Sir, The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) launched a new five-year badger culling scheme on December 8 1993, as part of its cattle tuberculosis (TB) eradication programme. After 23 years, there is still no real evidence that badger culling has reduced cattle TB, and a government report even seven years ago noted that culls were not cost-effective and logically should cease (Dunnet et al 1986). There are now plausible grounds for questioning the scientific assumptions underpinning the badger culling scheme, which are neatly epitomized by the two different situations in the UK.

Nowadays in Europe, farmed blue foxes are kept for most of the year in wire-mesh cages furnished with a platform for resting and observing the environment but without any opportunity for hiding from other foxes or from man. We studied the welfare effects of providing an elevated platform and two types of concealment screens in singly housed juvenile male blue foxes (n = 46) from August to December. The foxes were allocated to four experimental groups: group C had no furnishing in the cage, group P had a platform in the cage, group U had a platform and a concealment screen in the cage, and group O had a platform and a concealment screen on the outer wall of the cage. The blue foxes with platforms (groups P, U and O) spent the majority of their time on the platforms both when their cages were approached by man and as revealed by 24 h video recording. The 24 h recordings revealed that the foxes tended to avoid those locations in the cage where the screens obstructed their view (groups U and O); however, when the screens allowed the foxes to hide from an approaching man (group U), they were used for that purpose to some extent. There were no differences between the four groups in terms of growth, increase in rectal temperature after an acutely stressing situation, adrenal size, or fearfulness. The urinary cortisol: creatinine ratio showed that foxes in group U may have been less stressed than those in groups P and O in September, but no differences were observed in October. The concealment screens of group U may have improved the welfare of these blue foxes.

A social group of six badgers (Meles meles) (four adults and two cubs) was translocated from urban Bexhill, East Sussex, in August 1993 to a 1216m2 electrified enclosure in a part of Suffolk largely unoccupied by badgers. Three adult badgers (SY2, SY5 and SY6) escaped from the release site prior to the removal of the perimeter fence on 10 December and established a sett near a village, 2.9km from the release site. In January 1994, the remaining adult (SY4) left the release site and moved 1.8km to the grounds of a youth detention centre. The cubs did not desert the site as readily as the adults.

Home-range sizes for two adult females, SY4 and SY6, remained relatively constant, while that of adult male SY2 increased from 50ha in February to nearly 400ha in April. The range of SY2 overlapped parts of the ranges of the two females, although SY4 and SY6's ranges never overlapped.

The percentage volume of scavenged food in the diet increased monthly between February and April which corresponded to increased garden activity over this period. Earthworms were the most important item in the diet. The establishment of both main setts near housing and the preference for foraging in gardens suggests that badgers released into novel environments may search for familiar habitats.

It is concluded that translocation can successfully establish badgers at new locations. However, translocation as a solution to problems caused by badgers must only be viewed as a last resort, not least due to the potential for disease spread.

There have been important developments in the measurement of farm animal welfare in recent years. Measuring animal welfare is one thing, implementing a farm animal welfare assessment system another. The implementation of such a system occurs in an environment that is influenced by economic, political, technological and socio-cultural factors which interact with each other. This creates enormous complexity, generates a huge number of different potential ‘futures’, and makes the eventual impact that the system will have on the welfare of farm animals uncertain. This article draws upon strategic management literature to apply scenario analysis as a technique to help understand the variance of the uncertainty associated with the implementation of an animal welfare assessment scheme. Specifically, it develops two extreme scenarios based on a theoretical European-wide implementation: one scenario in which all uncertain factors influence the implementation of the assessment system in a negative way, and one scenario in which all these factors have positive impacts. These scenarios provide insight into the variance of possible futures in which the system may have to function. Although consumers are an important stakeholder group, their role in creating uncertainty for the system may be overestimated; it is apparent that the roles of companies, brands and certification organisations deserve significant attention, as well as any relevant institutional structure.

