The possibility of lessening the adverse welfare impact of artificial rearing was assessed in thirty Comisana lambs under conditions of ad libitum feeding. The lambs were assigned to a control dam-suckled group (DS) or to one of two test groups, each consisting of 10 animals. 18-24h after parturition, test lambs were separated from their dams: during the first postseparation week 10 subjects (EM) were offered ewe milk and the other 10 (MX) a 50:50 mix of ewe milk and a milk substitute. An artificial feeding system, to which the test lambs had free access, was filled with milk twice daily. After the first week, a transition from EM or MX to 100 per cent (reconstituted) milk substitute was carried out over 3 days in both test groups, gradually reducing the proportion of ewe's milk. In vivo cell-mediated immune response of lambs to phytohemagglutinin percutaneous injection were evaluated at 5, 15 and 25 days of age. At 10 and 20 days of age, all lambs were subjected to 15min isolation tests, during which latency to move, duration of movement and number of bleats were recorded. Blood samples were collected immediately before the test and 15 and 60min after, in order to assess the effect of differential rearing on the Cortisol response of animals at different ages. In addition, the weight gain of lambs was recorded during the first 35 days of age at weekly intervals. Latency to move and duration of movement were not significantly affected by the experimental treatment, whereas the number of bleats was higher (P < 0.001) in dam-suckled lambs compared to test lambs at both 10 and 20 days of age. Neither immune response nor Cortisol levels were affected by milk source. Although weight gain increased with increasing amounts of ewe's milk in the diet, the overall differences between the three groups were small and not significant. These findings suggest that the provision of ewe milk or a mix of ewe milk and a milk substitute during the first post-separation week can be a suitable strategy to sustain the welfare and production performance in the artificially reared lamb.

Assessments and predictions of patient quality of life (QoL) permeate many veterinary decisions, including (1) whether to perform a procedure due to concurrent QoL issues, (2) whether a procedure will negatively affect QoL in the near or distant future, and (3) whether QoL is poor enough to warrant euthanasia. In order to understand how veterinarians manage decisions relating to patient well-being, interviews with 41 veterinarians and over 100 hours of observations of 10 veterinarians were conducted. Participants held diverse views regarding the type of parameters that should be included when defining QoL. Interestingly, they also held differing views about who should be assessing patient QoL, with some participants believing that animals' owners were better able to assess patient QoL than veterinarians. For these veterinarians, respecting the client's autonomy in deciding what was best for the patient weighed heavily in their decisions. Other veterinarians felt that they, rather than the client, were the best assessors of QoL and felt justified in persuading clients to follow a certain course of action (often considered a paternalistic approach). These findings raise some interesting questions for the profession. What role should veterinarians play when assessing patient QoL? When is paternalism acceptable or even mandatory in veterinary medicine? Does respecting client autonomy also require an evaluation of the client's abilities to make appropriate decisions for the patient? The lack of uniformity in defining and assessing patient QoL highlights the need for increased dialogue with respect to veterinarians' responsibilities to both animals and clients.

The frequency, intensity and location of fence line pacing were observed daily, in four groups of six farmed red deer hinds, over a 3-week period at calving. The groups were confined in neighbouring paddocks (5000m2 in area; two containing a wooden shelter) adjacent to deer yards containing an observation hide. At 1100h, a person entered each paddock to weigh, sex and tag newborn calves.

Pacing (moving parallel to and within 0.5m of a fence line) was mainly at walking speed, and its frequency differed according to the time relative to parturition. It was recorded in 13.6 (± 1.09) per cent of observations during the period 2-4 to days before calving, increased to 27.6 (± 1.9)per cent on the day before birth and then declined to 4.6 (± 0.39) per cent for the period of 0-3 days after calving. Pacing relative to total movement was greater before (65.7%) than after (43.5%) parturition (SED 3.7%; P < 0.001), indicating that it was not just a consequence of greater activity before birth. The hinds were observed to be grouped together rather than distributed randomly, but when some of the hinds were pacing, groups were spread out over more quarters of the paddock than when none were pacing (P < 0.001). However, there was no definite suggestion of avoidance of other deer. Within each group, most pacing occurred along certain fence lines, but no general pattern was observed. Regardless of whether hinds had given birth or not, there were graded increases in pacing depending on the degree of human presence (not present<within deer yards <visible<in paddock; P < 0.05); and deer favoured areas distant from human presence (P < 0.01). The findings in relation to fence line pacing and location support suggestions that human interference at calving should be minimized, but did not indicate which environmental features were responsible for this motivational drive.

