The welfare of animals is a major factor affecting the acceptability of human activities, and hence their sustainability, and whales are the subject of much concern because they are considered to be sentient animals. The scientific study of animal welfare has developed rapidly and now allows evaluation of the effects on whale welfare of disturbance by boats, harpoon entry, pulling whales to a boat, capture procedures, the point of unconsciousness and consequences for animals that escape. Useful data are now being collected on some aspects but recent evidence shows that, on average, during the capture and killing of whales, there is a high magnitude of poor welfare and the procedure is not humane.

Since 2005, owners of draught and pack horses, mules and donkeys in nine districts of Uttar Pradesh, India, have received support from a UK-based charity, the Brooke. One thousand, three hundred and ninety-six village-level groups of owners and carers, responsible for 29,500 animals, were facilitated to develop their own welfare assessment protocols using a participatory learning and action process adapted from recognised good practice in human social development. Each group assessed the welfare of their animals collectively, using findings to generate action plans for improving equine health, husbandry and working practices. Welfare assessments were repeated at 1 to 3 month intervals. Competitiveness between participants to improve their animals’ welfare acted as a driver to increase the number of indicators and sensitivity of rating scales, enabling differentiation of small, incremental improvements in order to identify a ‘winner’ of each welfare assessment. Binary or three-point ‘traffic light’ (red-amber-green) scales evolved into a range of 5-, 10-, 20-point or continuous scales, then into multi-level and weighted measures to quantify the welfare improvements seen. Efforts to aggregate multi-dimensional indicators into a single ‘winning’ score led to indices describing welfare at individual animal level (‘welfare index’) and population level (‘village index’). Benefits of owner-driven monitoring include high levels of commitment and strong peer motivation or pressure to take action. Welfare monitoring and action to improve welfare are integrated within a single process carried out by the same people, in contrast to the separation of evaluation and implementation of welfare improvement seen in inspection or accreditation schemes. Challenges include aggregation of results from a variety of protocols for external analysis, reporting or certification.

Despite an auspicious start from which lasting theories were generated (eg critical periods hypothesis, Scott & Marston 1950), and despite recent modern technology enabling biological investigations of sensory development (eg EEG, fMRI), in the last fifty years little attention has been devoted to the development of puppies’ (Canis lupus f. familiaris) sensory abilities. Attention to puppies’ sensory development is needed for both theoretical and applied purposes, because understanding puppies’ early experiences depends on understanding their perceptual world. This paper reviews the chronology of sensory development in puppies, looking at each sense individually. It then examines the relationships among phases of sensory and neural development and the critical periods proposed by Scott and Marston (1950). With improved knowledge and awareness of canine sensory development, researchers and other practitioners that work with puppies can better assess and improve puppies’ welfare. Therefore, this review should be of interest not only to researchers, but should also be of use to others that interact with dogs (eg shelter workers, dog breeders). By knowing what puppies are able to see, practitioners can visually enrich puppies’ environments. By knowing what puppies are able to taste and smell, practitioners can better predict the preference-related impact of introducing dietary variation to puppies. Knowing when puppies are first, and best, able to hear, see, and otherwise sense people and other animals, practitioners can design and customise programmes of socialisation and systematic exposure of young puppies.

Delousing treatment for salmon sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) is considered a significant welfare concern in farming of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), where both industry and legislative bodies prompt for better methods. Currently, the most common method is thermal delousing, where fish are crowded, pumped into a vessel and exposed to ~28-34°C for ~30 s. Physical collisions occurring as a result of a loss of behavioural control lead to acute stress. Crowding triggers vigorous escape behaviour as salmon respond not only to treatment but also to being channeled to and from the treatment zone. A sequence of events considered to cause mortality and poor welfare. The present case study was motivated by an urgent need for delousing in groups of small salmon post-smolts in experimental research. For this purpose, a simple, small-scale system for thermal delousing was constructed, including anaesthesia to alleviate behavioural responses. The anaesthetised fish showed little behavioural response to thermal treatment, strong appetite within hours, and negligible mortality. The described method is regarded as a welfare-friendly alternative to industrial delousing in smaller fish groups, for example, in experimental research. We would encourage detailed research aimed towards gaining a deeper understanding of the welfare effects of anaesthesia prior to treatment for delousing.

