Identification of potential welfare and survival indicators for stranded cetaceans through international, interdisciplinary expert opinion

Abstract

Management of live cetacean strandings generally focuses on refloating animals, yet there is a lack of scientific data to inform decision-making. Valid indicators that are practical to measure are needed to assess welfare status and survival likelihood for stranded cetaceans. The Delphi method was applied to gather international and interdisciplinary expert opinion to provide face validity to potential indicators of stranded cetacean welfare and survival likelihood. Two online questionnaires were conducted. In the first questionnaire these experts identified potential indicators of stranded cetacean welfare and survival likelihood. These indicators were subsequently scored by the same experts in questionnaire two, based on their value for assessing welfare/survival likelihood and being practical to measure. Indicators considered valuable and practical for assessing welfare and survival likelihood at strandings included animal-based indices of body and skin condition, signs of physical trauma, respiration rate and various behaviours. Resource-/management-based indicators related mainly to human intervention and should be correlated with animal-based indices to provide relevant evaluations. Importantly, inextricable links between welfare and survival for stranded cetaceans are emphasized, with 90% of indicators being similar for both. Investigations into these indicators should be conducted to develop a practical, science-based assessment framework to inform decision-making during stranding events.

Assessing animal welfare during a stranding of pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata)

“…While such wounds have minimal impact on survival (Sampson et al, 2012), they may cause some discomfort or pain (Boys et al, 2022b).…”

“…This likely explains the superficial abrasions on the tail fluke, dorsal fin, and rostrum (health; Domain 3). While such wounds have minimal impact on survival (Sampson et al, 2012), they may cause some discomfort or pain (Boys et al, 2022b).…”

“…Prior to euthanasia, we collected data from the two restranded animals on a number of indicators reported to be valuable for understanding stranded cetacean welfare state and to be practically measurable from video footage (Boys et al, 2022b,c). As in the previous study, indicators were selected to represent multiple dimensions of animal welfare, as described by the Five Domains Model for animal welfare assessment (Mellor et al, 2020).…”

“…The international experts highlighted various animal and resource−/management‐based indicators as valuable for assessing welfare (Boys et al, 2022b). A variety of these indicators, including animal body condition, respiration rate, body posture, behavior, and human intervention types, were found to be feasible to assess from video taken at live stranding events of long‐finned pilot whales ( Globicephala melas edwardii ) (Boys et al, 2022c).…”

“…Here we apply the recently gained knowledge on welfare assessments for live stranded cetaceans (Boys et al, 2022a,b) to a live stranding event of pygmy killer whales ( Feresa attenuata ). Specifically, we aim to describe the physical state, behavior, and conditions of live stranded pygmy killer whales to make preliminary inferences about their welfare state, using a holistic system developed for another odontocete species (Boys et al, 2022c).…”