This issue of Animal Welfare, which also includes the Index to Volume I, successfully completes the first year of our new journal. The layout is largely as before; there are the usual five scrutinized articles and for the first time a short factual communication. There are reports and comments on matters of animal welfare interest and an extended book and video review section, as well as some relevant reaction to previous items in the letters section. This pattern fulfils our aim of publishing a thought provoking and widely based informative quarterly journal dedicated to highlighting the animal welfare implications of scientific and technical investigations and studies.