ANSC 2307: Animal Welfare and Ethics - Lecture 8

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering lecture concepts on positive welfare states, behavioral and cognitive assessment methods, management- and resource-based measurements, and certification and auditing frameworks.

Positive Animal Welfare

The state of an animal flourishing through the experience of predominantly positive mental states and the development of competence and resilience, going beyond good physical health and suffering alleviation.

LIFT Network

An organization standing for "Laying Foundations for Positive Animal Welfare," created to better define and advance positive animal welfare concepts and assessments.

Positive Mental States

Positive affective states encompassing short-term emotions elicited by specific stimuli and longer-term moods not tied to a single event, assessed via behavior, cognition, and physiology.

Competence

An animal's developing ability to effectively deal with environmental challenges, acquired through exploration, play, and mental enrichment, and closely linked to agency.

Resilience

The ability of an animal to maintain or regain physical and mental health following an environmental disturbance.

Agency

The condition of having choices and opportunities to actively pursue goals and achieve desired outcomes according to species-specific capabilities.

Time Budget

A direct behavioral measurement tracking the allocation of time animals spend performing specific behaviors throughout the day, often benchmarked against wild or feral conspecifics.

Qualitative Behavioral Assessment (QBA)

A holistic approach to capturing an animal's emotional state by quantifying what behaviors are displayed and qualifying what emotional state they represent using inter-observer reliability.

Cognitive Bias Test

A test (also called a Judgement Bias Test) where animals trained on cues associated with positive and negative outcomes are presented with ambiguous stimuli to assess optimism or pessimism.

Spatial Judgement Bias Test (JBT)

A cognitive bias protocol using distinct spatial positions (typically five locations between positive and negative cues) to assess an animal's optimistic or pessimistic expectation toward ambiguous middle stimuli.

Play Behavior

A high-arousal, positive-valence indicator signaling safety and satisfaction of biological needs, which can also occasionally serve as a coping mechanism in distressed animals.

Management-Based Measures

Welfare assessment criteria focused on documenting standard operating procedures (SOPs), institutional policies, staff training, and routine facility maintenance.

Resource-Based Measures

Welfare assessment criteria specifying requirements for environmental features and physical housing, such as space allowance, ambient temperature, and drinker numbers.

Animal Health Plan (AHP)

A mandatory, veterinarian-consulted herd health document covering nutrition, vaccination, parasite control, biosecurity, downer procedures, and euthanasia protocols under HFAC standards.

PAACO

The Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization, which trains and certifies professionals to perform industry- and welfare-based agricultural audits.

Animal Welfare Act (AWA)

A federal law regulating animal care in research, exhibition, transport, and commercial dealing; laboratory protections apply specifically to dogs, cats, monkeys, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits.

IACUC

The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, an institution-based committee required by federal law (AWA) to review and approve all research protocols involving animals.

Texas Health and Safety Code Sec. 823.003

A Texas statute setting animal shelter operational standards—including mandatory separation by species, sex, and size, quarantine separation, and annual veterinary inspections—classified as a Class C misdemeanor upon violation.