Horse Welfare Since 1950

There are approximately 6.9 million horses in the United States, more than in any other country in the world (American Horse Council 2000) (Table 1). That fact alone should inspire Americans to improve equine welfare, although it must be said that the state of domesticated horses is better now than it was fifty years ago. At the turn of the millennium, the most pressing welfare issues of the domestic horse surround conditions found in slaughter and transport to slaughter; pari-mutuel racing; the pregnant mare urine (PMU) industry; the competitive and show industry; and in the development of husbandry-related stereotypes. (Urban carriage horses are a highly visible problem in some localities, since they usually are part of a local tourist industry, but they often generate concern out of proportion to their relatively small numbers.

The effect of conspecific removal on the behaviour and physiology of pair-housed shelter dogs

Dogs (Canis familiaris) are a highly social species and within a shelter environment pair-housing is recommended to prevent the stress associated with social isolation. Separation of individuals which may have formed bonds in this environment is a usual occurrence, as a result of rehoming or euthanasia. To investigate the impact of separation, the behaviour, cognitive bias, faecal S-IgA and cortisol levels were examined in 12 adult pair-housed dogs, maintained in a private animal shelter. Prior to separation, dogs engaged in more affiliative than agonistic behaviour with conspecifics (means of 3 and 0.1% of time respectively). Following separation, increased activity was observed in the form of more running and grooming (P= 0.02), circling (P= 0.006), figure of 8 movement (P= 0.01), posture changes (P= 0.003) and stretching (P= 0.005), and less play behaviour was observed (P= 0.01). Secretory IgA increased (P=0.02) after separation (mean. = 443.7. ±. 182.5. ng/mL; before separation mean. = 370.1. ±. 108.2. ng/mL). Cortisol concentrations were not affected by separation (P= 0.26, mean before separation. = 792. ng/g; mean after separation. = 874. ng/g). There was no indication from cognitive bias testing that the dogs' emotional valency was affected, as latencies to reach ambiguous cues before and after separation did not differ significantly (P= 0.33). These results demonstrate that separation of a dog from a conspecific negatively affected behaviour and stimulated the immune system, changes which could be indicative of stress

Zookeepers – The most important animal in the zoo?

From Crossref journal articles via Jisc Publications RouterEducation to improve knowledge of animal welfare is not a universal component of training for zoo staff, and little is reported about the perspectives of zoo staff on the need for such education. This paper reports results from structured telephone interviews of a diverse sample of eight Chinese and eight European zoo staff about aspects of zoological animal welfare, education and zoological practices. These qualitative data were thematically analyzed and key themes generated. Similar themes emerged across regions: Zoo staff consider professional attributes including motivation and enthusiasm to be important alongside formal training, zoo staff value learning opportunities but don’t always feel supported, and contextual information including wild animal ecology was considered important content in zoo animal welfare education.aheadofprintaheadofprin

Medición de cortisol en leche como indicador de bienestar animal, resultados preliminares