Broiler breeder chickens are commonly reared under strict feed-restriction regimes to reduce obesity-induced health and fertility problems during adult life, and are assumed to experience a reduced welfare due to the resulting hunger. In these conditions, feed competition could influence the growth rate, so that the individuals falling behind in growth would experience more stress and hunger. We hypothesised that these chickens are poor competitors due to a reactive coping style and experience a further reduced welfare situation before size-sorting (‘grading’) at four weeks of age. Our results from open field, tonic immobility and home pen activity monitoring show signs of lower fear and higher home-pen activity levels in smaller hens and do not support the idea of reactive coping. H/L ratios of smaller hens were also found to be lower, indicating less stress in these birds. Dissections of smaller and larger four-week breeder hens may offer an explanation in the form of a relatively larger gastrointestinal tract in smaller birds. We argue that this is a form of habituation to restricted feeding, offering these birds a physiological stress coping mechanism, and that low early growth rate may not always be a sign of poorer welfare in broiler breeders.

As part of a translocation project, 28 Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra) were captured from the wild and transported to the Barcelona Zoo for veterinary evaluation, quarantine and intraperitoneal implantation of telemetry devices. Eleven animals were injected with the long-acting neuroleptic (LAN) perphenazine enanthate at the time of capture and the remaining animals served as a control group. During their time in captivity, which averaged 23 days, all of the animals were bled three times. Haematological and biochemical parameters were evaluated, including red blood cell count (RBC), haemoglobin (Hb), white blood cell count (WBC), blood urea, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (AP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), albumin, and serum cortisol. No significant differences were found between treated and control otters except for monocyte count, which was higher in treated animals. Time after capture had an effect on many parameters. RBC and Hb decreased at first and then increased, while WBC and segmented neutrophils decreased over time. Most of the biochemical parameters considered to vary in relation to stress, including AST, ALT, CK, AP and LDH, decreased over time, suggesting that the stress responses of the animals decreased throughout the period of captivity. However, no significant change in serum cortisol levels was noted. The lack of effect of perphenazine treatment on haematological parameters should encourage further research on other stress indicators applicable to wild animals, such as behaviour or faecal cortisol concentration. Finally, the results obtained in this study suggest that, when captive conditions are adequate, keeping wild-caught animals in human care for a period of time prior to their release into the wild can be beneficial. However, further studies taking into account other welfare indicators would be useful.

The most significant welfare problems associated with the current design of the shackle lines and water-bath stunners are the pain caused by compression of the birds’ legs in the shackles, the stress caused by being inverted and suspended by the legs, poor or inadequate stunning caused by the commercial need to minimise carcase damage, and poor water-bath entry. Research is described in which some practical solutions to these problems were investigated. The aim is to identify solutions that individually, or jointly, could be retro-fitted to existing plants, or incorporated into the design of new, small processing plants to improve poultry welfare. The development and commercial availability of such systems would enable small, local and niche market poultry processing lines to continue operating following the implementation of EC Council Regulation No 1099/2009.

The effects of presumed long distance transport on blood parameters were examined in cattle and water buffalo exported from India to Bangladesh. The aim was to assess the welfare of the animals in terms of the frequency of dehydration, metabolic depletion and muscle injury or activation, when they reached their destination. The physiological indicators were total plasma protein, serum sodium, plasma glucose, serum non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and serum creatine kinase (CK). Ninety-eight cattle and 57 water buffalo were randomly selected from 24 trucks as they arrived at the market between 0700 and 1000h each day during the hot season (April). In the majority of animals, all five blood variables were higher than published normal values. In all the cattle, total plasma protein concentration, serum NEFA concentration and serum CK activity were higher than the normal range and these values were higher than normal in over 84% of the buffalo. Seventy-two percent of all the animals were hypernatraemic. About 90% of the buffalo and 86% of the cattle were hyperglycaemic. There were no differences in total plasma protein and serum sodium between cattle and water buffalo. By contrast, cattle had significantly higher NEFA and CK and lower glucose than water buffalo. It was evident that this long distance export trade was associated with dehydration, lipolysis and muscle injury or activation. It is recommended that both cattle and water buffalo are given adequate feed and water whenever they are off-loaded from vehicles during the course of journeys.

