Animal Welfare and Animal Welfare Assessment

1. Animal Welfare and Animal Welfare Assessment Unit 3 – Animal Health and Welfare HNC Animal Management

2. Lesson Targets • Discuss factors affecting animal welfare. (ALL) • Evaluate current issues in animal welfare and how differing viewpoints and public perception can impact (ALL) • Explain methods of welfare assessment (ALL) • Assess the welfare on the animal unit (ALL) • Analyse the limitations of welfare assessment (MOST) • Use primary sources to critique animal welfare assessment (SOME)

3. Review of Parasites Dominos Activity – Use the dominos to review parasite terminology from last weeks session

4. Extension Activity Using the Articulate cards in pairs describe the word on the card without using the actual word to recap previous sessions. E.g. If the word was “Vaccination” – You may describe it as a prevention for disease that is administered via injection.

6. “How are you today?”

7. Some aspects of your welfare

8. What Factors can effect an animals welfare? Discussion

9. Definitions of animal welfare • There is still much disagreement about animal welfare because of different ethical values • E.g. ‘If animals are healthy, their welfare must be good’

10. What is animal welfare? • Complex concept with three areas of concern (Fraser et al., 1997) • Is the animal functioning well (e.g. good health, productivity, etc.)? • Is the animal feeling well (e.g. absence of pain, etc.)? • Is the animal able to perform natural/species-typical behaviours that are thought to be important to them (e.g. grazing)?

11. Three approaches when considering animal welfare After Appleby, M. C. (1999) and Fraser et al. (1997)

12. Definitions of animal welfare: ‘physical’ “The welfare of an animal is its state as regards its attempts to cope with its environment” (Broom, 1986) “It suggests that an animal is in a poor state of welfare only when [its] physiological systems are disturbed to the point that survival or reproduction are impaired” (McGlone, 1993)

13. Five Freedoms as assessment tool • The Five Freedoms (Farm Animal Welfare Council, 1992) are often used as a framework to assess animal welfare • Freedom from hunger and thirst. • Freedom from (thermal) discomfort. • Freedom from pain, injury and disease. • Freedom to express normal behaviour. • Freedom from fear and distress.

14. The Five Freedoms and animal welfare (Brambell, 1965; FAWC, 1992)

15. History • India • Ahimsa: do not cause injury to any living being • Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism (Taylor, 1999) • Bishnoi tribe in Rajasthan • ecological philosophy for ~500 years • don’t eat anything animal, and give 10 per cent of harvest to wildlife (Templar & Leith, 2010)

16. History • China: Confucianism • Because of one-ness with all beings, the suffering of animals is a source of distress in humans (Taylor, 1999) • Europe (Fraser, 2008a) • Ancient Greece • Britain in 18th and 19th centuries

17. Ancient Greece (Fraser, 2008a) • The same range of arguments as we have today. For example: • Pythagoras and others (~500 to 300 BCE): we are similar to animals so we shouldn’t eat them • Stoics: animals aren’t rational, therefore we don’t need to worry about whether we are treating them fairly • Plutarch: animals may not be rational, but we should still be kind to them • Porphyry (~250 ACE): animals deserve moral consideration because they can feel distress

18. Britain in 18th and 19th centuries (Fraser, 2008a) • Treatment of animals in Britain had been very uncaring for many centuries • This became a concern because religious and other authorities believed humans should act virtuously (e.g. Jeremy Bentham in the 1700s; first formal animal protection law passed in 1822) • c.f. earlier religious laws elsewhere (Taylor, 1999) e.g. Judaism forbids causing animals pain; Islam forbids cruelty to animals

19. Modern agriculture • In Europe and North America, farming became more industrialised in 1950s and 1960s • focus on production and efficiency  cheaper food for humans  better human health • housing animals in large numbers  easier supervision, but increased disease • important welfare contribution from veterinary medicine  vaccinations, treatment

20. History • Growing public and scientific concern in 1960s onwards, regarding • farmed animals • UK: Ruth Harrison (1964) Animal Machines • UK: Brambell Committee (1965) • wildlife affected by human activity • Jane Goodall: studies of chimpanzees in Tanzania • conservation movement • trade in endangered species

21. Animal welfare science • Mandated to answer specific questions of public concern (Fraser, 2008a) • Brambell Committee (1965) • E.g. do hens need to dust-bathe?

22. In the 21st century (1) • Animal welfare science now a recognised discipline in vet schools around the world • Many research chairs and professorships, research groups and postgraduate training • Day 1 competency of new veterinary graduates (OIE, 2011c) • Explain animal welfare and related responsibilities • Identify and correct welfare problems • Know where to find information and local/national international standards of humane production, transport and slaughter

23. In the 21st century (2) • Many people feel we have an obligation to animals (Broom, 2010) • This is for different reasons, e.g. • Because animals have intrinsic value • Because animals have value to us, e.g. we eat them/they are useful to us • Because animals can suffer • Because the species is endangered • Ethics and law

24. Welfare Viewpoints and Public perception In pairs / trios list down and create a “Top Ten” of what you feel are serious welfare issues within the animal industry both in UK and other countries

25. Activity Halesowen College in conjunction with UFAW (Universities Federation for Animal Welfare has a £10,000,000 grant (Not really but imagine) to give the student who can argue for solutions to a current animal welfare issue.