Dairy cows are usually culled and transported from the farm when they no longer meet the farm’s standards for production or are not needed for milk production. Some cows are transported while in poor condition and may deteriorate further during transport. In February 2020, Canadian federal animal transport regulations were revised with the aim to minimise risks to livestock during transport; changes that may impact cull dairy cows included defining compromised cattle and limiting their maximum transport time. This study conducted semi-structured interviews with dairy farmers (n = 6) and cattle haulers (n = 4) in British Columbia, Canada, to gain an in-depth understanding of the effect of the regulations on their practices when shipping and transporting dairy cows to slaughter. Interviews were transcribed in Otter.ai and thematically coded in NVivo 12. While farmer and hauler participants recognised the importance of animal welfare during transport and described practices such as shipping mobile animals to reduce the risk that cows would become non-ambulatory during transport, they also described little change in shipping and transport practices due to the new regulations. Among interviewed participants, barriers to compliance with the regulations appear to be low knowledge of, and mixed or negative attitudes towards the regulations. Participants also described how they felt a lack of communication along the transport chain and limited transport and slaughter infrastructure made compliance difficult. Possible suggestions to remedy these barriers include providing educational resources about the regulations and encouraging communication about cow fitness for transport between responsible parties in the transport chain.

Slaughter is considered an important fish welfare issue. For a slaughter method to be considered humane, effective stunning that lasts until death as well as the reduction of pain and fear throughout all procedures are essential. Our objective was to investigate current techniques for slaughtering fish in Brazil. A digital questionnaire with six multiple-choice and three open questions was distributed to companies registered as fish slaughterhouses and to fish farms in 2019, addressing fish species, quantities processed and slaughter procedures adopted. From 62 facilities in 15 Brazilian states that answered the survey, nine slaughterhouses and 30 fish farms slaughtered fish, totalling 452 tonnes per day. All reported pre-slaughter stunning, and live chilling to be the most commonly cited method (82.0%), followed by electronarcosis (18.0%). Slaughtering techniques included exsanguination (38.5%) and decapitation (2.5%). For the remaining companies, no slaughter method was declared, suggesting death by asphyxiation or by further processing (59.0%). Twenty-nine companies adopted pre-slaughter fasting, lasting from 10 to 48 h. All sites worked with tilapia (100%) and 24 (82.7%) reported that they worked exclusively with this species. Other species reported were: pacu (25.6%), tambacu (17.9%), tambaqui and carp (15.3%), jundiá (12.8%), pintado and pirarucu (7.7%), matrinxã and pangassius (5.1%). Asphyxia and live chilling are not considered humane, as animals remain conscious and, thus, suffer. Results show that most establishments do not perform humane slaughter. This scenario highlights the urgent need for development and enforcement of humane fish slaughter techniques, with routine supervision and normative requirements.

EU legislation stipulates that unfit broilers may not be transported, but no guidelines for fitness-for-transport assessment are provided. Moreover, the impact of pre-slaughter conditions (eg crate stocking density) may depend on broiler fitness. We aimed to evaluate a fitness-assessment method and test physiological responses to the pre-slaughter phase with different stocking densities. Broilers (41 days; n = 1,939) were transported for 45 min at ‘high’ (160 cm2 per kg), ‘medium’ (190 cm2 per kg) or ‘low’ (220 cm2 per kg) stocking density, and were subjected to a commercially representative pre-slaughter phase duration of ≈ 16 h. Pre-loading, lameness, illness, hock burns, foot-pad dermatitis, lesions, physical defects, cleanliness and cachexia were scored on a sample, for categorisation as fit (n = 49) or unfit (n = 25). Blood was collected before and after the pre-slaughter phase for determination of plasma levels of corticosterone (CORT), lactate, glucose and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS). Lameness, foot-pad dermatitis, lesions, illness, defects, and cachexia scores were, or tended to be, correlated with ≥ 1 physiological stress indicators. Unfit chickens tended to show or showed lower pre-transport glucose and lactate levels than fit chickens. Post-lairage, unfit chickens had higher TBARS and lower lactate levels compared to fit chickens. At high and low stocking densities, unfit chickens showed higher CORT levels than fit chickens. Furthermore, CORT levels of unfit chickens increased more at low stocking density. The results show that our method potentially identifies chickens experiencing additional stress during the pre-slaughter phase, due to poor physical condition. High and low stocking density proved a stressor for all, and especially for unfit chickens, with detrimental implications for their welfare.