A trial was done to assess dairy cow welfare measuring milk cortisol concentration, which has a high and direct correlation with plasma cortisol. A group of cows in lactation were selected randomly from an Argentinean Holland herd (n = 349 dairy cows), and were put on a stress treatment (ST group n= 6) by a magneto phonic recording of dogs barking. Treatment was done during two hours before milking, then 1) foremilk samples were taken from each cow forming a milk pool from each mammary quartile, and 2) each cow was completely milked and a milk pool was taken. Another group of cows handled routinely were selected randomly as a control group (CG n = 14), 3) foremilk samples were taken idem (1) and 4) a bulk milk tank sample was taken at the end of the milking. Milk samples were frozen and sent to laboratory. Cortisol was measured by electroquimioluminescente technique.1) ST Foremilk samples average: 3.34 +- 1.90 ng (SD) (a) ml/milk. 2) ST pool milk : 6,55 ng/ml. 3) CG Foremilk samples average: 0.96 +- 0.41 ng (SD) (b) ml/milk. 4) CG Bulk milk tank: 0,98 ng/ml. Difference between ST (a) and CG (b) were positively significant (p 0.01) test ANOVA. Conclusion: 1) ST shows an important increase of cortisol regards CG, being this a good indicator for measuring stress situation and therefore dairy cow welfare, 2) CG bulk milk tank in this herd was 0,98 ng ml/milk. Cortisol in milk was high in comparison with other determinations: 0.3 to 0.5 ng/ml (Fox, L. 1981; Termeulem, S. 1981; Shutt, D. 1985; y Dobson, H. 1986), but similar to Verkerk, G. 1998) 1.2 ng/ml. Trials will be to find bulk milk tank cortisol concentration and its correlation with milk composition, SCC and TBC. Objective will be to find which the real level of milk cortisol is in a healthy dairy herd.Se realizó un ensayo experimental para evaluar el bienestar animal en vacas lecheras, midiendo la concentración de cortisol en leche, quien esta en correlación directa con el cortisol del plasma. Se seleccionaron al azar un lote de 6 vacas en lactancia, apartadas del rodeo (total 349 vacas Holando Argentino) y fueron sometidas a un tratamiento de estrés, mediante una cinta magnetofónica con ladridos de perros, durante 2 horas, antes del ordeño (LT = lote tratado). 1) Se tomaron muestras de los primeros chorros de leche (despunte) en un pool de cuartos del LT. 2) Se ordeño a fondo cada vacas tratadas y se tomo una muestra pool de LT. Se seleccionaron al azar 14 vacas en lactancia, como grupo control, del mismo rodeo, que recibió el manejo de rutina normal (LC = lote control) y 3) se tomaron muestras de los primeros chorros de leche, formando un pool de cuartos y 4) se tomo una muestra de leche de tanque al final del ordeño de todo el rodeo. 1) LT muestra de despunte promedio fue de 3,34 +- 1,90 ng/ml (DE) de cortisol/leche. 2) LT pool de leche 6,55 ng/ml de cortisol/leche. 3) LC muestra de despunte promedio fue 0,96 +- 0,41 ng (DE) de cortisol/leche. 4) Muestra leche del tanque 0,98 ng/ml de leche de cortisol/leche. Las diferencias entre lote LC y LT fueron significativas (p 0.01) realizadas mediante el test ANOVA. En conclusión, 1) el LT muestra un importante aumento de cortisol en leche en relación a LC, siendoeste un buen indicador para medir estrés en un rodeo lechero, y 2) la concentración decortisol en leche del tanque del rodeo fue de 0,98 ng/ml de leche de cortisol porml/leche, elevada en comparación con otras determinaciones 0,3 a 0,5 ng/ml cortisol/leche y similares a los valores 1,2 ng/ml cortisol/leche, hallado por Veckerk. Se continuarán realizando ensayos en esta línea, buscando la correlación de cortisol, composición de la leche, RCS y de UFC

Animal economics: assessing the motivation of female laboratory rabbits to reach a platform, social contact and food

We used novel techniques for assessing resource value to investigate what additions to a barren cage female laboratory rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, value. We tested motivation to reach two resources that are potentially practical enrichments: a platform (providing a partly enclosed space and a raised area) and limited social contact with another rabbit through wire mesh and compared these to food and an empty space. To reach these resources, rabbits had to pay entry costs (pushing through weighted doors) which increased every 2 days. With rising costs, rabbits generally rescheduled their behaviour, often reducing visit number and increasing visit length. Measures from economics and behavioural ecology ranked the relative importance of resources similarly (food ! social contact ! platform > empty cage). 'Travel cost consumer surplus' (the area under a demand curve of price versus number of visits) ranked food and social contact similarly, but higher than the platform; 'aggregate consumer surplus' (the area under a plot of weight against the number of rabbits paying each price level for the resource) placed food higher than both social contact and the platform; 'reservation price' (maximum weight pushed) did not discriminate between the three resources; and 'expenditure rate' (weight  visits/days) again ranked food and social contact similarly, but higher than the platform. Overall, rabbits' motivation for access to limited social contact thus came close to that for food, suggesting that they value this highly. Rabbits were almost as strongly motivated to be near a platform, but rarely used it, suggesting it might serve a 'bolt hole' function

The Modern Zoo: Demographics and Perceptions of Two International Groups of Zoo Staff

Characterising the people that work in zoos is a key element of understanding how zoos might better contribute to conservation activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate demographics, early life experiences and perceptions of zoo staff to the role of the modern zoo. This paper reports the key characteristics and qualitative themes emerging from study of international (European and Chinese) zoo professionals. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with eight Chinese and eight European zoo staff about aspects of zoological animal welfare, conservation and zoological practices. These qualitative data were thematically analysed, and themes generated. This paper describes interviewee demographics and two themes relating to ‘early life influences’ and ‘the role of the modern zoo’. This analysis indicates that demographic data and early life influences of zoo professionals were broadly similar between two culturally diverse regions, but that their views on the role of the modern zoo differed, particularly in terms of their perceptions of conservation activities, with European interviewees focussing on biodiversity conservation, and Chinese interviewees focussing on animal protection