The process of building a new governmental authority based on public demands for improved animal welfare

Sweden has a long history of detailed and progressive legislation related to animal welfare for laboratory, farm and companion animals. Previously, these issues have been the responsibility of the Swedish Board of Agriculture (SBA). As a growing proportion of the public opinion and the political establishment felt that the animal welfare related issues were not given proper attention at the SBA, a political decision was recently made to separate animal housing, management and welfare from the SBA and create an independent Animal Welfare Agency. This Agency was formally launched on January 1st 2004. The government has commissioned the Agency to improve animal welfare by evaluating, enforcing and developing legislation. The agency should consider scientific evidence when writing new legislation. Also, the Agency incorporates an external Animal Welfare Council, which, among other things, discusses ethical aspects in relation to existing or proposed legislature. The new Agency must deal with a diversity of public expectations. Animal rights groups have high expectations regarding new and stricter legislation, for example related to fur animals, while some farmers fear that production aspects may be completely lost in discussions about improving welfare standards for farm animals.     

Board-invited review: the ethical and behavioral bases for farm animal welfare legislation

Concerns about farm animal welfare vary among individuals and societies. As people increasingly consider the values underlying current farm animal production methods, farm animal welfare policy debates have escalated. Recent food animal protection policies enacted in the European Union have fueled highly contentious discussions about the need for similar legislative activity in the United States. Policymakers and scientists in the United States are apprehensive about the scientific assessment, validation, and monitoring of animal welfare, as well as the unforeseen consequences of moving too hastily toward legislating farm animal welfare. The potential impact of such legislation on producers, food prices, animals, and concerned citizens must also be considered. Balancing the interests of all stakeholders has therefore presented a considerable challenge that has stymied US policymaking. In this review, we examine the roles of ethics and science in policy decisions, discuss how scientific knowledge relative to animal behavior has been incorporated into animal welfare policy, and identify opportunities for additional refinement of animal welfare science that may facilitate ethical and policy decisions about animal care.     

Farm animal welfare: the five freedoms and the free market

This review addresses the scientific, ethical and economic factors that impact on the welfare of farm animals. Respect for animals within the food chain is considered within the context of an ethical matrix that affords respect according to the principles of wellbeing, autonomy and justice to consumers, farm animals, farmers and the living environment. The welfare of a farm animal depends on its ability to sustain fitness and avoid suffering. The responsibility of the farmer is to make provision for good welfare through good husbandry; he cannot ensure good welfare. Improvements to farm animal welfare can only come about within the context of the forces that drive the free market. In essence, consumers need to afford a greater extrinsic value to farm animals. The costs to farmers of legislation to impose higher animal welfare standards are substantial but the cost to consumers can be very small. The responsibility is therefore on the consumer to convert an expressed desire for higher welfare standards into an effective demand. A promising route to encourage and fulfil this demand is through welfare-based quality assurance schemes with quality control ensured by independent audit. At present, audit protocols are based largely on identification of the elements of good husbandry. Ultimately we need a further independent audit to ensure that the outcome of these perceived elements of good husbandry is, in fact, good animal welfare.     

Farm animal welfare research in interaction with society

Over the last 30 years concern about farm animal welfare has increased and has become a public issue in the Netherlands. Public discussion has stimulated research in this field, financed by both government and industry. Dutch society in general and consumers of animal products in particular, want to see high standards of welfare for production animals. Good animal welfare has gradually gained more impact in the total quality concept of the product. This will encourage scientists to continue to analyse the welfare status of animals and to come up with innovative solutions for the remaining problems. At ID-Lelystad much effort is put into farm animal welfare research. This research includes for example, the development of behavioural tests for quantifying and interpreting fear in cattle, investigations into the effects of dietary iron supply and a lack of roughage on behaviour, immunology, stress physiology, and pathology in veal calves, studies of the ontogeny of tail biting in finishing pigs and feather pecking in laying hens as well as evaluation of the welfare effects of automatic milking in dairy cows. The results of these projects contribute to concrete improvements in animal husbandry and expertise and support policy making and legislation. The animal industry as well as retailers should aim at the further implementation of this knowledge and to specify welfare standards to guarantee consumer acceptance of animal production.     

