaptive characters of organisms, including adaptive behaviours, increase fitness so this adaptation is evolutionary. The major part of this paper concerns adaptation by individuals and its relationships to welfare. In complex animals, feed forward control is widely used. Individuals predict problems and adapt by acting before the environmental effect is substantial. Much of adaptation involves brain control and animals have a set of needs, located in the brain and acting largely via motivational mechanisms, to regulate life. Needs may be for resources but are also for actions and stimuli which are part of the mechanism which has evolved to obtain the resources. Hence pigs do not just need food but need to be able to carry out actions like rooting in earth or manipulating materials which are part of foraging behaviour. The welfare of an individual is its state as regards its attempts to cope with its environment. This state includes various adaptive mechanisms including feelings and those which cope with disease. The part of welfare which is concerned with coping with pathology is health. Disease, which implies some significant effect of pathology, always results in poor welfare. Welfare varies over a range from very good, when adaptation is effective and there are feelings of pleasure or contentment, to very poor. A key point concerning the concept of individual adaptation in relation to welfare is that welfare may be good or poor while adaptation is occurring. Some adaptation is very easy and energetically cheap and welfare can be very good when it is occurring. Other adaptation is difficult and may involve lower or higher level emergency physiological responses or abnormal behaviour, often with bad feelings such as pain or fear. In that case, welfare is poor or very poor even if complete adaptation eventually occurs and there is no long-term threat to the life of the individual. In some circumstances, adaptation may be unsuccessful, the individual is not able to cope, stress occurs and welfare is ultimately very poor.

Animal welfare education: development and prospects.

Animal welfare has developed rapidly as a scientific discipline since the 1980s. Concepts have been refined, methodologies for assessment developed, and links made to other areas of science. Changes in the subject and in its teaching are required. Since 1986, a series of senior academic teaching posts in the subject have been created, especially in the last 10 years. Veterinary and animal science students should receive a specific course on animal welfare, in addition to mention of the subject in other courses. In the future, more allusion to developments in understanding of welfare in relation to disease and brain measures of welfare is likely. The central role of animal welfare in veterinary and animal science teaching will become more firmly established.

Approaches to teaching animal welfare at 13 veterinary schools worldwide.

This paper comprises brief descriptions by faculty at 13 veterinary schools in Europe, North America, South America, and Australasia that summarize undergraduate training in animal welfare at the respective schools and how students are assessed.