Bien-être animal : contexte, définition, évaluation

Abstract

L’importance du bien-être des animaux qui vivent sous la dépendance des humains (animaux d’élevage, de compagnie, de zoo, de cirque, d’expérimentation…) s’est affirmée progressivement au cours des 50 dernières années. Dans cette note, le concept de bien-être animal a été replacé dans ses contextes, philosophique, sociétal et juridique, qui influencent sa prise en compte et la signification qui lui est conférée. Une attention particulière a été portée aux bases scientifiques de la notion de bien-être, qui repose sur les caractéristiques psychiques des animaux, êtres sensibles et conscients. Notre définition du concept de bien-être est centrée sur l’état mental de l’individu dans son environnement et se démarque clairement du concept de bientraitance qui fait référence aux actions humaines positives envers les animaux, condition nécessaire au bien-être mais dont le résultat doit s’évaluer au niveau de l’animal. En outre, cette dimension mentale porte l’attention sur le fait qu’une bonne santé, un niveau de production satisfaisant ou une absence de stress ne suffisent pas. Il faut aussi prendre en compte ce que l’animal ressent, les perceptions subjectives déplaisantes, telles que la frustration, la douleur et la souffrance, mais aussi rechercher les signes d’expression d’émotions positives. Les protocoles d’évaluation du bien-être des animaux doivent ainsi combiner l’analyse des comportements et de l’état physiologique et sanitaire de l’animal avec les données sur l’environnement.

Housing Horses in Individual Boxes Is a Challenge with Regard to Welfare

“…As welfare is a multidimensional concept [5], it appears then necessary to add physiological and health measurements to the assessment of the four behavioural indicators, to fully evaluate the effective long-term impact of the individual boxes on the welfare state of horses. Indeed, chronic stressors tend for example to decrease the immune responses [82].…”

“…Coping refers to the successful adaptation of the animal to its environment, and the investigation of welfare involves assessing whether it is easy for the animal to cope and how large is the impact of the environmental conditions offered [4]. The concept of welfare thus refers to the animal’s perception of environmental challenges and depends on both the individual and the context: it is ascertained at a certain time for a specific subject living within a specific environment [5]. As defined by the five domains model [6], both environmental and animal-based measures are required to assess welfare [7].…”

“…Scan sampling could also lead to the quantification of the expression of specific postures, such as the “withdrawn” and alert postures, allowing us to infer an overall internal state of animals over a given period of time. The apprehension of a persistent mental state is considered as particularly relevant with regard to the welfare assessment [5]. In addition, the scan sampling method has successfully permitted to reveal the impact of different kinds of environments on horses’ behaviour (e.g., influence of an enriched environment in horses living in individual boxes [59] or a progressive weaning method [60]).…”

Inflammatory Correlated Response in Two Lines of Rabbit Selected Divergently for Litter Size Environmental Variability

“…Animal welfare is defined as the capacity of animals to cope with their environment [2]. Susceptibility to stress and diseases are closely related to this adaptation [3], playing an important role for the immune system in this process [4]. Inflammation is the immune system's response that is triggered in response to microbial invasion or tissue damage in order to maintain the body's homeostasis [5].…”

Animal Welfare Considerations and Ethical Dilemmas Inherent in the Euthanasia of Blind Canine Patients

“…It is also necessary to consider what the animal feels, not only unpleasant subjective perceptions, as mentioned above, but also to look for the signs of expression of positive emotions [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. The analysis of behaviors and health status of the animal provides an integrated vision of its welfare [ 34 ].…”