Religious slaughter in Italy

This research aims to understand the prevalence of religious slaughter practices in Italy. Two different ways of slaughtering animals are identified. Conventional slaughter is performed with prior stunning; kosher slaughter is practiced without stunning. Halal slaughter is performed for most animals without stunning. Halal slaughter with prior stunning is acceptable for 5.90% of small ruminants. For Halal slaughter in Italy, the terms “religious slaughter with stunning” and “religious slaughter without stunning” should be used to differentiate religious slaughter practices, keeping animal welfare in perspective.

     

Porcine stress syndrome and PSE meat: clinical symptoms, pathogenesis, etiology and animal rights aspects

A review is given about the clinical symptoms, pathogenesis and aetiology of the porcine stress syndrome, furthermore aspects of animal welfare are discussed. The current breeding programmes of pig industry in Germany in many cases include animals with a mutation of the ryanodine-receptor (RYR-1)-gene--homozygous or heterozygous. This situation is the result of an intensive breeding of pigs during the last decades with the intention of increased lean carcass content and corresponding proceeds. The homozygous pigs are more stress susceptible (porcine stress syndrome) and produce meat of poor quality (PSE), which is also the case to some extend in heterozygous animals. The clinical symptoms of this muscle disease are characterised by a deficit of oxygen and a rapid glycolysis accompanied by a production of lactic acid and acidosis primarily in II B white muscle fibres. There is no doubt that a very close causal relation exists between the mutation of the RYR-1 and the porcine stress syndrome as well as the poor meat quality. The present knowledge of this disease, the genetic background, the physiology and pathophysiology of the mutation of the RYR-1 leads to the imperative conclusion to eliminate this mutated RYR-1 by selection of healthy pigs, which has been done successfully in other countries with important pig production. This conclusion is also supported by simple economic reasons because fertility, reproduction and daily weight gain are significantly reduced in stress susceptible pigs. Furthermore, it should be emphasised that regular breeding with the mutated RYR-1 is also a matter of animal welfare. The evident correlation between the mutated RYR-1 and the porcine stress syndrome, which includes degeneration of the muscle, pain and even life threatening malignant hyperthermia, can easily lead to the accusation in the public that diseased animals are used for pig meat production. Consequently, the authors would like to urge the breeding companies and the responsible authorities to discuss the problem with the intention to finish the current breeding programmes using animals with the mutated RYR-1 within a reasonable period of time.     

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.     

Relationships between young stallions’ temperament and their behavioral reactions during standardized veterinary examinations

Horse handling and veterinary examination can induce hazardous stress reactions. Such reactions occur especially in young and less-trained horses, particularly stallions, and make their handling a risk for breeders, grooms, and medical staff. Moreover, these stressful situations will affect the animal’s health and welfare. Because stress reactivity is thought to be partly determined by genetic factors, scientists, veterinarians, and breeders are likely to be interested in adding temperament assessments to stallion selection schemes, as it is already done in some countries. This study assesses young stallions’ temperament and its comparison with their stress reactions during a standardized veterinary examination for studbook admission. The assessment consists of a general examination, a lameness examination including flexion tests, an endoscopy of the upper airway, and a standardized radiological examination. During the years 2008 and 2009, 93 stallions were evaluated. Stallions were observed from the moment they were unloaded from the trailer at the clinic until the end of veterinary examinations. In addition to the behavioral observations made by the experimenter, each staff member in charge of the examination filled in a short questionnaire about the horse’s temperament and the “easiness of manipulation” for the performed examinations. Breeders were asked to complete a longer questionnaire about their horse’s temperament. The assessments of “aggressiveness,” “sociability,” and “learning level” temperament traits were the most consistent, as shown by the significant Spearman correlations between judges’ assessments. Undesirable behaviors during veterinary examinations leading to handling difficulties were associated with a low “easiness of manipulation” score assessed by the clinical staff. These low “easiness of manipulation” scores were positively correlated to temperament traits such as “anxiousness” and “aggressiveness” and negatively correlated to others such as “sociability” or “learning level.” Temperament assessment and behavioral observations can therefore be used to anticipate behaviors that make a horse difficult to handle during veterinary examinations. Thus, it may be important to include temperament assessment as a feature in the selection of breeding stallions—as already practiced for some breeds in some countries. Such evaluations may promote the welfare of horses and ease of handling as well as safety for the handler.     

