Pain in Farm Animals: Nature, Recognition, and Management

Benson, G. John

doi:10.1002/9780470344859.ch4

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…One of the most obvious refinements for injury and disease and for painful procedures is the provision of anaesthetics and analgesics. Although there are many excellent examples where such treatments are effective and appropriate (see Benson, 2004), it is also important to consider that any restraint required to administer the drugs may be distressing for the animal, and methods of administration (such as repeated injections necessary for a ring block) can themselves be painful. It is perhaps equally important to consider the practicality of measures used to mitigate pain.…”

Section: How Can We Reduce Pain?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying and preventing pain in animals

Weary

Niel

Flower

et al. 2006

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

253

179

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Animals are routinely subjected to painful procedures, such as tail docking for puppies, castration for piglets, dehorning for dairy calves, and surgery for laboratory rats. Disease and injury, such as tumours in mice and sole ulcers on the feet of dairy cows, may also cause pain. In this paper we describe some of the ways in which the pain that animals experience can be recognized and quantified. We also describe ways in which pain can be avoided or reduced, by reconsidering how procedures are performed and whether they are actually required. Ultimately, reducing the pain that animals experience will require scientific innovation paired with changed cultural values, and willingness to address regulatory, technological and economic constraints.

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Section: How Can We Reduce Pain?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying and preventing pain in animals

Weary

Niel

Flower

et al. 2006

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

253

179

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show abstract

“…Considering the importance, and greater urgency, of preventing animal suffering [11][12][13], under which positive welfare is unlikely, the metric is focused on the quantification of negative affective states (although the same approach could be employed to measure affective states of positive valence). We use the term 'pain' in its broader sense, as a synonym of 'negative affective state'.…”

Section: The Cumulative Pain Metricmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cumulative Pain: An Evidence-Based, Easily Interpretable and Interspecific Metric of Welfare Loss

Alonso¹,

Schuck‐Paim²

2022

Preprint

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We describe a recently developed approach to quantify welfare loss in animals, the Cumulative Pain metric. It combines the two most relevant dimensions of negative affective experiences: intensity and duration. The metric enables estimating the time individuals spend in negative affective states of a physical or psychological nature (operationally referred to simply as ‘pain’) of different intensities as the result of one or more challenges (e.g., diseases, injuries, deprivations). A new notation protocol (the Pain-Track) is used in which the duration of the experience is represented along the horizontal axis and intensity is represented by four categories in the vertical axis. Pain experiences are partitioned into temporal segments, where hypotheses for the experienced duration and intensity are proposed based on existing welfare indicators (e.g., neurophysiological, behavioral, anatomical, evolutionary). This structure forces transparency about assumptions and uncertainties, highlights knowledge gaps, and enables estimates to be continuously adjusted. Because the Cumulative Pain metric is based on parameters with a broadly common biological meaning, it provides the much needed interoperability among assessments of animal welfare. It enables comparing the impact of practices and living conditions, policies and interventions, and the calculation of welfare footprints of animal-sourced products using a universal measurement unit.

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“…Of all the states of suffering, pain is probably responsible in animal agriculture for a bigger reduction in welfare than any other (Benson et al, 2004). Many farm animals are injured through living in ill-designed environments.…”

Section: Sentience and Animal Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Then there are procedures, carried out for identification purposes such as eartagging, ear-notching and branding that could be painful. Finally, the poultry and swine sectors are running into fast-growth problems such as skeletal weaknesses, and the dairy sector is experiencing metabolic problems all of which could be painful (Benson et al, 2004).…”

Section: Sentience and Animal Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%