Human-animal interactions Flashcards
What elements influence human-animal interactions?
- Domestication (animals that are selected are those that are less ancious and are able to reproduce around humans, and those that are not aggressive towards humans)
- Degree of tameness of individual animals -> directly effects the nature of the human animal interaction
Why are animals so valuable to humans?
- Personal significance
- Community significance
- Business significance
- Government significance
- Global significance
What are some favourable characteristics in the process of domestication?
- Tameable/readily habituated
- Short flight distance from man
- Non-aggressive towards humans
- Readily controlled
- May solicit attention
- Limited sensitivity to changes in environment
What are some UNfavourable characteristics in the process of domestication?
- Difficult to tame
- Long flight distance from man
- Aggressive toward humans
- Difficult to control
- Independent/avoids attention
- Highly sensitive to changes in environment
What may be an issue in regards to welfare in the modern day dairy industry as a result of reliance on technology?
- Decrease in total number of farms worldwide
- Seeing higher scale operation, often a reliance on less skilled labour
- Decrease in individual animal attention -> care that the animals are receiving may not be as high as it once was due to reliance on technology
What are some on-farm measures of welfare for the dairy industry?
- Biological functioning (e.g. growth rate, reproductive abilities)
- Ability to live a ‘natural’ life (housing, feeding, behavioural expression)
- Affective state (including positive emotions)
- NOTE that high milk yield does NOT equal good animal welfare. This could be related to genetics or feed, not necessarily experiencing a good quality of life
- The 5 domains model: Considers physical (1: nutrition, 2: environment, 3: health, 4: behaviour) and 5: mental wellbeing.
Do stockpeople play a role in animal welfare?
- Yes, without competent, diligent stockmanship, the welfare of animals cannot be adequately catered for.
- Their attitudes and behaviours have a direct effect on animal welfare
What factors contribute to productivity and welfare?
Two way relationship between the stockperson and the animals
Stockperson
- Attitudes
- skills and knowledge
- motivation to do their job
Animals
- Are they fearful or stressed (hard to handle)
What factors tell us about a human animal interaction?
The frequency and intensity of an interaction
What might we see in animals if there is poor stockmanship?
Fearful and flighty animals
How do we measure fear of humans in animals?
- Behavioural and physiological indicators when exposed to humans -> approach avoidance test
- Novel object tests
- Novel arena tests
- Restraint of animal
- Measures behavioural reactivity to fear-causing stimuli
- Used to assess personality/temperament
- Can look at exploratory behaviours (sniffing, licking, approaching), vocalisations, body posture and stress behaviours
Can unpleasant handling induce fear, stress, growth and behaviour in animals?
Yes. Interactions have direct links to behaviour, productivity etc. Positive low stress handling leads to better behaviour, low stress and increased productivity.
What can be done to improve stockmanship to lead to better outcomes and increased welfare for production animals?
- Stockperson training and education (promote positive low stress handling) = improved animal outcomes
- ## Incorporate stockmanship into welfare monitoring schemes