Primates are highly social animals and appropriate enrichment is required to ensure their psychological well-being. Mirrors are sometimes used as social or sensory environmental enrichment. In this paper we investigate the suitability of mirrors as enrichment for captive primates, by reviewing the literature on mirror implementation in captive primate environments. Mirror-directed responses are mainly social as the mirror self-image is often seen as a conspecific. Although positive exploration and affiliative behaviours are observed, negative aggressive behaviours towards the mirror are most frequently recorded, and abnormal behaviours in primates do not decrease in mirror-enriched environments. There appear to be differences in habituation rates to mirrors amongst primates. While habituation to enrichment is generally perceived to be undesirable, this criterion should not apply when mirrors elicit negative behaviours. Primates that show mirror self-recognition, which are mostly great apes, may be best suitable for mirror enrichment, as they do not perceive the mirror self-image as a threatening conspecific. Increasing the understanding of the reflective properties of a mirror might help primates to understand that the image in the mirror is not real. This could be attained by using small, mobile mirrors. We suggest that mirrors can make decent primate enrichment if the primate understands its reflective properties, which should be evaluated on an individual level. Appropriate use of mirrors as sensory enrichment can improve primate well-being and prevent suffering.

Elements of husbandry procedures, such as handling, may disrupt rodent social behaviour. Such effects may be contingent upon the familiarity between individuals and upon the quality and quantity of the disruption. We investigated this issue using laboratory rats. We placed 36 rats into groups of three. At the point of group formation, and at 24 h, 7 days and two weeks afterwards, individuals received one of three treatments: ‘handling’, exposure to novel conspecific ‘urine’, or ‘control’ (undisturbed), for a duration of either 5 or 15 mins. We used a social recognition test to measure the ability of the rats to recognise the urine of group members of increasing familiarity following the implementation of these treatments. The ‘control’ treatment did not appear to disrupt social recognition. The 5 min ‘urine’ treatment appeared to disrupt recognition only when the rats had received the briefest experience of the ‘familiar’ urine (5 mins). The 5 min ‘handling’ treatment, however, appeared far more disruptive, with an apparent disruption of social recognition even when familiarity with the urine donor was high (eg 7 days of group housing). Both the ‘handling’ and ‘urine’ treatments appeared more disruptive when presented for an increased duration (15 mins). There was also some evidence that increased experience of the handling procedure might reduce its disruptive effect. The results of this study have several implications for the welfare of laboratory-housed rats, and these are discussed.

Maintaining stable breeding groups of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) can be challenging due to the complex social dynamics and despotic nature of the species. Trauma from aggression is a common problem in rhesus colonies and can cause social disruption, strain veterinary and animal management resources, and potentially affect reproduction. Previous research has shown that increasing the number of non-natal adult males in a breeding group can improve group stability, reduce trauma, and increase reproduction. Here, we used mixed-effects regression models to examine the effects of sex ratio and other factors on trauma and reproduction at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center using a historical dataset made up of four large rhesus groups over an eleven-year period (2003-2013). As expected, sex ratio was a significant predictor for both trauma and reproduction. However, group age since formation was a stronger predictor of trauma frequency and the amount of space available was a slightly better predictor of reproduction than sex ratio or trauma. These results indicate that improving sex ratios can be a viable management strategy to reduce trauma and improve reproduction, particularly when it is difficult to manipulate the group compositions and/or their housing situations. Reducing trauma is a primary goal for rhesus breeding colonies, as it directly impacts the monkeys’ health and psychological well-being. Such improvements are necessary for the ethical treatment and care of the animals themselves, but also to reduce financial burdens and maintain a healthy colony for research purposes.

