Exam Practice Flashcards
What are the 5 Welfare Concepts?
- sentience
- feelings
- needs
- behaviour
- health
What is sentience?
- animals not only have feelings and emotions, but can relate to them in different contexts as a result of their experiences
- animals show an emotional adaptability which is a key aspect of sentience
What does sentience include and how does it help animals?
- includes an animals ability to learn and adapt its responses in different environments and contexts
- helps them to assess risks and benefits and make decisions
- animals use perception and cognitive abilities to help them process their emotions and relate them to different contexts and experiences
How are feelings related to welfare?
- feelings or emotions are directly related to the satisfaction of needs as well as an animals welfare state
- if needs are met an animal is likely to have a positive welfare and mind set and therefore will feel pleasure and contentment
- if needs are not met an animal is likely to have a negative welfare and mind set and is likely to feel suffering and pain
Why are feelings used to assess welfare?
- feelings can change when an animals welfare changes
- feelings are used in assessing behaviour responses
How are needs related to welfare?
- animals have internally motivated needs that have to be performed, if not it can negatively effect their welfare
- when the needs are met welfare is said to be positive and this can affect an animals feelings too
- needs are fundamental to an animals biology in obtaining resources for survival and responding to external and internal stimuli
What do an animals needs include?
- include aspects of health and behaviour
- they replaced the 5 freedoms recognising the importance of behavioural and physiological needs
What are the 5 welfare needs?
- suitable diet
- suitable environment
- to express their natural behaviour
- social needs (with or apart from others)
- protection from pain, suffering, injury or disease
How is behaviour related to welfare?
- behaviour is often used as a measure of an animals welfare
- behavioural responses to environmental stimuli can indicate an animals capacity to cope with its environment
- the ability to cope with challenging environments requires animals to use its full behavioural repertoire
How is behaviour measured in comparison to welfare?
- if animals can make choices and have control over their environment their welfare is more likely to be positive
- welfare assessments often include avoidance and preference tests as indicators
How is health related to welfare?
- welfare definitions often refer to aspects of health eg. Physical and mental health
- aspects of health are included in the welfare needs
- both health and welfare can be measured on a continuum or scale from negative to positive
Does an animals health change, like welfare does?
- like welfare health can change over time, it can improve or deteriorate along the scale
- health and welfare is intertwined, when we refer to animals welfare state we are often referring to its health
What are the 5 welfare issues?
- environment
- diet
- relinquishment
- acquisition
- veterinary
How is an animals environment related to their welfare? (examples)
- inappropriate stabling affects a horses socialisation and provides unsuitable grazing conditions
- lack of socialisation in dogs during Covid lockdown, negative impact on their social interactions with other dogs and people
- increased number of dogs being left alone as owners returned to work once lockdown had been lifted caused stress and separation anxiety
- increased tension and aggression seen in multicat households, without adequate provision causes higher levels of stress in cats
- high number of rabbits living on their own and not with other rabbits, they are social species
How is an animals diet related to their welfare? (examples)
- inappropriate diet such as muesli mix given to pet rabbits causing obesity and dental problems
- inadequate hay provision or grazing opportunities for rabbits
- increased levels of obesity in dogs, cats and horses
- many pet owners are not aware of pert weight or body condition and many not aware of weight being an issue, so owners are not concerned and do not visit vets
- over feedings horses including grazing on unsuitable pasture
What are the 5 reasons for relinquishment?
- financial
- unwanted litters
- problem behaviours
- change in personal circumstance
- change in legislation
Describe the 5 factors explaining relinquishment?
Financial - cost of living crisis having an impact on household economy eg. vet costs too high
Unwanted Litters - hobby breeding became popular during Covid which led to higher numbers of unwanted puppies
Problem Behaviours - many owners do not have the time or patience to treat and manage unwanted behaviours and training costs are too high
Personal Circumstance Change - divorce, house move, new baby, hospitalisation, unemployment, death of owner
Change in Legislation - affects the ability of some owners to keep their pets eg. banned breeds
How is acquisition related to welfare issues?
- higher number of pets being bought from online sources, while most are lawful some are not regulated
- lack of adequate pre-purchase education for potential owners before buying a pet
- increase in number of dogs sourced from abroad, this has increased the risk of exotic diseases entering the UK
- sourcing from abroad has also seen a rise in number of dogs with cropped ears, an illegal practice in the UK
- high number of pet owners do not conduct sufficient research before purchasing a pet and show lack of awareness of potential implications
How is veterinary related to welfare issues?
- high costs have impacted the number of registrations and visits by pet owners
- neutering, decline number of pets being neutered
- vaccinations, drop in number of owners vaccinating their pets that has coincided with increase in cases of some diseases
- microchipping, not all dogs and cats are microchipped even though its a legal requirement
- canine fertility clinics, increased number of dogs visiting vets attended a clinic causing misdiagnosis and unethical breeding practices
What are the 4 learning processes?
- observational
- trial and error
- associative
- habituation
What is observational learning?
- watching and copying from others
- puppies imitate behaviours of their mother, pack members and litter mates
- learn communication signals such as body postures and facial expressions
- as adults they can mimic behaviours of other dogs
- other dogs can be used as models for good or desired behaviours
What is trial and error learning?
- practicing and learning from mistakes
- also known as operant conditioning
- animal links a behaviour with a specific reward
- animal uses problem solving
- if a certain behaviour results in a positive outcome, then the animal is more likely to repeat that behaviour
- animal training relies on this type of learning eg. dog sits for a treat
- has led to positive reinforcement training methods