26. Activity • Select a welfare issue of interest and produce some Powerpoint slides / Wordle / Bullet point notes to influence the grant committee why the money should go towards funding research to solve the welfare issue. • You will present your proposal to group (Grant committee) and group will peer assess the merits. The proposal with highest score will win grant money (hypothetically)

27. Case Study – Pig Welfare Watch DVD – “Animal Welfare Aspects of Good Agricultural Practise: Pig Production” and complete question sheet (ALL) In groups you will be given a case study pig farm and you must critique the good and bad points of the study in relation to the points raised in DVD (MOST) Extension – Review the data on pigs preferences for rooting materials

28. Assessing Welfare

29. How can we assess an animals welfare? • Behaviour • Use 5 Freedoms • Preference Testing • Measure cortisol levels

30. Welfare as a continuum? (e.g. FAWC (2009) vs. Veissier & Boissy (2007))

31. Most farming systems restrict normal behaviour (e.g. Laven & Holmes, 2008)

32. Restriction of ‘normal’ Obvious: farrowing crates Not so obvious: cubicle surface

33. Cubicle surface and lying time

34. Problems with the Five Freedoms • The Freedoms conflict • Keeping animals ‘free from disease’ can cause them fear and distress, from handling during treatment • If animals have ‘freedom to express normal behaviour’, they can suffer fear and distress during normal social interactions • Emphasise avoiding negative experiences rather than promoting positive ones

35. Animals’ experience

36. Animal adapts and survives • Homeostasis (‘same state’) • Steady, internal state that is necessary for the basic processes of life • Physiological set points, e.g. maintain blood pH at approx. 7.35 to 7.45 • Allostasis (‘other state’) • Stability through change • No fixed set points, e.g. changes in physiology and behaviour enable adaptation to the milking parlour

37. Neural Circuitry Underlying Negative Affect Animal Behaviour and Welfare Group, Michigan State University (Panksepp, 2003)

38. Animals’ experience

39. Animals’ experience • Environment and resources create sensory input • daily, e.g. night/day, feeding, handling, urinating • occasional, e.g. clinical examination, transport (disease) • Brain evaluates sensory input (novelty, pleasantness etc.), which results in • emotions, e.g. fear, pleasure • physical feelings, e.g. nausea, pain • Body responds to feelings and emotions • physiological and behavioural responses • enables the animal to adapt and survive

40. What to assess Measures of the environment and resources ‘welfare inputs’ Measures of the animal’s responses ‘welfare outputs’

41. Welfare inputs and outputs

42. The Five Freedoms and welfare inputs and outputs • Freedom from hunger and thirst • Inputs: ready access to fresh water, and a diet that maintains full health and vigour, e.g. how often stockperson delivers feed • Outputs: body weight; body condition score; evidence of dehydration on the skin-pinch test • Freedom from discomfort • Inputs: an appropriate environment, including shelter and a comfortable resting area • Outputs: pressure sores on the skin

43. The Five Freedoms and welfare inputs and outputs • Freedom from pain, injury and disease • Inputs: veterinary advice  disease prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment • Outputs: prevalence of coughing, etc. • Freedom to express normal behaviour • Inputs: sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind • Outputs: signs of injury from fighting; abnormal behaviours • Freedom from fear and distress • Inputs: conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering, e.g. stockperson’s training • Outputs: behavioural tests, e.g. avoidance distance

44. Using the Five Freedoms to assess welfare • Welfare outputs • For each freedom, estimate • percentage of animals affected • how badly they are affected • how long the problem has been going on for

45. Example: freedom from hunger  thin sheep • Percentage affected: • how many sheep in the flock are thin? • Severity • how thin are the sheep (body condition score)? • Duration • how long have the sheep been thin?

46. Conclusions • Five Freedoms • Limitations as assessment tool • But useful framework for investigating animals’ experience of their lives • Animals’ experience • Sensory input to brain  emotions  body responds  adapt (allostasis and homeostasis) • To assess their experience • Welfare inputs (stockman, environment, animal) • Welfare outputs (animal-based  percentage affected, severity, duration)

47. Journal Article Review • Read the journal article “Using behaviour to assess animal welfare” MS Dawkins (2004) • From the article list the 10 most important points on how behaviour can be used to assess welfare. • You will then be put into small groups to produce 5 most important points. • As whole group you must then agree on the one important point to take away from article.

48. Preference Testing • Where you measure an animal preference for particular factor by providing with a choice. For example: • Nesting material • Enclosure surface • Company or no company

49. Problems • Controlling experiment to see if an actual preference is chosen. • The animal may just prefer left from right • The animals choice may change dependent on its physiological state. • Choice may only be shown in that particular study group.

50. Activity Design a preference test to see which bedding a hamster prefers