3.4 Animal Welfare

Question 1

REMEMBER!

Answer 1

intensive farming is necessary to meet the food demands of ever increasing human population

Question 2

What are the five freedoms based on?

Answer 2

three principles; living a natural life, being fit and healthy and being happy

Question 3

What are the five freedoms?

Answer 3

freedom from thirst and hunger 
freedom from discomfort 
freedom from pain, injury and disease
freedom to express normal behaviour
freedom from fear and distress

Question 4

what are the costs of good animal welfare?

Answer 4

increased costs to the farmer of free range

farming methods due to requirement for more straw, food, space and labour

Question 5

what are the benefits of good animal welfare?

Answer 5

higher yield and quality of products

greater breeding success and effective parenting improved nutritional value of food products

Question 6

what is the ethical impact of good animal welfare?

Answer 6

better quality of life for animals

less stress due to overcrowding

Question 7

what are the costs of poor animal welfare?

Answer 7

Lower yield and quality of products such as meat, eggs, milk and wool
reduced breeding success and rejection of young
lowered nutritional values of product
animals more susceptible to disease

Question 8

what are the benefits of poor animal welfare?

Answer 8

cheaper products

Question 9

what are the ethical impacts of poor animal welfare?

Answer 9

poorer quality of life for animals
limited opportunities to display natural behaviour and increased likelihood of abnormal behaviour such as tail biting, cannibalism and feather pecking
farmers may carry out invasive procedures such as castration, ear notching or beak trimming

Question 10

What are indicators of animal stress?

Answer 10

stereotypy
misdirected behaviour
failed sexual/ parental behaviour
altered levels of activity

Question 11

What is stereotypy?

Answer 11

repetitive behaviour patterns are observed

e.g. animal pacing too and fro in a cage

Question 12

What is misdirected behaviour?

Answer 12

A normal behaviour such as preening feathers in birds, is directed against the animal itself, leading to excessive preening and pulling out of feathers.

Question 13

What is failed sexual/ parental behaviour?

Answer 13

animal stress as a result of isolation or living in a poor environment can inhibit reproductive behaviour
young produced under these conditions may be rejected by the parent

Question 14

what is altered levels of activity?

Answer 14

animals suffering from stress may be recognised by excessive levels of activity in the form of hyper-aggression or excessive sleeping

Question 15

REMEMBER!

Answer 15

intensive battery farming is a practice whereby animals are reared in restricted space usually indoors.

Question 16

What is ethology?

Answer 16

ethology is the study of animal behaviour especially that which occurs in animals natural or semi natural environment
the natural habitat of a pig is woodland and the equivalent semi natural environment would be an enclosed area of woodland
however on intensive farms pigs are kept inside straw lined pens or sheds

Question 17

What is an ethogram?

Answer 17

an ethogram is a list of typical species behaviours, including individual, pair and group behaviour

information on the frequency and duration of the behaviours is collected by observation
when an ethogram is analysed, hypotheses can be made and these can be tested by investigation
this allows the most favourable environments for different species of domesticated animals to be identified

Question 18

What is a preference test?

Answer 18

a preference test is an experiment set up to provide information on which one of two experimental conditions an animal will choose

an animal may be presented with a choice of food or bedding types, or different areas of living space

Question 19

what is motivation?

Answer 19

motivation is the incentive to carry out a specific behaviour.
the strength of motivation may be measured in conjunction with preference testing

Question 20

What is anthropomorphism?

Answer 20

anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics and qualities to non-human beings, including animals

Question 21

TOP TIP

Answer 21

measurement of behaviour

frequency - number of times a behaviour occurs during a set period of time
duration - the time each observed incidence of a specific behaviour lasts
latency - the time measured between a stimulus being applied and a behavioural response