Development of a model animal welfare act curriculum

Animal-welfare issues are often controversial and frequently have an emotional component. Veterinarians have extensive knowledge, experience, and scientific perspective and are arguably the professionals best suited to advise and develop recommendations on animal welfare. The development of an Animal Welfare Act (AWA) teaching module is a first step toward educating veterinary students about animal welfare. This article presents the current development status of this curriculum project, which is intended to be a valuable addition to the evolving veterinary education on animal welfare.     

Integrating animal welfare into veterinary education: using an online, interactive course

Veterinarians in the United States and abroad are faced with growing public concern for the welfare of animals, particularly those in production. To prepare veterinarians to exert the leadership expected by the public and industry, steps should be taken to provide instruction in animal welfare at veterinary colleges. The ultimate goal is to offer courses in animal welfare in a consistent manner on a global scale, utilizing existing expertise in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Given the intense curricula of veterinary schools and the scarcity of instructors trained in animal welfare, a nontraditional approach is needed to educate veterinary students in the United States and abroad in animal welfare. Michigan State University (MSU) is developing a graduate-level, online interactive course in animal welfare assessment. The course will approach the topic of animal welfare education from a holistic, multidisciplinary standpoint (encompassing ethics, economics, and behavior) and address issues important to the general public and the international community. The MSU course will draw on renowned international animal welfare experts, allowing students to receive high-quality education that would be difficult in any other circumstance. The course will bridge an important gap in the veterinary curriculum and offer a complete and congruous education in animal welfare to veterinarians worldwide. The MSU course will also serve as a model for collaboration in content assembly and course delivery, by using technology to leverage global expertise in the interests of educational equity. In addition to innovative technology, such as the use of Web-collaboration software to create the course, a variety of media that enable students to interact with the material will also be incorporated throughout the course. Thus, the course will not only utilize the Internet to provide access to high-quality material, but will also require the active participation of the student, which is needed for effective learning.     

American veterinarians' animal welfare limitations

American society is becoming increasingly interested in issues of animal welfare, and the public generally recognizes the need for guidance from experts in the field. Assessing an animal's welfare status requires a determination of the state of both its physical and its psychological well-being. American veterinarians are well trained to assess the physical state of most animals, but they do not receive equivalent training in assessing an animal's psychological state. Therefore, the recognized expertise of the American veterinary profession currently lies only in answering physical welfare questions, not in assessing the psychological (or societal) aspects of animal welfare issues. If American veterinarians wish to be seen as animal welfare experts, then it is critical for the profession to educate its members in assessing the psychological state of animals. Also, if the American Veterinary Medical Association wishes to be considered a leader in the field of animal welfare, it must partner with organizations with expertise in pertinent areas outside of the veterinary medical field to develop appropriate guidelines for American society, including the development of a widely accepted system for defining and determining overall animal welfare. If American veterinarians actively work to improve our strengths and combine them with those of experts in other fields, we can overcome our limitations as animal welfare experts and achieve wider acceptance as an important force for improving animal welfare.     

Attitudes of Australian and Turkish veterinary faculty toward animal welfare

The attitudes of veterinary faculty toward animal welfare were surveyed in four Australian and three Turkish veterinary schools. The former were considered to be typical of modern Western schools, with a faculty of more than 40% women and a primary focus on companion animals, whereas the latter were considered to represent more traditional veterinary teaching establishments, with a faculty of 88% men and a primary focus on livestock. A total of 116 faculty responded to the survey (42 Australian and 74 Turkish faculty members), for response rates of 30% and 33%, respectively. This survey included demographic questions as well as questions about attitudes toward animal-welfare issues. Women were more concerned than men about animal-welfare issues, especially the use of animals in experiments, zoos, entertainment, and sports and for food and clothing. Total scores demonstrated different concerns among Turkish and Australian faculty. The study demonstrates that the veterinary faculty of these two countries have different concerns for animal welfare, concerns that should be acknowledged in considering the welfare attitudes that students may adopt.     

