Animal welfare considerations of laparoscopic A.I.

Extract

Madam:— Members of the public have brought to my attention that there are some within our profession performing laparoscopic A.I. in goats in an unsatisfactory fashion.     

Animal welfare considerations of laparoscopic A.I. - a reply

Extract

Madam:— D.A. Conway has given us new guidelines to anaesthesia for laparoscopy. What rot.     

Animal welfare and laparoscopic A.I.

Extract

Madam:— I was most disturbed to read the recent letter from D A Conway,⁽¹⁾ which indicated that some veterinarians appear to be compromising the welfare of goats when carrying out laparoscopic A.I.     

Animal welfare considerations - pastoral animals

Modern pastoral farming has radically transformed the niche where agricultural animals live. Recent trends in husbandry tend to give as much emphasis to economic profit and human convenience, as do a concern for the farmed species. Most of the traditional ways of handling sheep, cattle, goats, horses and pigs, like castration, ear tagging, tail-docking or horse breaking, have been accepted by the public with little concern. Inevitably, as renewed public interest focuses on intensive farming, some questions are directed towards extensive pastoral farming practices, particularly in newly-farmed species like deer. Criteria for the humane care of pastoral animals must he set by consensus. These should include the avoidance of injury, handling animals in the least stressful manner, and meeting the unique needs of each farmed species, This is particularly important at times of critical intervention like the birth of the young, shearing, dipping, milking, yarding and during transport. Several examples of current emotive issues of welfare in pastoral animals are discussed. In general, New Zealand owners of extensive pastoral holdings produce a welfare product which should command a premium in the more affluent overseas markets. Vigilance will he needed to keep it so and in this veterinarians have a key role to play.     

Animal welfare: concepts and measurement.

The term "welfare" refers to the state of an individual in relation to its environment, and this can be measured. Both failure to cope with the environment and difficulty in coping are indicators of poor welfare. Suffering and poor welfare often occur together, but welfare can be poor without suffering and welfare should not be defined solely in terms of subjective experiences. The situations that result in poor welfare are reviewed in this study with special reference to those in which an individual lacks control over interactions with its environment. The indicators of poor welfare include the following: reduced life expectancy, impaired growth, impaired reproduction, body damage, disease, immunosuppression, adrenal activity, behavior anomalies, and self-narcotization. The uses of measures of responsiveness, stereotypies, and animal preferences in welfare assessment are discussed. The need to make direct measurement of poor welfare as well as to use sophisticated studies of animal preferences is emphasized.     

Animal welfare aspects of biotechnology

It's difficult to value the effects on animals caused by genetic engineering. Nowadays an enormous increase on animal tests is taken place. The detrimental alterations of small number of living born gene altered animals are in literature explained by deficiencies in method and the increased growth is described with deficient mechanisms on regulation. Not only the intention to increase productivity by genetic engineering but also the method to improve by fragments (genes) not facing the animals totality is against prevention of cruelty to animals.     

Animal behavior and animal welfare

The value of behavioral techniques in assessing animal welfare, and in particular assessing the psychological well being of animals, is reviewed. Using cats and horses as examples, 3 behavioral methods are presented: (1) comparison of behavior patterns and time budgets; (2) choice tests; and (3) operant conditioning. The behaviors of intact and declawed cats were compared in order to determine if declawing led to behavioral problems or to a change in personality. Apparently it did not. The behavior of free ranging horses was compared with that of stabled horses. Using two-choice preference tests, the preference of horses for visual contact with other horses and the preference for bedding were determined. Horses show no significant preference for locations from which they can make visual contact with other horses, but they do prefer bedding, especially when lying down. Horses will perform an operant response in order to obtain light in a darkened barn or heat in an outside shed. These same techniques can be used to answer a variety of questions about an animal's motivation for a particular attribute of its environment.