Ethics, Welfare, and Laboratory Animal Management

Animals have been used in medical research from as far back as 129-199 A.D. when Galen, a Greek medical scientist, used a pig for his experiments. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, anatomical dissections were carried out on animals; Galvani used frogs in 1791 for his experiments and the Russian physiologist, Pavlov, carried out his famous dog experiments in the early 1900s. Since this time, large numbers of animals have been used in biomedical and other research. In 1963 the first edition of The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals was published, and the United States Public Health Service began to require all recipients of grants in which animals were used to adhere to these guidelines. There is now worldwide interest in welfare issues, and the ethics of using animals for research has been raised in many countries. The study of ethics is the treating of moral questions and is concerned with right and wrong. There will always be differing opinions on the ethics of animal use which may raise dilemmas for workers. In a practical sense this has often been dealt with by drafting codes for the care and use of experimental animals. Adherence to a code, however, does not exclude the experimenter from actively considering ethical and welfare issues. Three important issues in laboratory animal management are the ethics of using the animals for experimentation, the welfare of the animals being used, and the scientific validity of the selected species and number to be used

Stereotype Behaviour in Sows and Gilts Housed in Stalls, Tethers, and Groups

Observations of sows and gilts in tethers, stalls, and groups showed two distinct types of behaviour: pre-feed behaviour when pigs were anticipating food, and after-feed behaviour. Sows and gilts tethered for the first time do not show pre-feed excitement, but this develops in 42 days which suggests that pre-feed behaviour is not stereotype, as suggested by the literature, but is a conditioned reflex. The question of the importance of after-feeding behaviours which are often called stereotypies is examined. The total time occupied by these behaviours over 24 hours by tethered sows is 14.5 to 29.0%, by tethered gilts 1.4 to 5.6%, by stalled sows 10 to 14%, and 4.2 to 6.3% in stalled gilts. Grouped animals do not show the same behaviours as the stalled and tethered ones. Several examples of true stereotypies are described, but not all tethered or stalled pigs exhibit chronic bar biting. Changes in the environment of two of these sows did not alter the fixed stereotype behaviour. Each individual seems to have an optimum level of environmental stimulation which may account for the great differences in individual behaviours

Stereotype Behaviour in Sows and Gilts Housed in Stalls, Tethers, and Groups

Observations of sows and gilts in tethers, stalls, and groups showed two distinct types of behaviour: pre-feed behaviour when pigs were anticipating food, and after-feed behaviour. Sows and gilts tethered for the first time do not show pre-feed excitement, but this develops in 42 days which suggests that pre-feed behaviour is not stereotype, as suggested by the literature, but is a conditioned reflex. The question of the importance of after-feeding behaviours which are often called stereotypies is examined. The total time occupied by these behaviours over 24 hours by tethered sows is 14.5 to 29.0%, by tethered gilts 1.4 to 5.6%, by stalled sows 10 to 14%, and 4.2 to 6.3% in stalled gilts. Grouped animals do not show the same behaviours as the stalled and tethered ones. Several examples of true stereotypies are described, but not all tethered or stalled pigs exhibit chronic bar biting. Changes in the environment of two of these sows did not alter the fixed stereotype behaviour. Each individual seems to have an optimum level of environmental stimulation which may account for the great differences in individual behaviours

Seed production of barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) in response to time of emergence in cotton and rice

The spread of herbicide resistance in barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Beauv.) poses a serious threat to crop production in the southern United States. A thorough knowledge of the biology of barnyardgrass is fundamental for designing effective resistance-management programmes. In the present study, seed production of barnyardgrass in response to time of emergence was investigated in cotton and rice, respectively, in Fayetteville and Rohwer, Arkansas, over a 2-year period (2008–09). Barnyardgrass seed production was greater when seedlings emerged with the crop, but some seed production was observed even if seedlings emerged several weeks after crop emergence. Moreover, barnyardgrass seed production was highly variable across environments. When emerging with the crop (0 weeks after crop emergence (WAE)), barnyardgrass produced c. 35 500 and 16 500 seeds/plant in cotton, and c. 39 000 and 2900 seeds/plant in rice, in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Seed production was observed when seedlings emerged up to 5 WAE (2008) or 7 WAE (2009) in cotton and up to 5 WAE (2008, 2009) in rice; corresponding seed production was c. 2500 and 1500 seeds/plant in cotton, and c. 14 700 and 110 seeds/plant in rice, in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The results suggest that cultural approaches that delay the emergence of barnyardgrass or approaches that make the associated crop more competitive will be useful in integrated management programmes. In the context of herbicide resistance management, it may be valuable to prevent seed return to the seedbank, irrespective of cohorts. The findings are vital for parameterizing herbicide resistance simulation models for barnyardgrass

Nazi Punks Folk Off: Leisure, Nationalism, Cultural Identity and the Consumption of Metal and Folk Music

Far-right activists have attempted to infiltrate and use popular music scenes to propagate their racialised ideologies. This paper explores attempts by the far right to co-opt two particular music scenes: black metal and English folk. Discourse tracing is used to explore online debates about boundaries, belonging and exclusion in the two scenes, and to compare such online debates with ethnographic work and previous research. It is argued that both scenes have differently resisted the far right through the policing of boundaries and communicative choices, but both scenes are compromised by their relationship to myths of whiteness and the instrumentality of the pop music industry

Respectable Drinkers, Sensible Drinking, Serious Leisure: Single-Malt Whisky Enthusiasts and the Moral Panic of Irresponsible Others

In the public discourse of policy-makers and journalists, drinkers of (excessive) alcohol are portrayed either as irresponsible, immoral deviants or as gullible victims. In other words, the public discourse engenders a moral panic about alcohol-crazed individuals, who become what Cohen [1972. Folk devil and moral panics. London: Routledge] identifies as folk devils: the Other, abusing alcohol to create anti-social disorder. However, alcohol-drinking was, is and continues to be an everyday practice in the leisure lives of the majority of people in the UK. In this research article, I want to explore the serious leisure of whisky-tasting to provide a counter to the myth of the alcohol-drinker as folk devil, to try to construct a new public discourse of sensible drinking. I will draw on ethnographic work at whisky-tastings alongside interviews and analysis of on-line discourses. I show that participation in whisky-tasting events creates a safe space in which excessive amounts of alcohol are consumed, yet the norms of the particular habitus ensure that such drinking never leads to misbehaviour. In doing so, however, I will note that the respectability of whisky-drinking is associated with its masculine, white, privileged habitus – the folk devil becomes someone else, someone Other

The eventization of leisure and the strange death of alternative Leeds

The communicative potential of city spaces as leisure spaces is a central assumption of political activism and the creation of alternative, counter-cultural and subcultural scenes. However, such potential for city spaces is limited by the gentrification, privatization and eventization of city centres in the wake of wider societal and cultural struggles over leisure, work and identity formation. In this paper, we present research on alternative scenes in the city of Leeds to argue that the eventization of the city centre has led to a marginalization and of alternative scenes on the fringes of the city. Such marginalization has not caused the death of alternative Leeds or political activism associated with those scenes—but it has changed the leisure spaces (physical, political and social) in which alternative scenes contest the mainstream