Using behaviour to assess animal welfare

Dawkins, M S

doi:10.1017/s0962728600014317

Cited by 250 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Litter quality is one of the most important parameters determining broiler welfare (Dawkins, 2004 ; Çavuşoğlu and Petek, 2019 ). Dry and friable litter enables the birds to display their natural behaviours like foraging and exploration, including scratching, and dustbathing (Chuppava et al., 2018 ).…”

Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare of broilers on farm

Nielsen¹,

Álvarez²,

Bicout³

et al. 2023

EFS2

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This Scientific Opinion considers the welfare of domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) related to the production of meat (broilers) and includes the keeping of day-old chicks, broiler breeders, and broiler chickens. Currently used husbandry systems in the EU are described. Overall, 19 highly relevant welfare consequences (WCs) were identified based on severity, duration and frequency of occurrence: 'bone lesions', 'cold stress', 'gastro-enteric disorders', 'group stress', 'handling stress', 'heat stress', 'isolation stress', 'inability to perform comfort behaviour', 'inability to perform exploratory or foraging behaviour', 'inability to avoid unwanted sexual behaviour', 'locomotory disorders', 'prolonged hunger', 'prolonged thirst', 'predation stress', 'restriction of movement', 'resting problems', 'sensory under-and overstimulation', 'soft tissue and integument damage' and 'umbilical disorders'. These WCs and their animal-based measures (ABMs) that can identify them are described in detail. A variety of hazards related to the different husbandry systems were identified as well as ABMs for assessing the different WCs. Measures to prevent or correct the hazards and/or mitigate each of the WCs are listed. Recommendations are provided on quantitative or qualitative criteria to answer specific questions on the welfare of broilers and related to genetic selection, temperature, feed and water restriction, use of cages, light, air quality and mutilations in breeders such as beak trimming, de-toeing and comb dubbing. In addition, minimal requirements (e.g. stocking density, group size, nests, provision of litter, perches and platforms, drinkers and feeders, of covered veranda and outdoor range) for an enclosure for keeping broiler chickens (fast-growing, slower-growing and broiler breeders) are recommended. Finally, 'total mortality', 'wounds', 'carcass condemnation' and 'footpad dermatitis' are proposed as indicators for monitoring at slaughter the welfare of broilers on-farm.

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Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare of broilers on farm

Nielsen¹,

Álvarez²,

Bicout³

et al. 2023

EFS2

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“…There are several commonly-used definitions of animal welfare-biological functioning (physical health and fitness), natural living (performance of natural behaviors), preferences (having what the animal wants), and affective state (the animal's feelings, or subjective experience). Some frameworks will use multiple components, such as the "tripartite" concept of feeling good, functioning well, and living naturally (20,21), or Dawkins' "two questions" approach that looks at whether an animal is healthy and has what it wants (22,23). There are also strong links between many of these aspects-for instance the ways feelings may guide animal preferences and behavioral motivation (24) or that evolved natural behaviors will often feel good and be strongly motivated (25)-and this can lead to disagreements about which component is primary.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving welfare assessment in aquaculture

Browning

2023

Front. Vet. Sci.

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While global aquaculture is rapidly expanding, there remains little attention given to the assessment of animal welfare within aquacultural systems. It is crucial that animal welfare concerns are central in the development and implementation of aquaculture as if they are not prioritized early on, it becomes much more difficult to adapt in future. To this end, it is important to ensure the availability of high-quality welfare assessment schemes to evaluate the welfare of animals in aquaculture and promote and maintain high welfare standards. This paper will first discuss some of the current certification and assessment frameworks, highlighting the primary limitations that need to be addressed, before going on to describe the recommendations for a best-practice welfare assessment process for aquaculture; with the hope that these considerations can be taken on board and used to help improve welfare assessment for aquaculture and, ultimately, to ensure animals used in aquaculture have a higher level of welfare. Any aquacultural system should be assessed according to a suitable framework in order to be considered adequate for the welfare of the animals it contains, and thus to maintain social license to operate.

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“…Enrichment should be designed to trigger naturally occurring behaviours, but it is also important to test a variety of types of enrichment to better understand what works, to avoid unpredictable effects, and to assess the safety of the programme itself [37]. Behaviours can be considered welfare indicators because they reflect an animal's attempts to cope with the captive environment by indicating situations where welfare is at risk at an early stage [38][39][40][41][42].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can an Enrichment Programme with Novel Manipulative and Scent Stimuli Change the Behaviour of Zoo-Housed European Wildcats? A Case Study

Bertoni

Regaiolli

Cozzi

et al. 2023

Animals

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Objects and semiochemicals may be used as enrichment in zoos. Domestic cats release Fraction 3 of Facial Pheromone (F3) by rubbing the muzzle to convey relational and territorial information. We aimed to evaluate whether and how the introduction of novel objects and scent stimuli could change the behaviour of one group (N = 5 subjects) of adult European wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris) hosted at Parco Natura Viva-Garda Zoological Park, Italy. We assessed the behavioural changes following the introduction of novel objects (blocks and rags) and scent (synthetic F3) via observations over four experimental conditions (baseline, rags, F3 rags, blocks) using continuous focal animal sampling. Our results showed that no behavioural differences were found between the different conditions and the baseline, except for the condition with blocks when significantly less exploration was observed. Between conditions, wildcats performed significantly less individual explorative, affiliative, and agonistic behaviours, but more individual inactivity, when exposed to rags after F3 administration. Our findings suggest that the enrichment programme did not substantively affect the behaviour of the zoo-housed wildcats. However, the behavioural differences recorded between conditions suggest that, while novel objects introduced as visual stimuli (blocks) do not affect the wildcat behaviour, novel manipulative objects (rags) might impact their behaviour. Moreover, the changes in affiliative and agonistic behaviours displayed during the condition with exposure to rags sprayed with F3 suggest that such semiochemical could play an appeasement role within this study group.

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Using behaviour to assess animal welfare

Cited by 250 publications

References 21 publications

Welfare of broilers on farm

Welfare of broilers on farm

Improving welfare assessment in aquaculture

Can an Enrichment Programme with Novel Manipulative and Scent Stimuli Change the Behaviour of Zoo-Housed European Wildcats? A Case Study

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