"Concepts in animal welfare": a syllabus in animal welfare science and ethics for veterinary schools

Public attitudes toward animal welfare have improved with growing social affluence, and veterinarians are increasingly expected to be informed about animal welfare in a broader sense than health alone. However, animal welfare has not been a traditional component of the veterinary curriculum. To help address this lack, the World Society for the Protection of Animals(WSPA) and the University of Bristol School of Veterinary Science launched the 'Concepts in Animal Welfare' syllabus in 2003. This comprehensive syllabus comprises seven core and 23 elective modules and covers a range of animal welfare issues, including farm and companion animal welfare, wildlife, and the use of animals in experiments. There are also modules on ethics and animal legislation. The syllabus is interactive, promotes critical analysis of issues from different angles, and may be adapted for use in any veterinary curriculum. WSPA provides training and workshops in developing countries and assists with the implementation of the syllabus.     

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.     

Effects of confinement and research needs to underpin welfare standards

Although there is no agreement on how to measure animal welfare, how to interpret some of the observed changes in behavior and physiology, and how much confinement of animals is acceptable, this has not stopped animal welfare standards from being set in the form of either voluntary or mandatory recommendations. Notwithstanding that there are gaps in knowledge about a number of farming practices, there is some emphasis by scientists, industry, politicians, and some animal welfare groups for any changes to welfare-related recommendations to be based on scientific evidence. This article discusses the related issues of confinement and its effects on farm animals, research gaps in the field of animal welfare, the development of welfare standards, and whether such standards should be underpinned by science. For some issues there is a general consensus, for example, that animals feel pain and have emotions and that animals' appearance and behavior are used by good farmers to recognize both the ‘normality’ and deviations from normal of their animals. However, these variables are difficult to measure or define. Nevertheless, if issues are considered important to animals' welfare, should difficulty of measurement or definition be a barrier to the creation of legislated standards? Thus, options for legislated standards include either comprehensive standards, some of which may be difficult to measure, similar to current legislation on cruelty to animals, or only a limited number of standards with targets that can be measured, some of which may have less relevance to welfare outcomes.     

Factors influencing veterinary students career choices and attitudes to animals

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of demographic and experiential factors on first-year veterinary students career choices and attitudes to animal welfare/rights. The study surveyed 329 first-year veterinary students to determine the influence of demographic factors, farm experience, and developmental exposure to different categories of animals on their career preferences and on their attitudes to specific areas of animal welfare and/or rights. A significant male gender bias toward food-animal practice was found, and prior experience with particular types of animals--companion animals, equines, food animals--tended to predict career preferences. Female veterinary students displayed greater concern for possible instances of animal suffering than males, and prior experience with different animals, as well as rural background and farm experience, were also associated with attitude differences. Seventy-two percent of students also reported that their interactions with animals (especially pets) had strongly influenced the development of their values. Animals ranked second in importance after parents in this respect. The present findings illustrate the importance to issues of animal welfare of the cultural context of past experience and influences on attitude development. The results also suggest that previous interactions with animals play a critical role in guiding veterinary students into their chosen career, as well as in helping to determine their specific employment preferences within the veterinary profession. From an animal welfare perspective, the dearth of women choosing careers in food-animal practice is a source of concern.     

Ethical stockmanship

The objective of this review is to consider the ethics of stockmanship, particularly from the perspective of the nature and extent of the duties of stockpeople to their farm animals. It will consider what science tells us about the impact of stockmanship on the animal, particularly the welfare of the farm animal. The effects of human-animal interactions on the stockperson will also be considered, since these interactions affect the work performance and job satisfaction of the stockperson and thus indirectly affect animal welfare. Animal ethics is broader than animal welfare and includes economic as well as philosophical, social, cultural and religious aspects. This paper is predicated on the view that farm animals can suffer, and that animal suffering is a key consideration in our moral obligations to animals. Housing and husbandry practices affect farm animal welfare and thus farmers and stockpeople have a responsibility to provide, at minimum, community-acceptable animal housing and husbandry standards for their animals. The farmer's or stockperson's attitudes and behaviour can directly affect the animal's welfare and thus they also have a responsibility to provide specific standards of stockmanship for these animals. However, research suggests that the behaviour of some stockpeople is not as correct as it might be. Such situations exemplify the inevitably unequal human - domestic animal relationship, and this inequality should be considered in analysing the boundary between right and wrong behaviour of humans. Thus ethical discussion, using science and other considerations and involving stockpeople, livestock industries, government and the general public, should be used to establish and assure acceptable stockperson competencies across the livestock industries. Training programs targeting the key attitudes and behaviour of stockpeople presently offer the livestock industries good opportunities to improve human-animal interactions.     