The killing of animals is the subject of societal and political debate. Wild geese are caught and killed on a regular basis for fauna conservation and damage control. Killing geese with carbon dioxide (CO2) is commonly practiced, but not listed in legislation on the protection of flora and fauna, and societal concerns have been raised against this method. In this study, an experiment was carried out killing 30 wild-caught geese using either CO2 or a mixture of CO2 and argon (Ar). Brain function (EEG) and heart function (ECG) were measured to determine loss of consciousness and onset of death. The stage of unconsciousness was reached on average within one minute in both treatments (56 s for CO2 and 50 s for CO2 and Ar). States of minimal brain activity and ineffective heart beat were reached more quickly using CO2 compared to CO2 and Ar (112 versus 178 s for minimal brain activity and 312 versus 394 s for ineffective heart beat for CO2 and the mixture of CO2 and Ar, respectively). The mixture of carbon dioxide and argon did not significantly reduce time to loss of consciousness or death. Further studies on behaviour and stress physiology are needed to determine conclusively whether CO2 alone is a satisfactory agent to kill wild-caught geese as the lower CO2 concentration in the CO2-Ar treatment may act as a sedative and reduce the aversiveness of the animals during exposure to lethal gas concentrations.

Pigs were selected at random from three lines (homozygous halothane positive, homozygous negative, and the heterozygotes). They were housed for four weeks within standardized environmental conditions with six pigs per pen corresponding to each of the three lines with two treatment combinations (6×3×2). Half of the pigs were allocated to routine care without humans entering the pen, while the other ones received an increased human contact treatment; animal-man interaction times were recorded. Before and after the four-week experimental period, pigs were housed individually for one day. A blood sample was taken for beta-endorphin analysis and heart rate was measured. The final heart rate measurements were continued during a transport of two hours. With respect to animal-man interaction times no clear treatment effect was observed. Increased human contact lowered the plasma beta-endorphin content to a greater extent as a function of time, while heart rate also became lower. The latter may result in an improved heart function during handling and transport. Differences with regard to the halothane gene were observed during housing conditions, but not during transport.

Use of a privacy panel in the home cage of female pair-housed rhesus monkeys has been reported to increase time spent in close proximity and time spent in affiliative behaviours. In the current study we measured these behaviours in more diverse populations; including male-male and male-female pairs of monkeys actively participating in cognitive experiments. We observed twenty-five pairs of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) both with and without the presence of a privacy divider. Monkeys spent significantly more time in the same half of the pair-cage when the divider was in place. A significant increase in affiliative behaviour was not observed. The effects of privacy dividers previously reported for female monkeys partially extend to male pairs and mixed sex pairs under conditions typical of an active research setting.

Temporary crating is considered as a step towards improved welfare in lactating sows. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate effects of confinement period (CP) and farrowing pen-type (PT) on health-related measures. Four hundred and thirteen sows were kept in five PT with four CP each: CP 0-sows were not confined; CP 3-sows were crated postpartum for three days; CP 4- and CP 6-sows were crated from a day prior to expected farrowing until day 4 and 6 postpartum, respectively. Alterations in different body regions were recorded when sows were moved to the pens and in weeks 1, 3 and 4 postpartum. CP 6-sows displayed significantly more lesions on their back than CP 0- and CP 3-sows. Odds ratios of teat lesions were markedly higher in CP 4-sows than in all other CP. Pen-type P (Pro Dromi) resulted in more neck/back/body side injuries, claw horn changes and lame sows compared to all other PT. High odds ratios were also found for neck injuries in PT K (Knick), shoulder sores in PT K and T (Trapez), injured teats in PT F (Flügel) and body side injuries in PT S (SWAP). The types of lesions found in the present study are similar to those reported for crates caused by pen structures. While an overall assessment of pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) production husbandry systems must also take piglet welfare into account, this study showed that keeping confinement periods as short as possible improves sow welfare and systems should be adapted to also cater for the needs of sows.