The point of the Piglet Scream Test is to identify those sows that increase the survival of their piglets through good maternal behaviour. For this to work, sows must be shown to differ in their test responsiveness, for differences to be consistent across parities and for responsiveness to be associated with piglet survival. Our data provide some first evidence that outdoor sows, kept under commercial production conditions, differ consistently from each other in their test responsiveness across parities. However, there was no evidence that this was associated with the survival of their litters. This, together with the lack of consistent evidence from other studies for a relationship between Piglet Scream Test responsiveness and piglet survival and concerns about its possible causes, cautions against the use of the test to enhance piglet survival on farms without further study. The paper highlights lack of standardisation of the test and pseudoreplication as concerns.

All emergency and casualty bovines in the Republic of Ireland that are deemed to be fit for human consumption must be accompanied to the slaughterhouse by an official veterinary certificate (VC). Cullinane et al (2010) conducted a review of bovine cases consigned under veterinary certification to emergency (ES) and casualty (CS) slaughter in the Republic of Ireland during 2006 to 2008. The current paper further evaluates these results, with emphasis on the period of validity, transport distance and transport conditions, and considers whether the current VC adequately protects welfare. Of 1,255 veterinary certificates, the median time between certification and slaughter was 1 (minimum 0, maximum 452) day, with one-fifth in excess of three days. The median straight-line distance between farm and slaughterhouse was 22 km; 82 and 98% study animals were transported distances of no more than 40 and 100 km, respectively. In 27% of VCs, no slaughterhouse was designated; hence the transport distance was not limited. In 77% of all cases, the disability/injury was related to the locomotor system, including 35% with limb fractures. Veterinary certification of the latter as being fit for transport appears to have been in contravention of animal transport and welfare legislation. The welfare of animals would be improved if each VC included a certified period of validity. In future, veterinary certificates should state clearly a maximum period of validity between certification and slaughter, a maximum distance that the animal should be transported and a minimum level of comfort under which the animal must be transported. Historically, in the Republic of Ireland, there was no suitable non-transport alternative available to cattle producers wanting to salvage an otherwise healthy animal that had suffered an accident or injury resulting in acute pain. An alternative is now available, with the introduction of an on-farm emergency slaughter policy.

This paper uses the Missyplicity Project ‘s detailed Code of Bioethics as a starting point for discussion of animal rights perspectives on cloning. Although funded by a couple in order to clone their pet dog, the project has more important collateral goals and forms part of a general line of research that, if successful, promises enormous clinical benefits to humans.

A particular type of animal rights perspective is described and used to evaluate this project. This perspective accepts a ‘principle of axiological anthropocentrism’ (PAA), according to which only human beings have certain interests, or a kind of value, which is of pre-eminent moral significance. The best-known animal rights views (those of Singer and Regan) are shown to be consistent with the PAA. This perspective also denies that potential characteristics qualify their possessors for the same type of moral respect as actualized characteristics.

The balancing of potential benefits against risks to research subjects is discussed and it is concluded that, from the particular ethical perspective adopted in this paper, cloning research of this general type is not particularly problematic; and, given its stringent Code of Bioethics, only an abolitionist perspective could condemn the Missyplicity Project in particular.

Heat stress reduction in hutch-reared dairy calves is overlooked on most dairy farms. We hypothesised that during summer, the microclimate within hutches is directly affected by compass direction as a result of differences in exposure to solar radiation. On a bright, mid-August day a number of behavioural and physiological heat stress response measures (respiratory rate, body posture, being in the shade or sun) were recorded in 20-min intervals from 0720-1900h on calves housed in hutches with entrances facing all four points of the compass. In conjunction with this, dry bulb (ambient) and black globe temperatures, and wind speed were recorded both inside the plastic hutches and at one sunny site at the exterior. Data were compared in terms of distinct periods of the day (0720-1100, 1120-1500, 1520-1900h). Dry bulb temperatures were higher inside hutches compared to outside while for black globe temperatures the opposite was true. Daily average temperatures and respiratory rates did not differ between hutches facing different compass points. In the morning and afternoon, hutch temperature and calf respiratory rate differed relative to compass point. Calves in east- and north-facing hutches were seen more in the shade than those in south- and west-facing ones. Our conclusion was that in a continental region having hutch entrances face towards the east or north confers some advantages in mitigating severe solar heat load in summer.

