animal welfare

Question 1

How do we use animals (8)

Answer 1

Food transport emotional entertainment business assistance disease detection law enforcement

Question 2

Why do humans care about animals welfare

Answer 2

Religion
Utilatirstiin
Altruistic
Civilised compassionate society
Treat other humans well
Morals

Question 3

Vets role in animal welfare

Answer 3

Treat + prevent disease
Promote animal welfare
Understand animal needs
Improve society welfare standards

Question 4

How can vets promote welfare

Answer 4

Own clients
Welfare policy in government
Welfare charities
Lead and contribute to debates and issues in society (informed view)

Question 5

What is the functional view to animal welfare

Answer 5

If animal is producing enough / functioning well e.g. winning races or making enough milk then it is healthy
Miss out on behaviour

Question 6

What is naturalistic approach to animal welfare

Answer 6

Animals kept in environment that they are genetically evolved to live in - natural diet and natural behavior. E.g. free range eggs
Animals can benefit from human protection (weather,food,predators….)

Question 7

What is the feelings view towards animal welfare

Answer 7

Can have positive or negative emotional states
Discomfort hunger pain …..
Feelings should be assessed
Presence of positive and absence of negative

Question 8

What are the 5 freedoms

Answer 8

Objective systematic way to measure animal welfare.
1) freedom from hunger and thirst
2) freedom from discomfort (shelter and comfort)
3) freedom from pain and injury
4) freedom from fear
5) freedom to express normal behaviour

Question 9

How to apply five freedoms

Answer 9

1) assess systems - think of whole welfare state
2) end of life decisions - quality of life
3) welfare science

Question 10

What is welfare science

Answer 10

Applying scientific methods to examine animal welfare

Question 11

What is welfare ethics

Answer 11

Right and wrong moral issues in how we treat animals
Moral philosophy, thinking about animal rights and animal suffering for human benefit
How far to treat pets even if animal is not happy
Treating wildlife - nature take it’s course .
..

Question 12

What is welfare legislation

Answer 12

Society determining how we must treat animals
Relevant legislation be familiar with
Legislation is constantly changing - new practices, new politics..
Animal sentience acts - fish now considered sentient 2022

Question 13

What are sources of poor welfare

Answer 13

1) animal abuse - cruelty
2) neglect - lack resources or knowledge
3) larger scale issues - intensive farms, animal experiments , dog and cat breeding

Question 14

why do we meausre welfare

Answer 14

scientific reasons - improve welfare -measure it
to enforce welfare - compliance with welfare legislation
to monitor welfare - tool for improvement - farm assurance schemes (food standards) - monitor own patients /lab animals/ zoos

Question 15

How to meausre animal welfare

Answer 15

1) use framework to determine what aspects to meausre :
- 5 freedoms
- eu welfare quality
- wuality of life assessment tools
2) welfare indicators - to measure each aspect of the framework we are using

Question 16

4 prinicples for EU assssment system

Answer 16

1) goof feeding
2) good housing
3) good health
4) appropiate behaviour

Question 17

How do quality of life assessment tools work

Answer 17

owner assesses their pet
not static but over time so things change
they use health relate QOL scales
twhat,why,who,when and how
no equine specific measures

Question 18

What are 2 types of welfare indicators

Answer 18

animal based
resource based

Question 19

what are the different types of animal based welfare indicators

Answer 19

physiological
behavioural
disease
production

Question 20

what are the different types of resource based welfare indicators

Answer 20

feed provided
housing
environment enrichment
records

Question 21

How to use physiological indicators to measure welfare

Answer 21

assess the physiological response
-flight or fight response (ANS) e.g. heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, adrenaline, noradrenaline
- stress response e.g. glucocorticiods, cortisol
-opiods, organ pathology, reproductive hormones
- invasive, expenisve, often scientific study not for vet to d oon pets as only quantative measure

Question 22

How to use behavioural measures of welfare

Answer 22

reflect animal feeling and reflect animal’s response to environment
look for normal behaviours
-alertness - curiosity
-grooming - grazing
-interactions (people + animals)
- play -sex
look for abnormal behaviours
-reduced activity (tethered, lame.)
-panting/sweating
- shivering
-fear/aggression
- depression
-stereotypies
measured in scientific studies by:
-ethogram -time budgets (how long animals spend doing different behaviours)
-preference test (choose different environments)
-motivational studies (work for certain reward)
measured agaisnt welfare assessment by :
-looking for specific behaviours relevant to species e.g. stereotypies, tail biting, feather pecking, flight distance (movement away from people)

Question 23

How to use disease as a measure of welfare

Answer 23

disease affects other 5 freedoms (can;t access food, bullying, fear, can’t express normal behaviour)
poor welfare can cause disease (bad housing, bad diet, stress)
can measure : - hock lesions (caused by housing problems-hard surface or poor hygiene in poultry) - mobility scoring (most species) -dairy cattle = mastitis, lameness, calf mortality
- sheep = lameness, lamb losses, sheep scab
- pigs = motality, diarrhoea, respiratory disease
failure to treat disease is a main reason for welfare prosecutions
have to consider : intensity, duration, number affected, action taken and preventative stragies in place
use : -clinical exam of animal
- measure specific aspects in herd
-medicine records
-mortality records
-abattoir findings

Question 24

How to use production as a measure of welfare

Answer 24

poor production = poor welfare
farm animals only
broad indicator as genetically breeded to have high production levels so if welfare poor can still produced alot
use : lambing percentages, finishing weights, milk yield, egg output…

Question 25

How to use body condition scoring to assess welfare

Answer 25

used to assess nutritional status, and can indicate disease
recognised systems for cattle and sheep , rated on a scale from 1-5

Question 26

how to use hygiene scoring to assess welfare

Answer 26

used to assess environment
can see dirt on body
applied to all species
for cattle look at suitability of cubicle, freq. of cleaning out, mastisis + lameness

Question 27

Pros + cons of animal based welfare measures

Answer 27

good as it is a direct measure of welfare of the animal , shows how an animal is coping in its environment
bad : - don’t have measures scientifically validated for all species in all aspects
- different observers might score different (subjective)
-neeed assessors to be trained and experienced

Question 28

What are some resource measures to assess welfare

Answer 28

all about measuring the system the animal is kept in + the provision of resources
- water/feed quantity + quality
- housing size, stocking rate, ventilation, suitability
- provison of medicines, vet care
- environmental enrichment (bathing facilites, nesting areas, rooting, objects to play, outside space ….)

Question 29

pros and cons of using resource indicators to measure welfare

Answer 29

good : easy to check and useful , widely used
bad : doesn’t necessarily mean animal welfare if good – can have correct equiment but not using it . some animals don’t require alot of resources (limited to measure ) can clean up on day of inspection

Question 30

role of science in welfare problems

Answer 30

• genetics/breeding (predict or stop problems caused)
  -treatments
  -behaviour study ( remove negative and include positive behavioural enrichment)

Question 31

how does social scinece relate to welfare problems

Answer 31

people’s relationships with animals impact how they are managed e.g. obesity, lameness, loneliness, euthanasia (diffculty to broach bad welfare issues due to owner)
qualitative research tells us:
- how different social groups view topics
- people’s lived experience
- motivations
- values and beliefs
- what happened which led to behaviours
measured by :
interviews, focus groups, social media, forums, diaries, photo/video, obsevational