A survey was performed in the Spring of 1995 to map postgraduate education world-wide in animal welfare and ethics. Twenty-one universities in ten countries on three continents were identified, that either offered, or had definite plans to start, postgraduate courses relating to animal welfare and/or ethics. Of these universities nine were European, one Australian, one New Zealand, one Canadian and nine were American. In Australia, Canada and the United States courses are given during a semester or quarter of a semester, while in Europe short but concentrated courses or seminars are more common, with several of them aimed at practising veterinarians rather than at postgraduate students. Interest in the subject of animal welfare and ethics seems to be increasing. Many of the existing courses were started during recent years, and two of the most comprehensive programmes offered were started in 1995. Also, four chairs in animal welfare were recently established or were advertised in Europe at the time of this survey. One chair had been established in 1994, in New Zealand, one was to be advertised in the United States and one in Canada. Another trend is towards the establishment of ‘centres’ for the study of animal welfare issues. Associated with these new chairs and centres, educational programmes will probably be started. Few of the present courses focus mainly on farm animal issues, instead they cover a large spectrum of the human-animal relationship. Ethics is a minor part of the courses as compared to the science and animal welfare components.

Much of my research has been devoted to determining the cognitive and communicative abilities of Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus), but other companion animals and those in captivity in Zoos also have considerable capacities that are often under-utilised in such settings. Many such animals are left to their own devices for large parts of the day; their boredom may translate into unsuitable behaviour patterns. In order to address this problem, my colleagues and I began to devise various computer-based ‘toys’ that would not only provide enrichment in the sense of relieving boredom and reproducing situations somewhat like the challenges faced by animals in the wild on a daily basis, but also would help us determine the extent of these animals’ cognitive capacities. Some of these systems allow remote interactions between owners and their pets and others might be adapted for animal-animal interactions. In this paper I will describe these projects, their aims, and our limited progress.

In Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, the number of pets and pet owners has been increasing in recent years. The experiences people have with pets might impact their relationships with animals in general and especially attitudes towards animal protection and use. However, research on the impact of pet ownership on values and attitudes towards animals is relatively scarce. We analyse associations of pet ownership with different values and attitudes towards animals. We derived seven attitude constructs towards animals from three different datasets using Principal Component Analyses. Data were collected using standardised online surveys with German residents (dataset 1 = 1,049 respondents; dataset 2 = 414 respondents; dataset 3 = 1,048 respondents). All three samples are non-probability quota samples. The seven attitudinal constructs represent values and attitudes towards animals ranging from general values and attitudes towards, eg animal protection, to more specific attitudes towards, eg eating animals. We analysed the relationship of pet ownership, sex, and age with these constructs using ANOVA. Our results show that effect sizes are small to medium. Pet ownership has the strongest association with more general values and attitudes towards animals, with pet owners being, eg more involved in animal protection and more in favour of awarding fundamental rights to animals. In contrast, we found that more specific attitudes, such as the evaluation of current pig farming systems or attitudes towards eating meat, were more related to sex than pet ownership. Our findings indicate that having pets relates to their owners’ attitudes towards animals, but that this association varies depending on the specificity of attitudes.

Digital Livestock Technologies (DLTs) can assist farmer decision-making and promise benefits to animal health and welfare. However, the extent to which they can help improve animal welfare is unclear. This study explores how DLTs may impact farm management and animal welfare by promoting learning, using the concept of boundary objects. Boundary objects may be interpreted differently by different social worlds but are robust enough to share a common identity across them. They facilitate communication around a common issue, allowing stakeholders to collaborate and co-learn. The type of learning generated may impact management and welfare differently. For example, it may help improve existing strategies (single-loop learning), or initiate reflection on how these strategies were framed initially (double-loop learning). This study focuses on two case studies, during which two DLTs were developed and tested on farms. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders involved in the case studies (n = 31), and the results of a separate survey were used to complement our findings. Findings support the important potential of DLTs to help enhance animal welfare, although the impacts vary between technologies. In both case studies, DLTs facilitated discussions between stakeholders, and whilst both promoted improved management strategies, one also promoted deeper reflection on the importance of animal emotional well-being and on providing opportunities for positive animal welfare. If DLTs are to make significant improvements to animal welfare, greater priority should be given to DLTs that promote a greater understanding of the dimensions of animal welfare and a reframing of values and beliefs with respect to the importance of animals’ well-being.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of chamber stocking rate on facets of animal welfare and efficacy during euthanasia of weaned pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) with argon gas. Two hundred and thirty-three weaned pigs designated for euthanasia at a commercial production farm were randomly assigned to group sizes of one, two, or six pigs. Gas euthanasia of each piglet group was performed in a Euthanex® AgPro chamber. The chamber was filled with argon gas for 6 min in order to reduce the oxygen concentration to less than 2%. Pigs were then placed into the pre-filled chamber and gas flow was continued at a high rate to displace introduced air and re-establish a fatally low residual oxygen concentration. Pigs remained in the chamber for 10 min and were then removed to test for signs of sensibility and life. There was no significant evidence of an effect of stocking rate on focal pig latencies to onset of neuromuscular excitation or last movement, as scored from video recordings. Solitary pigs were more likely to pace and make righting attempts in the chamber than paired or grouped focal pigs, although pigs in higher stocking rate treatments tended to retain posture longer. The results of this study do not support seclusion during argon gas euthanasia as a method of improving animal welfare. The portable chamber did not facilitate a truly pre-filled atmosphere for euthanasia, although the procedure used in this study was consistently effective.

