Qualitative Behaviour Assessment of horses exposed to short-term emotional treatments

Hintze, Sara; Murphy, Eimear; Bachmann, Iris; Wemelsfelder, Françoise; Würbel, Hanno

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2017.06.012

Cited by 26 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Quantitative measures of behaviour, such as time budgets, have been most commonly applied by wildlife biologists [99][100][101][102]. However, since behaviour reflects a complex level of functioning, qualitative assessment can also inform assessment of the animals' affective state and whether positive or negative mental experiences are occurring [103][104][105][106] (Figure 4). To date, qualitative behavioural assessments do not appear to have been scientifically studied in free-roaming wild animals, and it is important that the context of the behaviour is considered carefully when making such assessments [107].…”

Section: Some Animal-based Indices Provide Welfare Status Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Ten-Stage Protocol for Assessing the Welfare of Individual Non-Captive Wild Animals: Free-Roaming Horses (Equus Ferus Caballus) as an Example

Harvey

Beausoleil

Ramp

et al. 2020

Animals

102

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Knowledge of the welfare status of wild animals is vital for informing debates about the ways in which we interact with wild animals and their habitats. Currently, there is no published information about how to scientifically assess the welfare of free-roaming wild animals during their normal day-to-day lives. Using free-roaming horses as an example, we describe a ten-stage protocol for systematically and scientifically assessing the welfare of individual non-captive wild animals. The protocol starts by emphasising the importance of readers having an understanding of animal welfare in a conservation context and also of the Five Domains Model for assessing welfare. It goes on to detail what species-specific information is required to assess welfare, how to identify measurable and observable indicators of animals’ physical states and how to identify which individuals are being assessed. Further, it addresses how to select appropriate methods for measuring/observing physical indicators of welfare, the scientific validation of these indicators and then the grading of animals’ welfare states, along with assigning a confidence score. Finally, grading future welfare risks and how these can guide management decisions is discussed. Applying this ten-stage protocol will enable biologists to scientifically assess the welfare of wild animals and should lead to significant advances in the field of wild animal welfare.

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Section: Some Animal-based Indices Provide Welfare Status Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Ten-Stage Protocol for Assessing the Welfare of Individual Non-Captive Wild Animals: Free-Roaming Horses (Equus Ferus Caballus) as an Example

Harvey

Beausoleil

Ramp

et al. 2020

Animals

102

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“…The descriptive terms used in QBA can either be developed through an experimental procedure known as Free-Choice Profiling (FCP), in which each assessor generates his/her own terms based on the observation of animals in different situations [20,21], or are provided in the form of a pre-determined list of QBA terms given to observers to assess animals. When standardisation of measurement tools is required, for example for the purpose of on-farm welfare inspections, the use of a fixed-list designed for the purpose of welfare assessment in a particular species is more feasible than FCP.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a fixed list of terms for the Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of shelter dogs

et al. 2019

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The shelter environment may have a severe impact on the dogs’ quality of life, and there is thus a need to develop valid tools to assess their welfare. These tools should be sensitive not only to the animals’ physical health but also to their mental health, including the assessment of positive and negative emotions. Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) is a ‘whole animal’ measure that captures the expressive quality of an animal’s demeanour, using descriptive terms such as ‘relaxed’, ‘anxious’, and ‘playful’. In this study, for the first time, we developed and tested a fixed-list of qualitative QBA terms for application to kennelled dogs. A list of 20 QBA terms was developed based on literature search and an expert opinion survey. Inter-observer reliability was investigated by asking 11 observers to use these terms to score 13 video clips of kennelled dogs. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to extract four main dimensions explaining 70.9% of the total variation between clips. PC1 characterised curious/playful/excitable/sociable demeanour, PC2 ranged from comfortable/relaxed to anxious/nervous/stressed expression, PC3 described fearful demeanour, and PC4 characterised bored/depressed demeanour. Observers’ agreement on the ranking of video clips on these four expressive dimensions was good (Kendall’s W: 0.60–0.80). ANOVA showed a significant effect of observer on mean clip score on all PCs (p<0.05), due to few observers scoring differently from the rest of the group. Results indicate the potential of the proposed list of QBA terms for sheltered dogs to serve, in alignment with other measures, as a non-invasive assessment tool. However, the observer effect on mean PC scores points towards the need for adequate observer training, particularly in live scoring conditions. The QBA scoring tool can be integrated with existing welfare assessment protocols for shelter dogs and strengthen the power of those protocols to evaluate the animals’ experience in shelters.

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“…It appears that the altered behavioural expression associated with breech flystrike is obvious and easily identifiable from video footage as short as 20 s duration. Indeed, whether in person or from remote video footage, observations required for QBA are considered quicker than traditional behavioural recording [22,34,37,38,39]. Moreover, QBA has the potential to act as an initial screening tool [18], thus when used during routine monitoring may provide producers an early warning of flystrike and would allow producers to identify those animals in need of closer evaluation and, if required, treatment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Identification of Sheep with Flystrike Using Behavioural Observations

Grant

Wickham

Anderson

et al. 2019

Animals

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Flystrike is a major problem affecting sheep in Australia. Identification of ‘flystruck’ individuals is crucial for treatment; but requires labour-intensive physical examination. As the industry moves toward more low-input systems; there is a need for remote methods to identify flystruck individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate the behaviour of sheep with breech flystrike within a paddock setting. Video footage of sixteen Merino sheep; eight later confirmed with flystrike and eight without; was collected as they moved freely within the paddock with conspecifics. Quantitative behavioural measurements and a qualitative behavioural assessment (QBA) were conducted and compared to their breech conditions (i.e., faecal/urine staining; flystrike severity). Both qualitative and quantitative assessments indicated behavioural differences between flystruck and non-flystruck animals. Flystruck sheep had a behavioural profile characterised by restless behaviour; abnormal postures and reduced grazing time (p < 0.05). Furthermore; flystruck sheep were scored to have a more ‘exhausted/irritated’ demeanour using QBA (p < 0.05). The behavioural responses also corresponded to the flystrike severity scores and condition of the breech area. We conclude that remotely assessed behaviour of flystruck sheep diverges markedly from non-flystruck sheep; and thus could be a low-input method for identifying and treating affected animals.

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Qualitative Behaviour Assessment of horses exposed to short-term emotional treatments

Cited by 26 publications

References 37 publications

A Ten-Stage Protocol for Assessing the Welfare of Individual Non-Captive Wild Animals: Free-Roaming Horses (Equus Ferus Caballus) as an Example

A Ten-Stage Protocol for Assessing the Welfare of Individual Non-Captive Wild Animals: Free-Roaming Horses (Equus Ferus Caballus) as an Example

Development of a fixed list of terms for the Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of shelter dogs

Remote Identification of Sheep with Flystrike Using Behavioural Observations

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