China plays a critical role in global biodiversity conservation, as both a biodiversity hotspot and for its role in international and domestic animal trade. Efforts to promote wildlife conservation have sparked interest in the attitudes held by Chinese citizens towards animals. Using a questionnaire, we sought to investigate the attitudes of 317 Chinese nationals across 22 provincial-level administrative units regarding their uses of animals, their perceived emotional capacities and views on exotic pets. We reduced the variables related to perceived uses of animals via Principal Component Analysis and ran Generalised Linear Models and Structural Equation Modelling to test relationships between questionnaire-derived variables. Perceptions of animals were divided into two Kellert categories — Utilitarian and Humanistic uses — and 97% of participants believed in animals’ capacities to have and express emotions. We found few interactions, with exotic pets, ie playing with or taking photographs, but the acceptability of owning an exotic pet influenced the likelihood of purchasing one. A belief that animals express emotions encouraged people to look for them as pets but thinking that pets make people happy made exotic pet ownership less acceptable. The shift in attitudes to include humanistic perceptions of animals, a belief in animals as emotive beings and understanding of terminology changed from the previous utilitarian views of pre-reform China, suggesting a readiness to embrace further conservation efforts in China. This deeper understanding of Chinese attitudes toward animals and drivers of the exotic pet trade within China may enable conservation efforts to better target future campaigns.

There is a trend toward increasing intensification in dairy farming in the United Kingdom. In particular, there is concern over systems in which cows are housed throughout the year, as the behavioural restriction implicit in these systems is associated with poor welfare in other species. The aim of this on-going project is to determine how this affects the behaviour and welfare of dairy cattle. A range of behavioural, physical and health measures are being used to assess cow welfare on about 40 commercial British dairy farms. Initially, five farm types were identified from analysis of returns from a farmer questionnaire. Milk production level and housing type were the principal factors explaining variation in farm type. The sample groups are: high-, mid- and low-production cubicle-housing units, mid-production straw-court units, and cubicle-housing high-production zero-grazing units. Observations will take place over three winter housing periods (2000/01 to 2002/03), with recording on each unit taking five days. Our main hypothesis is that the behavioural and physical responses of ‘at-risk’ younger cows provide a sensitive indication of farm-level ‘stress’. Cows are marked according to age, and the feed-face videotaped continuously to record feeding time and social interactions. Temporal organisation of behaviour will be analysed using fractal mathematics and qualitative assessment approaches used in a human interaction test. Cow cleanliness, condition score, response to a novel object and the incidences of lameness and leg injury are recorded, and building quality is assessed. Ultimately, multivariate methods will be used to test our underlying hypothesis and to assess effects of housing and production type on behaviour and welfare. This analysis may identify key objective measures of welfare for use in farm assurance schemes.

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.

Stressful housing and management practices affect animals, potentially increasing their receptiveness to pathogens. Since some pathogens do not lead to clinical signs of sickness, subclinical pigs could enter the food-chain, contaminating carcases and offal at slaughter, representing a threat to human health. Here, we assess the feasibility of a new approach (using animal-based welfare outcomes) to investigate the association between the animal welfare status of finishing pigs on-farm and the occurrence of Yersinia enterocolitica and Salmonella enterica in slaughtered pigs in Northern Italy. Thirty batches of finishing pigs were assessed for animal-, resource- and management-based measures according to the Welfare Quality® protocol for pigs on-farm and at slaughter. A sample of five individuals per batch was tested for Y. enterocolitica and S. enterica in tonsils and in mesenteric lymph nodes, respectively, and gross pathological changes were recorded. Environmental faecal samples per batch on-farm were tested for the same pathogens. Univariable logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between batches of pigs that were positive to Y. enterocolitica and S. enterica and indicators of poor welfare. The animal-based measures of welfare, greater on-farm mortality and poor human-animal relationship, were found to be associated with Y. enterocolitica. This study provides a good indication of the validity of this approach, but there is a need for larger-scale studies in the future to confirm the magnitude of the associations between these animal welfare and food safety indicators.

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.

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.