This study examined electroencephalographic (EEG) indices of acute nociception in pigs (Sus scrofa) aged 1, 5, 7, 10, 12 and 15 days, post-natal. Ten pigs per age were anaesthetised with halothane in oxygen and maintained at a light plane of anaesthesia. EEG was recorded bilaterally using a five-electrode montage. Following a 10-min baseline period, tails were docked using side-cutter pliers and recording continued for a further 5 min. Changes in the median frequency (F50), 95% spectral edge frequency (F95) and total power (PTOT) of the EEG were used to assess nociception. Tail-docking at one day of age induced no significant changes in the EEG spectrum. A typical nociceptive response, characterised by an increase in F50 and decrease in PTOT was evident at ten days of age, with five and seven day old pigs exhibiting responses in either F50 or PTOT only. Pooling of data into ≤ 7 days of age and > 7 days of age revealed F50 was higher overall in the older group. Whilst PTOT decreased after docking in both groups, this response was larger and more prolonged in the older group. F95 increased after docking in the older pigs only. Overall, these data provide evidence of an increase in cortical responsiveness to noxious stimulation with increasing post-natal age, suggesting there may be qualitative differences in pain perception between age groups. Further, the data provide some support for current recommendations that tail-docking and other painful husbandry procedures be performed within seven days of birth in order to minimise their impact on animal welfare.

This study evaluates the methods utilised to release and monitor three troops of rehabilitated vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops) in South Africa. In all cases, monitoring was poor and conducted over a short time-frame disallowing release outcomes to be fully assessed. Wild troops were present at two of the three locations, casting doubt upon sightings of released monkeys and indicating that the release sites chosen were unsuitable and presented disease risks to the wild vervets. Eighty-three percent of monkeys were unaccounted for at the end of monitoring. Any future releases should make use of radio or GPS collars to track the monkeys, have a planned monitoring schedule covering a period of at least one year, collect detailed data on behaviour, demographics and ecology and should follow the IUCN Guidelines for Non-Human Primate Re-introductions.

Defining perception, awareness, consciousness and reflexive or self-reflexive consciousness is difficult. I will not linger on definitions of fuzzy concepts but will attempt to put forward evidence for the rationale that awareness is likely to emerge as a consequence of how the brain processes information. Efficiency in information processing has resulted in a limited number of preferential (motivational) states of the brain and, in fact, of the whole organism. In addition, animals have the ability to internally represent external conditions and, through interactions with the motivational state, generate expectations.

It is argued that optimal decision-making requires that possible sequences of behaviours each activate their associated neuronal networks representing cue- and context-related information. Prior to the initiation of an action, the consequences of each possible scenario are estimated. An efficient animal must have the ability to anticipate, weight and choose. This weighting occurs at a hierarchically higher level and results in signals which possess a coordinative function in activating the appropriate motivational state, response selection, activation of associated networks and maintenance of attention.

Higher cognitive executive centres perceive and recognize such signals and integrate ongoing behaviour with internal representations about the past and expectations within the context of the signal induced state. Humans experience these simultaneously-occurring processes as awareness. The nature of the subjective experience may vary from an emotional state to reflexive consciousness depending on the cognitive abilities of the species and the stage of development and the level of arousal in the individual.

