Welfare Concerns: Topical and Controversial Practices Flashcards
Wild Animals in Circuses Act, 2019
As of Jan 20th 2020, circuses performing in England are no longer allowed to use wild animals as part of their show, according to The Wild Animals in Circuses Act, 2019.
(Similar bans already exist in Ireland and in other parts of the UK)
The Docking of Working Dogs’ Tails (England) Regulations 2007
“It is an offence to remove the whole or part of a dog’s tail other than for the purpose of medical treatment, subject to the exemption for docking the tails of certain working dogs.”
Cetaceans in captivity
In the UK, shows featuring captive dolphins ended over 25 yrs ago
The status of controversial practices in the U.K.DAIRY CATTLE
NO LONGER PERMITTED
Tail docking
STILL PERMITTED
Early cow-calf separation
Disbudding and dehorning
Tie stalls (although not widely used in UK)
Zero-grazing
Individual housing of calves (till 8 wks)
The status of controversial practices in the U.K.PIGS
NO LONGER PERMITTED Sow stalls (aka gestation crates; banned 1999)
STILL PERMITTED Farrowing crates for sows and piglets Castration Nose ringing Tail docking Tooth reduction Slatted flooring, limited enrichment
The status of controversial practices in the U.K.LAYING HENS
NO LONGER PERMITTED
Battery cages (banned 2012)
STILL PERMITTED
Enriched cages for laying hens (≥750 cm2 per bird)
Beak trimming (up to 1/3 of upper and lower beak can be removed)
Farrowing crates
Illegal in e.g., Switzerland, Sweden, Norway
~58% of UK sows farrow in farrowing crates in the UK (RSPCA, 2020)
Can reduce piglet mortality from crushing, are less costly, and are designed for easy management (Hales et al., 2013)
However…
Sow cannot perform nest-building which is a highly motivated behaviour and is associated with reduced physiological stress response (Wischner et al., 2009; Jarvis et al., 2006), improved nursing behaviour, and fewer still-born piglets (Rosvold et al., 2019)
Free farrowing may lead to equal or increase piglet survival rates and increased weight gain of piglets (Oliviero et al., 2010; Gu et al., 2011)
Crushing mortality can be higher in free-farrowing systems, but other piglet mortality is greater in farrowing crates (Weber, 2007).
Farrowing crates: potential solutions and barriers
Designed pens, such as the pigSAFE provide a good indoor alternative; however, designed pens are not widely adopted due to the capital cost (usually ~3.5% more costly than farrowing crates) (Baxter et al., 2012; Seddon et al., 2013)
Temporary confinement of pigs
Can have similar costs and management to farrowing crates
88% of piglet mortality takes place in the first ~4 days postpartum (Lomeier et al., 2020) and 88% of crushing deaths occurred during the first 72 hours (Nicolaisen et al., 2019)
SWAP system allows nest building pre-farrowing
Traditional slaughter of goats South Africa
Slaughter of goats in traditional ceremonies in South Africa (Qekwana et al., 2016)
During transport:
Most common restraint method: tying goats’ legs together
No food or water supplied to goats during transport—ranged from distances of less than 10 km up to 50 km.
At slaughter, no stunning, animals sometimes took >10 mins to die
“Although violating South African cruelty to animals law, no consequences since culture appears to overshadow animal welfare concerns”
Transport of cull cows
6,263 cull dairy cows at auction 10% cows had BCS ≤2 7% severely lame 13% had inflamed udders 6% had ailments such as abscesses, injuries, or pneumonia Means that >30% of cows sold at market had poor fitness for transport
Cows culled during months with increased milk demand had much higher odds of poor fitness for transport
Transport of bull calves
Calf condition before transport: 17% had diarrhoea 2% had BRD 9% had navel disease 13% had FPTI
In the first 2 wk after arrival, 23% of calves were treated for diarrhoea, 44% were treated for BRD, and 3.9% died.