Teaching animal welfare science, ethics, and law to veterinary students in the United kingdom

Teaching veterinary students about animal welfare science, ethics, and law has been identified as a priority of the veterinary curriculum. Suggested content for such a course, the stage at which it should be taught, and possible methods of teaching and assessing the subject have been outlined. Critically, such a course needs to address the quantification of the impact of humans on animals (welfare science), the analysis of our moral obligations (welfare ethics), and knowledge of minimum welfare standards (welfare legislation). A mixture of both teaching methods and assessment techniques is needed to ensure that sufficient skills and knowledge and a deeper understanding are achieved.     

Animal welfare education in Turkey

Veterinary medical education in Turkey began in 1842 and is now offered by 17 universities. Since 1895, topics related to animal welfare have been covered as part of the curriculum in courses titled Deontology, Health Inspection, and Laws of Veterinary Medicine. During the 2004/2005 academic year, for the first time, animal welfare was included as a separate course as part of the curriculum in two veterinary faculties. As a result of curriculum adjustment efforts at both national and international levels, the animal-welfare course is now expected to be required for all veterinary students in Turkey. This study reports on the development of animal-welfare curricula in veterinary medical education in Turkey and describes the historical events from which the appreciation of it arose.     

Results of a national survey of US veterinary college faculty regarding attitudes toward farm animal welfare

OBJECTIVE: To examine attitudes toward farm animal welfare among veterinary college faculty. DESIGN: E-mail survey. STUDY POPULATION: 157 US veterinary college faculty with large animal or food animal emphasis. PROCEDURE: Veterinarians from 27 US veterinary colleges were contacted via e-mail and asked to complete a 7-page survey relating to farm animal welfare issues. Thirty-one percent of those contacted responded. RESULTS: 71% of respondents self-characterized their attitude toward farm animal welfare as "we can use animals for the greater human good but have an obligation to provide for the majority of the animals' physiologic and behavioral needs." An additional 19% of respondents were more concerned about animal welfare than was indicated by that statement, and 10% were less concerned about farm animal welfare than was indicated by that statement. Significant relationships among demographic variables and attitude scores were observed, including more concerned attitudes among females, those with more liberal political views, and those who cited lower religiosity. No relationship between attitude and age was observed. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Veterinary college faculty have the opportunity to impact many stakeholders within the animal agriculture industries (eg, future veterinarians and policy makers looking for a veterinary science perspective). Results indicated that a considerable level of concern toward farm animal welfare is present in this population. Although the process of change may not be rapid, it is likely that the influence of these respondents will factor heavily into enhancing farm animal welfare.     

Animal welfare training at the Ontario Veterinary College

The University of Guelph is internationally recognized as a leader in animal welfare and is home to the Colonel K.L. Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare and to numerous faculty with expertise in the discipline. However, while animal welfare receives significant attention within the agricultural college, its didactic teaching within the veterinary curriculum has been limited. Veterinary students receive four hours of instruction in animal ethics and apply their knowledge within the communication lectures and laboratories, totaling 11-15 hrs. Compulsory coursework explicitly addressing factual components of animal welfare science, welfare assessment, and associated animal-related policy constitute only 12 hrs throughout the four-year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine curriculum. However, an elective final-year clinical rotation and a graduate course specific to animal welfare were offered for the first time in 2004/2005. Student interest in animal welfare is evident through their participation in summer research projects in animal welfare, an animal welfare mentor group, and a student-run animal welfare club that organizes an Animal Welfare Forum each October. Veterinarians have important contributions to make in decision making about animal welfare issues, at clinician and policy levels. Although motivated individuals can seek out opportunities to expand their knowledge of animal welfare, a compulsory senior-level course in animal welfare is needed to develop the necessary depth of understanding of this discipline if veterinarians, as a profession, are to meet society's expectations about animal welfare.     

Ecologic and symbiotic approaches to animal welfare, animal rights, and human responsibility

Veterinarians confronted with situations involving animal welfare, animal rights, and human responsibility assume practical importance in the relationships of veterinarians with clients and other constituencies. To help resolve these situations, the authors briefly compare economics and ethics and discuss the types of rights. An attempt is made to bring animal welfare and animal rights into the same conceptual framework, using an ecologic approach. This reaches the thesis that the less human beings allow animals the right of self-determination, the more we should exercise responsibility in their care and welfare. Actively exercised human responsibility in all uses of animals is offered as a practical and valid alternative to the extreme of abolitionism. This alternative also is applied in a cautionary way to the role of veterinary medicine in specieism. The veterinary profession is urged to be active in the middle ground of the field of animal rights and to firmly establish its relationships to animal welfare and human responsibility.     