The brick kilns in India are associated with extremely low pay, poor working conditions and a lack of regulation. Equids, however, may provide a route out of poverty by enabling workers to access a higher income. The relatively higher financial returns from healthy equids could also motivate welfare improvements. We used a mixed-methods approach including livelihoods questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and welfare assessments to investigate the links between poverty, equid ownership and equid welfare in the brick kilns of Ahmedabad, India. Whilst equid owners earned more than non-owners during the kiln season, the opposite trend was found for these workers for work conducted outside of the kilns during the off-season. Equid ownership was, however, strongly influenced by social factors and, within certain communities, equid ownership may be the only viable escape from extreme poverty. In terms of welfare, equid behaviour was better for owners with better financial security, likely due to the availability of resources. Equid health improved with longevity of ownership, suggesting that owners who view working with their equids as a long-term partnership are more likely to ensure their equids are kept in good health. For stakeholders aiming to improve both human health and equid welfare, a ‘one welfare’ approach which values the intrinsic connections between poverty and both equid ownership and equid welfare could greatly increase success.

Domesticated horses (Equus caballus) can be exposed to a compromised welfare state and detecting a deterioration in welfare is essential to modify the animals’ living conditions appropriately. This study focused on four categories of behavioural indicators, as markers of poor welfare: stereotypies, aggressiveness towards humans, unresponsiveness to the environment and hypervigilance. In the scientific literature, at least three assessment methods can be used to evaluate them: the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) protocol, behavioural observations using scans and surveys. The question remains as to whether all these three methods allow an effective assessment of the four categories of behavioural indicators. To address this issue, the repeatability at a three-month interval and convergent validity of each measure (correlations between methods) were investigated on 202 horses housed in loose boxes. Overall, the repeatability and convergent validity were limited, highlighting the difficulty in assessing these indicators in horses. However, stereotypies and aggressiveness measures showed higher repeatability and convergent validity than those of unresponsiveness to the environment and hypervigilance. Behavioural observations using scans enabled the four categories of behavioural indicators to be detected more effectively. Suggestions of improvements are proposed for one-off measures such as those performed with the AWIN protocol. Regardless of the assessment method, very limited correlations were observed between the four categories of behavioural indicators, suggesting that they should all be included in a set of indicators used to assess the welfare state of horses, in conjunction with physiological and health measures.

The present experiment compared the fear-related behaviour of a mouse strain selected over 101 generations for high litter size with that of a randomly selected strain. The H-strain, selected for large litter size, has a mean (± SD) litter size at birth of 21.5 ± 3.5 pups. The randomly bred C-strain has a mean (± SD) litter size of 9.6 ± 2.2 pups. The elevated plus-maze, the light:dark test and a resident:intruder test were used to measure how the mice responded to novelty. In the elevated plus-maze, a well-validated model of animal anxiety, the H-strain was significantly more anxious (having a lower percentage of entries into open arms) than the C-strain at 9 weeks of age. In the light: dark test, in which the light levels were similar to those in the home environment, the H-strain did not differ significantly from the C-strain in its avoidance of the brightest area. In the resident: intruder test, where aggression-trained, older H-strain males were the residents, 11-week-old intruding mice of the C-strain spent a higher percentage of their time in flight and immobility than intruders of the H-strain. There were clear anxiety- and fear-related differences between the strains, which may be related to their selection history. The results illustrate a need for further studies on the consequences of selection for increased production for the ability of animals to adapt to their home environment and cope with environmental changes.

Small laboratory animals are commonly euthanased via intraperitoneal (IP) injection of sodium pentobarbital. However, there is concern that animals may experience pain prior to loss of consciousness with this delivery route. The present study investigated electroencephalographic (EEG) nociceptive responses of anaesthetised pigs to IP sodium pentobarbital injection using an established minimal anaesthesia model. Thirty commercial white line entire male pigs aged 10-15 days were minimally anaesthetised with halothane in oxygen. Following 10 min of baseline EEG data collection, pigs had their tails docked using side-cutters and, after a further 5-min interval, were euthanased via IP injection of sodium pentobarbital (250 mg kg-1). The summary variables median frequency (F50), 95% spectral edge frequency (F95) and total power (PTOT) were derived from the EEG data. For each variable in each pig, means were calculated for the following 60-s periods: immediately prior to tail-docking (baseline 1); immediately prior to pentobarbital injection (at least 4 min after docking; baseline 2); and for two consecutive 60-s periods immediately following pentobarbital injection (P1 and P2). Statistical analyses revealed no differences between the two baseline periods, indicating that transient EEG changes induced by tail-docking had resolved prior to pentobarbital injection. IP pentobarbital injection induced a significant increase in F50 and decrease in PTOT of the EEG during P1. This response is characteristic of acute nociception, indicating that conscious pigs likely perceive IP sodium pentobarbital as painful in the period prior to loss of consciousness.

