Testing an Animal Welfare Assessment Protocol for Growing-Rabbits Reared for Meat Production Based on the Welfare Quality Approach

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to present an animal welfare assessment protocol for growing-rabbits for discussion after its implementation in 32 farms from Spain and Portugal. The protocol comprises the principles of Good Feeding, Good Housing, Good Health and Appropriate Behaviour of the Welfare Quality protocols and includes 36 welfare parameters. Overall, the protocol showed a good capacity for discrimination between farms, with scores ranging 44 to 82 points. The protocol seems reliable for the assessment of animal welfare after proper training of auditors. However, for the criteria social behaviour and other behaviours, further research is needed to ascertain if the methodology and times of observation used are appropriate. Some farms had high mortality rates with a low prevalence of health problems, while others had low mortality rates with high prevalence of health problems due to different managements of culling. The protocol should be improved, to impede farms with high mortality rates but a low prevalence of health issues the day of the audit from obtaining better scores than the second type of farms, by limiting the compensation in key measures. The main points to be solved in the growing-rabbit farms were: to provide more space to the animals; register the number of animals culled accurately; change cervical dislocation for another killing method and provide the farmers training in animal welfare.

Welfare of domestic birds and rabbits transported in containers

“…Gait scoring can be done by either taking the rabbit out of the cage and letting it run over a certain distance, or by gently pushing the rabbits in the cage with a hand and scoring if any lame rabbits are observed (if the cage is large enough) (de Jong et al., 2011). Gait score considers three possibilities: ‘no problem’ if the animal does not have any difficulty moving; ‘moderate problem’ if the animal has any difficulty in moving and ‘severe problem’ if the animal has several difficulties (no use of one leg or minimum weight‐bearing) (Botelho et al., 2020). Gait score 3 (severe problem) represents severe lameness and leads to the animal being unfit for transport.…”

“…Measurement: Number and size of wounds per rabbit. Score: if the animal does not have any lesion bigger than 2 cm will be a score 0; the presence of one or more lesions bigger than 2 cm will be a score 1; and the presence of one or more lesions bigger than 5 cm will be a score 2 (Botelho et al., 2020).…”

Induced Stress and Tactile Stimulation Applied to Primiparous does and their Consequences on Maternal Behavior, Human-Animal Relationships, and Future Offspringˊs Sexual Disorders

“…Considering that validated protocols assessing rabbit welfare and behavior are scarce, and that one of the studies in this area was published recently (Botelho et al 2020), the behavior tests applied in the present study were based on and adapted from Welfare Quality ® . Appropriate behavior can be assessed by the combination of social behavior, other behaviors (consisting of animals scratching or biting the cage, or performing repetitive behaviors without an apparent objective), and human-animal relations (Welfare Quality 2009; Botelho et al 2020). The behavior tests were carried out on the 25 th day of gestation for the nest building test and five days after parturition for the novel object, flight distance, social isolation, and human-approach tests.…”

“…Rabbit breeding has undergone several changes in recent years due to the continual search for technologies that improve productivity, especially in relation to cost and animal welfare (Munari et al 2020). Housing conditions and management normally impair animal behavior at different levels and therefore developing systems and practices that maintain a high level of animal welfare while preserving productive results is a necessity (Botelho et al 2020). These factors combine to directly influence animal performance.…”

How should we monitor welfare in the ornamental fish trade?

“…To be classified as ‘operational’, OWIs need to be multi‐faceted in nature, 29 provide insight into an aspect of animal welfare and be easy to use without requiring laboratory analysis, otherwise, they may not be used by individuals involved 90,91 . Suites of OWIs and welfare measurement methods have been developed for a range of animals such as equids, 92 livestock, 93‐96 rabbits, 97 laboratory animals, 98 birds, 99,100 mammalian companion animals 101 and some species of food and cleaner fish 13,92,102‐104 . Existing welfare monitoring tools that use OWIs have created methods to quantify welfare, including allocating a score/grade to quantify welfare, 105 a ranking system, 106 computational modelling based on attribute levels 107 and needs or welfare indices ( 91 and 108 respectively).…”