Fundamental ethological and ecological aspects for the husbandry of domestic animals, especially for hens

The significance of ethology applied to farm animals is demonstrated from 1. a broader point of view and 2. focussed on the management of poultry. The topic of animal ethology is the study of their behaviour. Basic functions of animal behaviour are satisfaction of their requirements and needs including reproduction and avoidance of harm. A significant task for ethologists is the scientific elaboration of the animals' interactions with their surrounding, in their keeping system. The documented information aim to show how to satisfy the basic behavioural and physiological needs of hens and how to produce eggs of high quality in adequate quantity in respect also to the environment.     

Ethological, psychological and legal aspects of animal sexual abuse

This report presents an analysis of sexual abuse of five three-month old calves that died as a result of injury. A subsequent police investigation concluded that the animals had been sexually abused by an individual affected with zoophilia. The calves received injuries in the anogenital region resulting in fatal internal bleeding. The wounds appeared to have been caused by inserting and manipulating an unknown object into the vaginas of the animals. Post-mortem examination showed rupture of both the rectum and vagina in each calf with massive haemorrhage into the abdominal and thoracic cavities. From the psychiatric and animal welfare viewpoints animal sexual abuse is linked to clinical veterinary ethology. Ethical and legal aspects of animal welfare are evaluated with particular regard to the cases described.     

Animal behavior and well-being symposium: Farm animal welfare assurance: science and application

Public and consumer pressure for assurances that farm animals are raised humanely has led to a range of private and public animal welfare standards, and for methods to assess compliance with these standards. The standards usually claim to be science based, but even though researchers have developed measures of animal welfare and have tested the effects of housing and management variables on welfare within controlled laboratory settings, there are challenges in extending this research to develop on-site animal welfare standards. The standards need to be validated against a definition of welfare that has broad support and which is amenable to scientific investigation. Ensuring that such standards acknowledge scientific uncertainty is also challenging, and balanced input from all scientific disciplines dealing with animal welfare is needed. Agencies providing animal welfare audit services need to integrate these scientific standards and legal requirements into successful programs that effectively measure and objectively report compliance. On-farm assessment of animal welfare requires a combination of animal-based measures to assess the actual state of welfare and resource-based measures to identify risk factors. We illustrate this by referring to a method of assessing welfare in broiler flocks. Compliance with animal welfare standards requires buy-in from all stakeholders, and this will be best achieved by a process of inclusion in the development of pragmatic assessment methods and the development of audit programs verifying the conditions and continuous improvement of farm animal welfare.     

Transgenesis may affect farm animal welfare: a case for systematic risk assessment

This paper considers (potentially) harmful consequences of transgenesis for farm animal welfare and examines the strategy of studying health and welfare of transgenic farm animals. Evidence is discussed showing that treatments imposed in the context of farm animal transgenesis are by no means biologically neutral and may compromise animal health and welfare. Factors posing a risk for the welfare of transgenic farm animals include integration of a transgene within an endogenous gene with possible loss of host gene function (insertional mutations), inappropriate transgene expression and exposure of the host to biologically active transgene-derived proteins, and in vitro reproductive technologies employed in the process of generating transgenic farm animals that may result in an increased incidence of difficult parturition and fetal and neonatal losses and the development of unusually large or otherwise abnormal offspring (large offspring syndrome). Critical components of a scheme for evaluating welfare of transgenic farm animals are identified, related to specific characteristics of transgenic animals and to factors that may interact with the effects of transgenesis. The feasibility of an evaluation of welfare of transgenic farm animals in practice is addressed against the background of the objectives and conditions of three successive stages in a long-term transgenic program. Concrete steps with regard to breeding and testing of transgenic farm animals are presented, considering three technologies to generate transgenic founders: microinjection, electroporation and nuclear transfer, and gene targeting including gene knockout. The proposed steps allow for unbiased estimations of the essential treatment effects, including hemi- and homozygous transgene effects as well as effects of in vitro reproductive technologies. It is suggested that the implementation of appropriate breeding and testing procedures should be accompanied by the use of a comprehensive welfare protocol, specifying which parameters to monitor, at which stages of the life of a farm animal, and in how many animals. Some prerequisites and ideas for such a protocol are given. It is anticipated that systematic research into the welfare of farm animals involved in transgenesis will facilitate the use of the safest experimental protocols as well as the selection and propagation of the healthiest animals and, thereby, enable technological progress that could be ethically justified.     

