Enclosure utilisation and activity budgets of disabled Malayan sun bears ( Helarctos malayanus )

Captive bears are housed in environments that differ greatly from their natural habitat, restricting their ability to perform normal species-specific behaviours. This may be detrimental to welfare, with disabled individuals at particular risk. The effect of physical disability on behaviour and enclosure utilisation was assessed in 12 adult Malayan sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) using 10 min interval scan sampling. Amputees spent less time performing locomotor behaviours than able-bodied bears, used their enclosures less evenly, but did not exhibit obvious stereotypies. This was possibly due to the increased energy demands of locomotion, or residual pain in amputated limbs. Amputees spent less time grooming, but did not differ in time spent climbing compared with non-amputees. Partially sighted bears did not differ from able-bodied controls in enclosure use or behaviour. Age was positively correlated with stereotypical behaviour, and negatively correlated with maintenance and resting. Medication use was associated with more resting and grooming, and reduced stereotypy. The findings suggest that enclosures for amputees can be smaller than those for able-bodied bears, but should still contain a variety of climbing structures. Partially sighted bears fare well in enclosures designed for able-bodied bears, not requiring any special provision

Opportunities for refinement in neuroscience: Indicators of wellness and post-operative pain in laboratory macaques

Being able to assess pain in nonhuman primates undergoing biomedical procedures is important for preventing and alleviating pain, and for developing better guidelines to minimise the impacts of research on welfare in line with the 3Rs principle of Refinement. Nonhuman primates are routinely used biomedical models however it remains challenging to recognise negative states, including pain, in these animals. This study aimed to identify behavioural and facial changes that could be used as pain or general wellness indicators in the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). Thirty-six macaques scheduled for planned neuroscience procedures were opportunistically monitored at four times: Pre-Operative (PreOp), Post-Operative (PostOp) once the effects of anaesthesia had dissipated, Pre-Analgesia (PreAn) on the subsequent morning prior to repeating routine analgesic treatment, and Post-Analgesia (PostAn) following administration of analgesia. Pain states were expected to be absent in PreOp, moderate in PreAn, and mild or absent in PostOp and PostAn when analgesia had been administered. Three potential pain indicators were identified: lip tightening and chewing, which were most likely to occur in PreAn, and running which was least likely in PreAn. Arboreal behaviour indicated general wellness, while half-closed eyes, leaning of the head or body shaking indicated the opposite. Despite considerable individual variation, behaviour and facial expressions could offer important indicators of pain and wellness and should be routinely quantified, and appropriate interventions applied to prevent or alleviate pain, and promote positive welfare

Effects of simulated motion frequency related to road quality on the welfare and recovery of transported largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)

Farmed fish are commonly transported between various facilities by road vehicles, resulting in inevitable exposure to uncontrolled and oscillatory movements, likely exacerbated by poor road conditions. The effect of road quality on livestock has been studied during live transport, but research into the impact of motion has been rarely examined with fish. This study investigated the effects of different motion frequencies related to road quality on the welfare and recovery of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Three motion frequencies were examined in this study using a non-transported control, a simulated “rough” transport treatment, and a simulated “smooth” transport treatment. Live transport was carried out for 3 h using a motion simulation platform with a movement frequency of 1.0 and 1.8 Hz for the smooth and rough treatment, respectively. Control fish were kept in static tanks for the same duration to obtain basal physiology, behaviour, and flesh quality. Water parameters were measured before and immediately after simulated transport in all groups. Behavioural, physiological, and muscle parameters were measured before simulated transport, as well as 0 h and 24 h post-transport. Total ammonia nitrogen levels increased in all treatments over time (p < 0.001), with significantly higher values observed in transported groups. Non-transported fish displayed increased biting (p = 0.025), chasing (p = 0.010), and threatening (p = 0.003) behaviour over time, suggesting potential fasting and confinement stress. During the post-transport period, a significant main effect of treatment and timepoint on freezing and thigmotaxis behaviour was found, with an increase in these behaviours over time and significantly higher levels between control and smooth transported groups. Nevertheless, aggressive behaviours were affected only by timepoint, with an increase observed between 0 h and 24 h post-transport. Neither plasma biochemical indicators nor flesh quality differed between treatments, while a significant effect of timepoint was found for plasma glucose (p = 0.045), plasma lactate (p = 0.021), and muscle pH (p < 0.001). Our study consequently did not find rough transport to impact fish physiology and flesh quality more than smooth transport, but behavioural results suggest there was a strong combined effect of fasting, exposure to a novel environment, and confinement over time. Future research would be valuable to study these effects on the welfare of transported bass, allowing for a longer recovery time and the use of potential mitigation options such as environmental enrichment

Improving hen welfare on cage-free egg farms in Asia: Egg producers’ perspectives

There is a trend towards the adoption of cage-free housing systems in the egg industry across Asia. While cage-free housing systems can hold significant animal welfare advantages over cages, there can also be challenges in managing these systems. This exploratory study aimed to investigate the perspectives of egg producers on the main challenges and proposed solutions associated with cage-free systems in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Cage-free producers found disease prevention and maintaining a healthy profit margin more difficult than producers from cage farms, while it was less difficult to provide environmental enrichment in cage-free systems compared to cage farms. The top challenges for cage-free producers were the cost of production, system management, disease, sales, and egg production, and the top proposed solution was to improve on-farm practices and efficiencies. Eighty-one percent of egg producers believed that more support is needed to maintain their farms than is currently available, and support was most needed in helping to improve sales, improve farm operations, lower farm costs, and provide information for producers in the form of education and training. Most responses identified the government as the stakeholder that should offer support. These results may help direct further studies in this field as well as supplying information to develop relevant initiatives with an emphasis on education and training, thereby improving animal welfare on cage-free farms and increasing the uptake of high welfare cage-free farms across the region