When introducing environmental enrichment in laboratory animals, positive and/or negative effects on behavioural and physiological parameters should be evaluated. This three-step randomised controlled trial in male C57BL/6 mice investigated the effect of supplementing the environment with one or more hemp ropes. In part 1, the effect of a hemp rope on aggressive and social behaviour, stress and anxiety levels was assessed by social interaction test, elevated plus maze behaviour, and faecal corticosterone metabolites, respectively (n = 224 mice). In part 2, the effect of 1, 2 or 7 hemp ropes on aggressive behaviour in mice subjected to routine handling was evaluated by assessing the number of wounded companion animals and wounds per animal (n = 224). In part 3, climbing activity in the rope and amount of material shredded from the rope was assessed (n = 56). Mice housed with one hemp rope engaged in social behaviour for longer time than mice housed without a hemp rope, while no difference was detected in stress and anxiety levels. No difference was seen in the number of wounded animals or wounds per animal when adding 1, 2 or 7 hemp ropes to the existing environment in mice undergoing minimal human handling. The mice continuously shredded and climbed the rope, even when provided with a new rope, although time spent climbing decreased slightly over time. Thus, a hemp rope can be used as additional environmental enrichment amongst male C57BL/6 mice.

Farmed juvenile blue foxes were housed either singly, in pairs, or in quartets at a stocking density of either 0.6 m2 or 1.2 m2 per animal. The effects of group size and space allocation on physiological, behavioural and production-related parameters were assessed. The results showed that the larger space allocation, although having only minor effects on the measured parameters, allowed the foxes to maintain their individual space even in the larger group sizes. Social tension within the groups affected the behavioural and production-related parameters to a greater extent than did space allocation. The sex-related dominance order, with males having easier access to feed than females, and females having more bite scars and higher serum cortisol levels than males, appears to be the major factor affecting the general performance of mixed-sex group-housed farmed blue foxes. These results suggest that group housing of farmed juvenile blue foxes could be considered as an alternative, socially enriched way of housing these animals.

Many studies on group-housing of laboratory rabbits to date have focused on management aspects and economic implications. Our aim here is to provide behavioural background information for future investigations focusing on behavioural and welfare aspects of group-housing. In the present study, we established the behavioural repertoire of female laboratory rabbits kept in single-sex groups in enriched floor-pens. Thirty-six adult does of common laboratory breeds were kept in groups of four in enriched floor-pens. Behavioural observations were carried out over a period of 30 months with a total observation time of 21 h per group and 4.2 h per focal animal. Observations took place at natural dusk and dawn and lasted for 120 or 180 min per group. Most of the behavioural elements in the repertoire of mixed-sex wild and domestic rabbits were also observed here in single-sex groups of laboratory does. However, in the absence of males, sexual behaviours were directed towards other females and no maternal behaviours, other than nest building at the end of pseudopregnancies, were exhibited. Attention is drawn to differences between the behavioural repertoire reported here and that of singly caged laboratory rabbits.

This study assessed how sound affected fear- and maintenance-related behaviour in singly housed cats (Felis silvestris catus) in an animal shelter. Two daily 30-min observation sessions (morning and evening) were made for 98 cats from admittance for ten days or until the cat was removed. Cat behaviour and presence of sound (classified by the source) were recorded by instantaneous and one-zero sampling with 15-s intervals. Each 30-min observation session was classified as ‘quiet’ or ‘noisy’ if the one-zero score for presence of sound was above or below the median of sessions at that time of day. To ensure that cats had at least two complete days of comparable observations, statistical analysis was restricted to the 70 cats (30 females, 40 males) present for two or more weekdays. Cats varied widely in the amount of fear and maintenance behaviour they performed. Males showed less fear and maintenance behaviour than females. Morning sessions consistently had much more sound than evenings, and cats showed more fear behaviour and less maintenance behaviour in the mornings. Cats showed more fear behaviour in noisy morning sessions than quiet ones, with no comparable difference in maintenance behaviour. Where sessions included a pronounced transition in sound, fear-related behaviour was more common after a transition from quiet to noisy and less common after a transition from noisy to quiet The results show that shelter cats vary greatly in their responses and suggest that sound in shelter environments can substantially affect their behaviour. Lowering sound levels in shelters may help improve cat welfare.