New Biotechniques and their Consequences for Farm Animal Welfare

Contents This paper considers (potentially) harmful consequences of new biotechnologies for farm animal welfare. The most important new biotechnologies that are currently used in farm animals breeding and husbandry include: multiple ovulation and embryo transfer (MOET) and in vitro embryo production (IVP). Cloning by nuclear transfer (NT) and transgenesis are still in development and mainly applied for experimental purposes with the prospect of a more widespread practical implemention in the future. Evidence is presented showing that generally accepted technologies such as MOET and IVP, relative to in vivo procedures, can result in a host of deleterious side-effects commonly known as the large offspring syndrome (LOS). Likewise, NT and transgenesis, which also typically include several in vitro reproductive manipulations, have clearly been associated with the occurrence of LOS symptoms. It is argued that transgenesis may constitute one additional set of factors that may negatively affect farm animal welfare: the expression of the transgene and the concomitant synthesis and release of a protein. NT might lead to incompletely reprogramming of the transferred genome. It is suggested that the introduction of new biotechnologies into farm animal husbandry should be accompanied by scientifically valid and systematic studies into the effects on animal welfare, with the help of a comprehensive welfare protocol.     

Clinical Anesthesia and Analgesia in Invertebrates

Invertebrates are an expansive and diverse group of animals that have had little attention regarding anesthesia and analgesia. Economic use, environmental awareness, laboratory research, and increasing demand for invertebrates as pets has lead to a greater desire for knowledge for these animals in the veterinary medical community. With the increasing number of animal welfare regulations, various scientific studies have improved the overall knowledge of invertebrate medicine, but much more research is required to fully understand anesthesia techniques in the different species treated by veterinarians. Analgesia is a controversial and often neglected topic with invertebrates because of the common belief that invertebrates do not feel pain. Recently, the idea that invertebrates do not feel pain has been challenged with the discovery of nociceptive pathways similar to those in vertebrates. This article presents a general overview of anesthetics and analgesics used in selective invertebrate taxa.     

We and they: Animal welfare in the era of advanced agricultural biotechnology

The paper discusses central moral issues raised by the applications of advanced biotechnology to animal agriculture and introduces the major ethical concepts and principles of animal bioethics. It is argued that biotechnology enables human beings to transform animals according to human needs, which blurs the boundary between humans and non-human animals in moral and biological sense. The more humans change animals, the more responsible humans are for the welfare of the animals and the greater their moral obligations. The paper introduces the main ethical approaches to animal welfare, traces the philosophical roots of animal ethics in the Judeo-Christian tradition and discusses the views of classical and contemporary ethicists such as Kant, Bentham, Mill, Peter Singer and Tom Regan. The paper explores the concept of animal welfare, suffering and rights, and the values behind Animal Liberation. Special attention is given to the animal welfare issues posed by cloning, genetic engineering and patenting of living organism. For each technology, actual or potential risks to animal welfare are identified and their moral implications are outlined. It is noted that the traditional moral principles of animal welfare, animal interests and animal rights are inadequate as means for evaluating the morality of certain advanced technologies because the technologies can change the animals in profound ways that make animal awareness too limited to give rise to claims about welfare, interests or rights. The principle of animal integrity is endorsed as an alternative better suited for evaluating the morality of advanced biotechnology.     

Genetics and disease resistance

Genetic components of disease resistance have been described in most of important diseases in human as well as in laboratory and livestock animals. However the basic mechanisms have been established in a few examples only. The reasons herefore are the mostly polygenic inheritance of disease resistance traits, the missing of suitable animal models and the dominance of environmental effects like infection pressure, immune status, and stressors, limiting the view on responsible gene variants. Ethical and practical aspects may further hinder research on disease resistance in certain species. Livestock animals play a crucial role in disease resistance research, because of distinct genetic diversity within and between breeds, because of an often distinct metabolic congruency with humans, and aiming towards the improvement of hygiene and economy of production and animal welfare. The following sections will review disease resistance in livestock animals and their practical implications, completed by examples of our own research activities.     

Research opportunities in the field of animal genetic resources

Animal genetic resources are those animal species that are used, or may be used, for the production of food and agriculture, and the populations within each of them. The working unit of a database for farm animal genetic resources is the breed, a term taken in its widest possible sense to mean a population within the species, possessing a number of particular traits that permit the grouping of these animals under a common label and are associated to geographical areas and human groups. Research opportunities cover a wide range of thematic areas. The biggest gap in knowledge is animal breeding for local populations in harsh environments. There is also a lack of research in functional genetics and genomics of adaptation and disease resistance traits. By comparison, breed characterization, in particular molecular characterization, has been a more popular research subject. The same can be said for conservation, although some fundamental questions on genetic diversity and risk of its loss are still unanswered. Research is required to understand the socio-economic, infrastructural, technical and formal constraints that limit the operation of sustainable conservation programs in less developed countries. Information systems on animal genetic resources need input from research and data capture networks, in order to achieve a reasonable degree of completeness. Economic analysis and issues related to gene flow and access and benefit sharing should also profit from more research.     