The role of councils on animal ethics in assessing acceptable welfare standards in agriculture

The way production animals are treated is a matter of public concern, and public opinion is often a driving force to introduce new animal welfare legislation. In Norway, a Council on Animal Ethics has been appointed by the authorities since 1993. The composition of the council is broad and it encounters both lay people and experts. The council is independent and advisory, only. It shall be a “guard dog” and follow the developments in animal production and other areas where man makes use of animals, and give advice to the authorities on the need for change in legislation and administrative practices. An important task for the council is also to contribute to and facilitate an informed public debate on animal welfare standards and animal ethics.     

Development of animal welfare legislation for the European Community

Animal welfare is of increasing importance for the European Community, which is reinforced by the Protocol to the EC Treaty on protection and welfare of animals. After the recent improvements to the legislation on the protection of pigs, the next priority for the Commission is the further development of the standards of animal transportation, particularly since a report of the Commission pointed out shortcomings in the enforcement of the existing rules in this area.     

Aspects of animal welfare in livestock production

The modern consumer is increasingly concerned about the welfare of farm animals which are kept in intensive systems on specialised farms where the health and well-being is almost completely dependent on the will, ability and care of the farmer. Further demands related to animal production are consumer health (quality and safety of food products), the protection of the environment and cheap food. The currently used husbandry systems are man made and emphasise automation which requires permanent critical observation of the welfare of the animals. Ethological indicators are equally important as health and performance to evaluate keeping systems. Future animal farming will be influenced by new technologies such as electronic animal identification and milking robots, and more important by biotechnology and genome analysis. Veterinary surgeons and farmers have to co-operate on the basis of scientifically sound animal welfare schemes which help to protect our farm animals in modern and intensive livestock production systems.     

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.     

Is dietary choice important to animal welfare?

Scientific interest in farm animal welfare has grown rapidly in recent years because consumers increasingly demand that farm animals are reared, transported, and slaughtered in a humane way. Additionally, nutrition emerges as an important aspect of welfare since in most codes of recommendations for the welfare of animals, adequate nutrition is one of the primary requirements to be satisfied. We submit that in many cases domestic animals are provided with diets that, even when abundant and nutritious, are not necessarily adequate to foster the welfare of animals. The monotonous diets fed in confinement (total mixed rations) and on pasture (monocultures) often contain excesses of nutrients, nutrient imbalances, and toxins that adversely influence animal welfare. How much of any food an animal can eat will depend on the other foods it consumes, because at the biochemical level, nutrients and toxins interact one with another—nutrients with nutrients, nutrients with toxins, and toxins with toxins. Food intake and preference also depend on differences in how individual animals are built morphologically and how they function physiologically, and marked variation is common even among closely related animals relative to the needs for nutrients and tolerance to toxins. An integral part of an animal's ability to meet its particular nutritional requirements and consume substances that improve health depends on having a variety of foods available so each animal can select a diet that best meets its homeostatic needs. Food choice may also offer animals a means to cope with toxins, as certain food combinations have the potential to ameliorate the negative effects of toxins. We suggest that the availability of alternatives may not only contribute to maintain homeostasis but also reduce levels of stress. Thus, food choice is necessary for individual animals to have freedom to express their normal behaviors. We contend this freedom enables the uniqueness of individuals to be manifest, thereby promoting animal welfare and performance and increasing profitability of the people who manage animals.