Welfare Quiz 1

Europe: 1997

• committee reviews scientific literature

• votes to ban gestation crates

Australia: 2001

• committee reviews scientific literature

• concludes that gestation crates are acceptable

What is Animal Welfare?

The state of being happy, healthy or successful

• unique to the individual

• fluid, subject to change

• influenced by external factors

AVMA identifies what 5 attributes to ensure good welfare

1. disease prevention & veterinary care

2. appropriate shelter

3. appropriate management & nutrition

4. humane handling

5. humane slaughter

Bentham

Before: focused on animal’s usage for humans

After: focuses on suffering of the animal and sentience

Ruth Harrison

Author of Animal machines; her husband was a scientist who worked with animals, and she wrote about the conditions they lived in, and if they felt feelings

• pioneered the frameworks of welfare

• helped create the idea of 5 freedoms

Peter Singer

Focuses on animal suffering

Brambell Committee

Focuses on animals being able to express their natural behaviors

Bernard Rollin

focuses on the nature of the animal

David Sainsbury

Focuses on the health of the animal

G.B Taylor

Focuses on animal productivity and care

Factors that influence Welfare

Sentience, Needs, Wants

Sentience

Capacity to experience suffering and pleasure

implies a level of conscious awareness

Anthropomorphism

Assigning human attributes/feelings to animals

Welfare; Needs

Biological requirements which differ by species

Fulfillment determines how time and resources are allocated

Hierarchy of Needs —> Life, Health, Comfort

Welfare; Wants

Hendonism: pursuit of pleasure or pleasant feelings

• does not always improve welfare

Three R’s

Replacement, Refinement, Repetition

MAJOR CHARLES HUME

1959, concept introduced by British Scientists, IACUC

• focuses on research animals

Five Freedoms

Hunger + Thirst

Discomfort

Pain, Injury + Disease

Natural Behavior

Fear +Distress

Five Domains

1. Nutrition

2. Environment

3. Health

4. Behaviour

5. Mental State

DAVID MELLOR

Three Circles

Biological Functioning, Emotional States, Natural Living

DAVID FRASER

• aiming for overlaps

Harry Harlow

evil man

isolated monkeys from mothers to see what consequences it would have

monkeys couldnt develop social skills due to isolation

Biological Functioning

• physically healthy

• grow normally

• reproduce successfully

• maintain normal physiological processes

• cope effectively with challanges

What happens when body systems fail?

• disease

• injury

• chronic stress

• organ dysfunction

• pain

Homeostasis

maintaining stability

normal baseline

preffered state

Allostasis

process that an animal undergoes to get them back to homeostasis

achieving stabiility through change

adaptive response

survival strategy

Disease and signs

Disruptioon of normal biological function

SIGNS

• isolation

• lack or coordination

• loss of BCS

• loss of appetite

• change in water intake

• diarrhea or constipation

Health

Ability to maintain normal biological function

Clinical Indicators

disease, lameness, injury, mortality, BCS

Physiological Indicators

cortisol, heart rate, respiratory rate, immune function, inflammation markers

Production Indicators

milk yield, weight gain, feed efficiency, egg production

Reproduction Indicators

conception rates, fertility, pregnancy success, offspring survival

Quantifying a welfare problem

before making management decisions, determine:

• severity of situation

• duration of problem

• number of animals affected

Measures of disease

Incidence = (# new cases for a specific period)/ (Total # of individuals at rish [same period])

Prevalence = (total # of cases observed)/(total # of indiviuals at risk)

• usually calulated on an annual basis

Stress

being challenged beyond one’s behavioral and physiological capacity to adapt to its environment —> state of disharmony or threatened homeostasis

Eustress

a challenge that can be overcome; has positive benefits

Distress

a negative state which prevents the return to homeostasis

How the HPA Axis responds

Challenge → Brain → HPA Axis → Cortisol (naturally occuring hormone)

CORTISOL

• mobilizes energy

• supports adaptation

• indicates physiological response

• not a complete measure of welfare

Homeostasis under nutritional restriction

reduced feed intake → energy deficit → physiological adjustments → recovery or failure

Water

most important nutrient

affects:

• thermoregulation

• digestion

• circulation

• performance

Early signs of resource restriction

hunger, competition, increased foraging motivation, frustration, energy mobilization

Qualitative Restriction

lower quality forage

increases feeding time

better mimics natural grazing

continuous access to feed

Quantitative Restriction

less food offered

greater hunger

increased frustration

not continuous

Long term consequences of resource restriction

weight loss, reduced immune function, delayed healing, reproductive failure, reduced resilience

Undernutrition

Long periods of time

• body reserves are mobilized

• resources become insufficient for normal functioning'

• health and immune function decline

• severe cases can result in mortality