Teaching animal welfare at the University of Sydney's Faculty of Veterinary Science

Animal welfare is part of the Mission Statement of the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney and is taught throughout the undergraduate curriculum. Two units of study have a particular focus on animal welfare: Professional Practice in years 1, 2, and 3 and Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science in year 3. There is an emphasis on the refinement and development of alternatives to the use of animals in teaching. With a conscientious objection policy in place, these elements of our approach demonstrate the increasing importance of ethical teaching in the faculty. Undergraduate students have recently founded a vibrant special interest group called Veterinary Students for Animal Welfare. The faculty is advised on matters relating to animal welfare by its Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, chaired by the Sub-Dean for Animal Welfare. With the development of a Faculty Animal Welfare Policy, the faculty is progressing to a more proactive and public profile on animal welfare issues.     

Teaching animal welfare in the land grant universities

Colleges and universities have an obligation to teach the basis of animal husbandry and welfare and must prepare students so that they can respond effectively to challenges by proponents of the animal welfare and animal rights movements. Veterinary curricula must now contain formal instruction in professional ethics and humane stewardship of animals for accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association. It is helpful if students have an understanding of farm animal behavior, stress physiology and methods of assessing welfare prior to learning about the animal welfare/rights movement's philosophies and issues. A review of early judicial practices, "classical" Judeo-Christian philosophy, the philosophy of Rene Descartes, Jeremy Bentham, Albert Schweitzer, and current philosophers and the entertainment media places the movements in perspective. Students should be familiar with such concepts as the mind-body controversy, equality of suffering, self-awareness or intelligence, and speciesism. After acquiring an appreciation of the basics, a knowledge of the issues facing animal agriculture and the arguments for and against each issue are necessary. Graduates of colleges of agriculture need to realize the potential effects the movements can have and take the initiative to improve the image of animal agriculture.     

Data warehouse for assessing animal health, welfare, risk management and -communication

The objective of this paper is to give an overview of existing databases in Denmark and describe some of the most important of these in relation to establishment of the Danish Veterinary and Food Administrations' veterinary data warehouse. The purpose of the data warehouse and possible use of the data are described. Finally, sharing of data and validity of data is discussed. There are databases in other countries describing animal husbandry and veterinary antimicrobial consumption, but Denmark will be the first country relating all data concerning animal husbandry, -health and -welfare in Danish production animals to each other in a data warehouse. Moreover, creating access to these data for researchers and authorities will hopefully result in easier and more substantial risk based control, risk management and risk communication by the authorities and access to data for researchers for epidemiological studies in animal health and welfare.     

The role of behavioral science in animal welfare in teaching and practical application

This paper gives an introduction on the importance of ethology as a basis for the ethical animal welfare. The last edition of the Animal Welfare Act of the Federal Republic of Germany is based on the ethological principle which includes, that the animal must be free to satisfy its needs and preserve itself from damage by using of adequate behavioural patterns. With the help of observing animal behaviour the veterinarian can remark faults in the animal management before pain, suffering or injuries set it. So the importance of the ethology in the system of veterinary education is clear. Pertinent information shall promote the dialogue between scientists working in the field of animal behaviour and people engaged in animal welfare.     

Integrating practical, regulatory and ethical strategies for enhancing farm animal welfare