Welfare is being promoted as a reason why ostriches should not be kept on farms in Europe. It is reasoned that the climate, particularly during winter, is unsuitable for these birds despite there being little scientific evidence to support this claim. This study recorded the frequency of behaviours of male and female adult ostriches kept on a farm in Britain during the spring of 1996. ‘Rainy’, ‘dull and dry’, ‘bright and dry’, and ‘sunny’ weather categories were used to assess the influence of climate on behaviour. Six main behaviours (sitting, standing, pacing, walking, foraging and feeding) were observed together with a variety of low frequency ‘other’ behaviours which were combined for analysis. Gender had no significant effect on any of the behaviour frequencies. During ‘rainy’ periods both males and females showed sitting behaviour five times more than during ‘dull’ and ‘bright’ weather and two and a half times more than during ‘sunny’ weather. Increased sitting behaviour during rainy periods was due to a significant reduction in pacing and ‘other’ behaviours with no significant effect on feeding and foraging behaviours. Sitting during sunny weather also occurred more often than during dull and bright weather but not at the expense of any other particular behaviour. Adult ostriches in Britain alter their behaviour in response to prevailing weather conditions, particularly rain.

A simple technique for investigating gut passage times in small New World primates was developed, which produced good results without any need for special housing or diet, or for the separation of monkeys from their groups. This technique, which allowed the administration of a faecal marker, chromium oxide, to specific individuals, was used to investigate gut passage times in five species of the genera Callithrix, Saguinus, Leontopithecus and Callimico. Overall, average gut passage time was 4.5 hours, and there were no species differences. Such nondisruptive methods could help in assessing the effects of dietary changes in captive monkeys, and therefore be of considerable value in improving captive diets and hence welfare and breeding success.

Single housing is believed to be chronically stressful and to have a negative impact on welfare and cognition in rats (Rattus norvegicus). However, single housing does not consistently evoke stress-like responses nor does it consistently impair cognitive performance. In an experiment in which all cages were separated by an opaque barrier, single- and pair-housed pigmented (dark-eyed) rats performed equally in a cognitive test and displayed similar levels of anxiety during testing. Additionally, bar biting in the home cage did not differ between the two groups. Stress levels both during cognitive testing and in the home cage were higher than those we have previously reported when rats were housed without opaque barriers between the cages. We conclude that visual interactions between rats in different cages may be of sufficient significance that single housing in a cage with a view to neighbouring rats and to the rest of the laboratory holding room may be preferable to pair housing in a cage without this view.

Risk is defined as a situation involving exposure to danger. Risk assessment by nature characterises the probability of a negative event occurring and quantifies the consequences of such an event. Risk assessment is increasingly being used in the field of animal welfare as a means of drawing comparisons between multiple welfare problems within and between species and identifying those that should be prioritised by policy-makers, either because they affect a large proportion of the population or because they have particularly severe consequences for those affected. The assessment of risk is typically based on three fundamental factors: intensity of consequences, duration affected by consequences and prevalence. However, it has been recognised that these factors alone do not give a complete picture of a hazard and its associated consequences. Rather, to get a complete picture, it is important to also consider information about the hazard itself: probability of exposure to the hazard and duration of exposure to the hazard. The method has been applied to a variety of farmed species (eg poultry, dairy cows, farmed fish), investigating housing, husbandry and slaughter procedures, as well as companion animals, where it has been used to compare inherited defects in pedigree dogs and horses. To what extent can we trust current risk assessment methods to get the priorities straight? How should we interpret the results produced by such assessments? Here, the potential difficulties and pitfalls of the welfare risk assessment method will be discussed: (i) the assumption that welfare hazards are independent; (ii) the problem of quantifying the model parameters; and (iii) assessing and incorporating variability and uncertainty into welfare risk assessments.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how farm animal welfare (FAW) is internalised in consumers’ purchasing decisions at the point of purchase. The study is based on means-end chain theory and the laddering interview technique to elicit respondents’ mental representation of attributes, consequences and values of an animal food product. Respondents were approached and interviewed at the point of purchase in two supermarkets in Uppsala, Sweden. A summary representation of respondents’ mental representation of attributes, consequences and values of an animal food product (pork fillet) was created. The findings indicate that FAW is the most salient means-end-chain element FAW enters respondents’ mental representation of pork fillet at the point of purchase as a consequence of other elements. FAW is considered to lead to values of hedonism and universalism type. This study contributes to the literature by detailing how animal welfare can be embedded in consumers’ mental representation of cause and effect of animal food product attributes at the point of purchase. The findings are useful practically for policy-makers and for agri-business and other actors in the food value chain who would like to promote enhanced FAW. The findings also provide insight into how FAW can be promoted through market-based solutions.

