It is a major enterprise to establish a new journal. This is true whether the publication is in the field of a pure science or, as is the present case, İn the applied area of animal welfare. There is a need to commit substantial resources of both time and money especially when there is the intent to develop a product of quality as well as relevance.

Various arguments in favour of and against bullfighting are reviewed. The author advocates a thorough and knowledgeable adaptation, suppressing bloodshed and other sufferings. Through history, the evolution of bullfighting consists of a gradual trend towards the ‘art for the art’. Such a solution would not only keep and even stimulate the aesthetic aspects, but has also more chances to save the animals. Strategically speaking, a fight for total suppression is unlikely to succeed anyway or will last too long.

Individual vertebrates are able to detect spatial and temporal (causal) order in their environment and deal with this knowledge emotionally. It is argued that this latter aspect is connected with the flexible or reversible way vertebrates may interact with their environment Because of this flexibility, uncertainty and changes therein can be experienced and shown by means of emotional expressions. It is this brain-behaviour organization that gives meaning to questions about welfare of individual vertebrates.

Within two London parks, Richmond and Bushy, both subject to high public visitor pressure, behavioural observations were undertaken to investigate patterns of habitat use by red and fallow deer populations, and to determine the response of the deer to human disturbance. Potentially disturbing events were considered as: i. people present within a distance of < 50m; ii. people present within 50m accompanied by a dog on a lead; iii dogs within 50m off the lead; iv. people ‘crowding’ the deer - approaching directly and deliberately for photographs or closer observation; v. actual chases by a dog of the deer group or a member of that group.

All the above levels of disturbance caused a measurable change in the immediate behaviour patterns of the deer - reflected in increased levels of vigilance. Females responded more strongly than males of either species. However, the effects were relatively minor and transient in the great majority of cases, with animals resuming their normal activity very quickly after the encounter.

Overall daily time-budgets did not differ significantly between undisturbed days and days when disturbance levels were high; nor were any effects apparent on patterns of habitat use by the deer or in forcing the animals to change habitat more frequently. Further, throughout our studies there was no evidence that levels of disturbance caused by public access had any deleterious effects on body-weights or overwinter mortality.

The provisioning of foraging opportunities to primates has been shown to be an effective means of enriching the laboratory environment. In this study artificial turf was used as the substrate for a particulate food given to the subjects as an environmental enrichment technique. Eight rhesus monkeys exhibited a significant reduction in behavioural pathology when allowed to extend the amount of time they spent in consummatory activities. An increasing trend in time spent foraging with a concomitant decline in aberrant behaviour over a period of six months was particularly noteworthy. No significant difference in preference for particulate monkey chow or more flavourful particulate food treats was expressed by the primates.

The behavioural reactions and blood Cortisol levels of cattle stunned using a penetrating captive-bolt pistol whilst standing free in a stunning box were compared with those obtained from cattle similarly stunned but with their heads held in a hydraulically operated chin-lift type of head restrainer. Few (8 out of 55) animals voluntarily put their heads into the restrainer, most had to be ‘persuaded’ to use the head-restrainer; some (5 out of 24) could not be. The mean time between entry into the stunning pen and the stun for 23 free standing animals was 5.6s and for 19 animals which could be persuaded to use the head restrainer was 34.2s. The Cortisol levels in the blood taken at the stick, from 30 animals stunned while standing free was 67.6 nmoVlitre while that from 30 stunned while head-restrained was 143.1 nmolHitre. The behaviour and Cortisol results suggest that enforced usage of this type of head restrainer could be a cause of distress to the cattle involved.

The Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC) in the UK not only supports work on the physiology, biochemistry and pathology of farm animals but is also deeply involved in the non-medical biological sciences and, increasingly over recent years, with cell and molecular biology and bio-technology.

Animal behaviourists, in general, and those of the ethological persuasion in particular, carry out many field studies on the behaviour of animals in their natural environments. Field experiments include those in which animals, living in their usual surroundings, are subjected to manipulations such as the introduction' of dummies (models), the supplementation or reduction of their food supply, the playing-back of recorded animal sounds, their capture, alteration of appearance and release and the application of telemetric recording equipment. Such studies have an important part to play in our understanding of behavioural ecology. These techniques, of course, interfere with the animals to varying degrees and there may, at times, be ethical problems involved in their use. Is suffering being caused? Is there likely to be loss of life? Is it possible that the environment may be damaged? A paper which looks critically at the techniques used in field research and assesses some of the ethical issues has recently been published in the journal Animal Behaviour. The point is made that it may be possible to accept some level of distress in animal experimentation if the purpose is the alleviation of human suffering, but it may not be acceptable if the goal is the satisfaction of intellectual curiosity alone.

A report on the welfare of laying hens in colony systems has been presented by the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) to the Agriculture Ministers of Great Britain. It makes some 61 recommendations for the improvement of the welfare of laying birds in deep litter houses, perchery (bam) houses, multi-tier colony houses and in free-range systems. The main part of the report deals with housed birds; the coverage of hens in free-range systems is somewhat limited.

The Humane Slaughter Association (HSA) and Agricultural Training Board (ATB) booklet (36 pages) is designed to accompany the HSA video Livestock in Transit - Handle with Care. It provides supplementary material for the ATB training courses.

Two colour VHS videos have been produced by Datascope Communications in conjunction with Glaxo Group Research and the Institute of Animal Technology.