OBJECTIVE: To provide an integrated view of relationships between assessment of animal welfare. societal expectations regarding animal welfare standards, the need for regulation, and two ethical strategies for promoting animal welfare, emphasising farm animals. APPROACH: Ideas in relevant papers and key insights were outlined and illustrated, where appropriate, by New Zealand experience with different facets of the welfare management of farm animals. CONCLUSIONS: An animal's welfare is good when its nutritional, environmental, health, behavioural and mental needs are met. Compromise may occur in one or more of these areas and is assessed by scientifically-informed best judgement using parameters validated by directed research and objective analysis in clinical and practical settings. There is a wide range of perceptions of what constitutes good and bad welfare in society, so that animal welfare standards cannot be left to individual preferences to determine. Rather, the promotion of animal welfare is seen as requiring central regulation, but managed in a way that allows for adjustments based on new scientific knowledge of animals' needs and changing societal perceptions of what is acceptable and unacceptable treatment of animals. Concepts of 'minimal welfare', representing the threshold of cruelty, and 'acceptable welfare', representing higher, more acceptable standards than those that merely avoid cruelty, are outlined. They are relevant to economic analyses, which deal with determinants of animal welfare standards based on financial costs and the desire of the public to feel broadly comfortable about the treatment of the animals that are used to serve their needs. Ethical strategies for promoting animal welfare can be divided broadly into the 'gold standard' approach and the 'incremental improvement' approach. The first defines the ideal that is to be required in a particular situation and will accept nothing less than that ideal, whereas the second aims to improve welfare in a step-wise fashion by setting a series of achievable goals, seeing each small advance as worthwhile progress towards the same ideal. 'Incremental improvement' is preferred. This also has application in veterinary practice where the professional commitment to maintain good welfare standards may at times conflict with financial constraints experienced by clients.     

Developing a working partnership for animal health and welfare

The Animal Health and Welfare Board for England was established last year to act as the main source of advice to Defra ministers on animal health and welfare policy. Its recommendations will affect the health and welfare of all kept animals, including farm animals, horses and pets. Board member Mark Tufnell, whose responsibilities include liaising with the veterinary profession, describes its objectives and way of working.     

Assessment of companion animal quality of life in veterinary practice and research

O bjectives : Quality-of-life (QOL) assessment is a novel field in veterinary medicine. It shares similarities with the more established fields of human QOL assessment and animal welfare science and could prove similarly useful.
M ethods : This paper draws on existing literature on human QOL assessment, animal welfare, philosophy and animal QOL assessment.
R esults : It provides practical recommendations for QOL assessment in veterinary practice and in veterinary research on what should be assessed, how it should be assessed and who should assess it.
C linical S ignificance : These should assist veterinarians intending to develop their use QOL assessment.     

Veterinary surgeons' opinions on dog welfare issues

Objectives : To begin to determine the significance of various dog welfare issues as perceived by veterinary practitioners. Methods : Using an online questionnaire, respondents were asked how frequently they were made aware of 12 welfare issues and how important they felt each one was for each dog affected. Respondents were also asked how much they agreed with statements that the veterinary practitioners in their area, and the veterinary profession, should do more about each issue. Results : Responses were received from 59 practitioners. The most frequently noted problems were “obesity”, “chronic pain/poor mobility” and “breed‐related conditions”. The most important issues for each dog affected were “lack of treatment for suffering”, “abuse or active cruelty” and “malnutrition”. “Breed‐related conditions”, “obesity” and “behavioural problems” were the issues for which there was greatest agreement that veterinary practitioners should do more, both in their area and as a profession. Clinical Significance : This pilot study suggests that the veterinary profession believes that obesity, breed‐related conditions and behavioural problems are important concerns, and that more should be done about them. Although these results cannot be taken as definitive from a study of this size, it does provide a background for such further work involving companion dog welfare and the veterinary profession.     

The scope of a laboratory animal program needed at a veterinary school.

The discipline of laboratory animal medicine is one of the most rapidly expanding specialties within the veterinary profession. Veterinary schools should fully accept the responsibility for introductory instruction in laboratory animal medicine in the professional curriculum. Such instruction should articulate the varied opportunities that exist for the laboratory animal veterinarian within the biomedical research community, and provide an overview of the normal biological characteristics and pathologic conditions of the common laboratory animal species. In addition, the opportunity should exist within the veterinary school for graduate and undergraduate students utilizing experimental animals to receive a comprehensive introduction to laboratory animal biology, care, and management. Instructional responsibility for such courses should be accepted by faculty veterinarians with advanced training in laboratory animal medicine. Veterinarians with advanced training in this specialty are uniquely qualified to make substantial contributions to biomedical research by promoting the health and welfare of the research animal.