One challenge with animal welfare assessment programmes is that standards that make a meaningful difference to welfare can be difficult for a broad spectrum of producers to meet, thereby preventing many from engaging at all. Global Animal Partnership's (GAP's) 5-Step™ Animal Welfare Rating Standards are unique in that they are designed as a multi-tiered system that encourages continuous welfare improvement. The 5-Step program allows for a wide variety of production models — from small farms raising fewer than 50 animals in extensive, outdoor systems to larger, indoor operations raising tens of millions — and allows producers to move up the Steps as they choose. Each additional Step provides a four-fold benefit: the animals have improved welfare, the producer has the opportunity of greater rewards and more accurate representation of her or his farming practices, retailers can provide wider product selection to meet their customer demands, and consumers have the guarantee of ever-increasing, welfare-friendly choices as well as a transparent source of information on how their meat was raised. GAP began piloting its 5-Step program in 2008 with comprehensive on-farm/on-ranch and transport standards for meat chickens, pigs and beef cattle in an exclusive, two-year partnership with Whole Foods Market (WFM), North America's largest natural-foods grocer. The variety of farms and ranches supplying WFM provided a thorough testing ground for the programme. Chicken, pork, beef and turkey products ranging from Step 1 to Step 5+ are available regionally in WFM stores in the USA and Canada. Having successfully completed this pilot phase with WFM, GAP is now negotiating with other retailers, both restaurants and grocers, as well as further-processors, in North America and beyond. The essence of the Steps is captured by the following phrases: Step 1 — no crowding, cages or crates; Step 2 — an enriched environment; Step 3 — enhanced outdoor access; Step 4 — pasture centred; Step 5 — animal-centred: bred for the outdoors; and Step 5+ — animal-centred: entire life on the same farm. As of 1 December 2011, more than 1,740 third-party audited and certified farms and ranches are raising more than 140 million animals annually according to GAP's 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating Standards.

Soiling of nests in modified cages for laying hens might be reduced by using a wire mesh floor for the nest. However, use of such a material might be contrary to the preferences of the hens and compromise their welfare. Twenty-four laying hens were housed singly in modified cages which incorporated two nests. One nest had the standard perforated plastic floor whilst the other had one of two types of metal mesh floor. To determine whether hens preferred any one of the floor types for oviposition, the positions of the nest floors were swapped three times during 110 days. The hens showed a dichotomy in their behaviour after the nestfloors were swapped: the majority (12 of those making a consistent choice) continued to lay in the same nest location (ie location conservative) whereas 6-9 hens changed the nest in which they laid (ie floor type conservative). Only one of the floor type conservative hens preferred to lay on metal mesh. These results show that although the majority of hens showed no apparent aversion to laying in nests with metal mesh floors, 57-68 per cent preferred plastic floors and changed location to lay on this substrate.

One of the contributing factors leading to the development of serious foot problems such as bumblefoot (pododermatitis) in captive birds is an abnormally sedentary lifestyle. This study investigated the effects of feeding enrichment on the activity levels of a captive colony of seven Waldrapps or Northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) at Tilgate Nature Centre in Sussex. After the introduction of a simple and inexpensive feeding enrichment device, the proportion of time the ibis spent inactive on perches was significantly reduced, with a corresponding increase in the proportion of time allocated to active behaviours such as walking, flying and foraging on the ground. Feeding enrichment, over the longer term, also resulted in a significant reduction in levels of aggression between individuals within the colony. The scope of this study is limited by the relatively small sample size, but nevertheless the findings suggest that the use of feeding enrichment for captive Waldrapp ibis has a number of beneficial effects.

Physiological and behavioural responses to stressors may affect experimental results. Since individual animals differ in their pattern of response to stressors, it is suggested that stress during experiments has the potential for increasing variability in responses to experimental treatments. Evidence supporting this is given from experiments carried out on farm animals. The main factors accounting for individual differences in response to stressors such as handling are habituation, early experiences and genetic background. Several ways of reducing stress during experiments are suggested and the need for skilful and humane handling is emphasized. It is concluded that reducing stress during experiments will have welfare benefits and may reduce the number of animals that need to be used.