Farm animal welfare science in China—a bibliometric review of Chinese literature

Farm animal welfare in the People's Republic of China (henceforth, China) is not well represented in the international scientific literature. This may lead researchers, advocates and those with agricultural partnerships in China to assume that animal welfare is not a field of interest there. This study reports a literature review of published pig and poultry welfare research in China using Chinese scientific databases. We aimed to determine which areas of welfare research have recently received academic attention in China. From an understanding of areas being studied, current and emerging priority areas for research could be determined. This study identified 854 academic publications citing pig or chicken welfare in China published between 2008 and 2018. Within these publications, two broader areas of significant attention were addressed in the context of animal welfare; yield and product quality, such as feeding, biosecurity and antimicrobial resistance, including immunity and second, the relationship of animal welfare with the Chinese philosophy of 'ecological agriculture.' Holistic systems were advocated to maximize sustainability and maintain a healthy environment, such as the creation of fermented bedding for pigs. Environmental enrichment was also a focus of attention, demonstrating an interest in animals' mental welfare, which was usually conjectured from their behavior. Few of the articles were translated into English or other languages and therefore most were largely unavailable to the English-speaking global scientific community. This presents an opportunity to provide relevant animal welfare knowledge, which could improve animal welfare globally. China is a global animal trade leader and the home of the largest agricultural industries in the world. An increase in collaboration on animal welfare research and understanding of the advancements that have been made in China, as reviewed in this manuscript, could advance farm animal welfare from a global perspective

An observational study of the behaviour of captive rehabilitant sun bears (Helarctos malayanus)

Rehabilitant Malayan sun bears often remain in captivity for long periods of time and may experience significant welfare challenges including disability and persistent lip lesions. This study aimed to investigate whether short-term observations of behavior such as oral stereotypies are useful as noninvasive indicators of lip lesion pain, and whether behavior differs between able-bodied and disabled bears. Observations were collected from 21 captive, rehabilitant Malayan sun bears, of both sexes, a range of ages, and with lip lesions ranging in severity. Some also had disabilities. Oral stereotypy frequency was unrelated to lip lesion severity (p\ua0>\ua00.05), and no relationships with other behaviors were found; however, visual disabilities had significant effects on behavior. For example, visually disabled bears walked more than able-bodied bears (p\ua0=\ua00.003) or those with physical disabilities (p\ua0=\ua00.01). Further research on the feeding behavior of bears suffering from lip lesions may elucidate other potential behavioral indicators of pain. Researching effects of visual disabilities in bears with a larger sample size is also recommended to determine generalizable impacts in affected individuals and resulting welfare implications

Effects of olfactory and auditory enrichment on heart rate variability in shelter dogs

Animal shelters can be stressful environments and time in care may affect individual dogs in negative ways, so it is important to try to reduce stress and arousal levels to improve welfare and chance of adoption. A key element of the stress response is the activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and a non-invasive tool to measure this activity is heart rate variability (HRV). Physiologically, stress and arousal result in the production of corticosteroids, increased heart rate and decreased HRV. Environmental enrichment can help to reduce arousal related behaviours in dogs and this study focused on sensory environmental enrichment using olfactory and auditory stimuli with shelter dogs. The aim was to determine if these stimuli have a physiological effect on dogs and if this could be detected through HRV. Sixty dogs were allocated to one of three stimuli groups: lavender, dog appeasing pheromone and music or a control group, and usable heart rate variability data were obtained from 34 dogs. Stimuli were applied for 3 h a day on five consecutive days, with HRV recorded for 4 h (treatment period + 1 h post-treatment) on the 5th and last day of exposure to the stimuli by a Polar® heart rate monitor attached to the dog’s chest. HRV results suggest that music activates both branches of the ANS, which may be useful to relieve both the stress and boredom in shelter environments

Emerging indicators of fish welfare in aquaculture

As aquaculture continues to grow and intensify, there is increasing public concern over the welfare of farmed fish. Stress and production-related pathologies and repressed growth are examples of the challenges facing aquaculture, and their impacts could be minimised by effective identification of the early signs of impaired welfare. Many welfare monitoring methods have been recommended, however, continuous and reliable welfare monitoring in aquaculture is not yet widespread and commonplace. The aim of this scoping review was to present an overview of the most recent developments in fish welfare assessments with a specific focus on practical translation to the aquaculture industry. A keyword-based search was undertaken to identify peer-reviewed papers published between 2014-2020 in which a novel method with the potential to be used for the assessment of fish welfare in aquaculture was introduced. The results were sorted into two categories: non-invasive and invasive methods. All methods were assessed for their advantages and disadvantages, potential applicability to aquaculture. Invasive methods were also ranked on their degree of impact. It is concluded that increased interest into fish welfare, in combination with more intelligent modern technology, has resulted in the development of newer and more refined alternatives to traditional methods of welfare assessment such as behaviour monitoring by 2D cameras and plasma cortisol evaluation. Although, in many cases, more research is needed before these methods are suitable for widespread industry use, studies that focus on increasing the precision, automation and practical applicability of these methods are a promising avenue for future research.Output Status: Forthcoming/Available Onlin