Towards an GMO Discipline: Ethical Remarks

The present technological transformation calls for a new kind of vet: he has to accomplish his own institutional tasks bearing in mind the definition of a “good practice” code and also performing educational and informative tasks in zootechny in order to ensure the animal well-being.Therefore, his contribution can be relevant in developing and interpreting laws related to the protection of animal welfare and further considerations on the ethical and deontological thought, concerning the technological use of animals.The vet's role is also fundamental in the following areas: further study of bioethical issues related to zootechny and the professional growth of whoever is engaged, in different ways, in productive activities and research on animals.     

Ethical equitation: Applying a cost-benefit approach

Riding and training horses is the basis of a multi-billion dollar industry, but their use in the developed world is predominantly for recreational, competitive, entertainment, or performance purposes. However, when we consider the poor welfare outcomes for the horses involved, our ultimate focus on fun seems a poor justification for using horses in this way. This article is not intended to diminish the use of horses in the ridden context, rather it foreshadows a time when horse welfare and equestrian competition are as balanced and sustainable as possible.Any use of horses is inevitably associated with a range of activities and interventions that can, collectively, compromise welfare. Laws are unlikely to adequately protect horse welfare if they assume traditional practices, including the use of the whip to accelerate horses, to be “reasonable” and “acceptable” without regard to their effect. Objective measures of the influence of training and riding methods on horse welfare are needed, along with a more sophisticated ethical framework than legislation or codes currently provide.Using a cost-benefit analysis approach is one way to test the acceptability of our impacts on horses. This requires that welfare costs associated with an activity can be reliably estimated and balanced against the potential benefits of the activity to both humans and horses. To justify our use of horses for fun, we must have a strong moral obligation to ensure that we do everything possible to avoid jeopardizing their welfare.In other areas of animal use, particularly research, ethical models permit objective comparisons of the relative impact of different activities through “impact scales.” We propose the adaptation of such models for use in equestrian contexts to identify ways to improve ridden horse welfare.The challenge to equestrians is to maintain current levels of difficulty in competition without compromising horse welfare—for example, relying more on the skill of the trainer and rider and removing devices and training methods that negatively affect the horse.     

Limits and risks of biotechnology in veterinary medicine from the viewpoint of the reproductive biologist

New biotechnical methods in reproduction have been introduced in animal breeding via embryo transfer. There are no serious objections against these methods as long as the variety of species is reassured and the animal protection law is considered. More substantial objections exist against genetic engineering methods which alter the genome of animals. Beside for legal protection there is a strong public demand for the adequete awareness and responsibility of scientists who are active in this field. Comprehensive information on such research projects can lead to a better understanding of the aims and methods and might, therefore, help to reduce inadequate apprehensions.     

动物福利在肉牛生产中的应用现状与展望

规模化、集约化肉牛养殖方式在一定程度上可以降低生产成本,是提高生产效益的有效途径。然而,集中式、拴系式、高密度的生产方式下,常常导致肉牛的动物福利得不到有效保障,会对肉牛的生长和健康产生不利影响。改善肉牛动物福利可提高生产性能和养殖效益,实现绿色健康可持续发展。文章介绍了动物福利的概念、肉牛在饲养管理中的福利标准要求,以及在肉牛养殖过程中动物福利的重要意义,同时对我国肉牛生产福利的研究发展进行了展望,以期为生产实际提供指导和参考。     

云南省野生动物收容救护情况调查分析

收容救护野生动物的救护结果,可概括为“放归野外”“康复饲养”“调配”“救护失败死亡”4种。对云南省2014—2017年期间收容救护野生动物4种救护结果的动物种类、数量和数量占比调查,结果发现:(1)全省共87科超过274种22110只收容救护野生动物归属不同的救护结果。其中:救护成功的动物放归野外超过167种,14552只,占66%;康复饲养超过145种2610只,占12%;调配超过30种339只,占1%;救护失败死亡的动物超过211种,4609只,占21%。(2)放归的动物类群集中,部分动物放归错误或不合理,某类群动物康复饲养数量多,被救护动物死亡率高。(3)放归技术不完善,没有操作规范,调配的合理性未得到重视,落后的救护机构现状与动物救护需求巨大矛盾等因素是形成此现象主要原因。相关部门应建设完整的野生动物收容救护组织架构,增加野生动物收容救护编制,加大财政资金投入。建设在救护某一类群动物方面有突出能力的“专科医院”式收容救护机构。根据动物生活习性选择地点,建设适合不同类群动物的场地笼舍,提供设备设施。制定收容救护工作关键节点规范。加强救护技术交流、培训,提高技术能力。     

An assessment of the effects of ruminal selenium pellets given to young sheep grazing selenium-deficient pastures

Thirty-eight species of small cetaceans termed “dolphins” and “porpoises” are listed. This review is a contribution to the growing community and veterinary interest in the welfare and diseases of these animals.     

毛皮动物育种软件应用现状与展望

动物育种软件的应用,告别了传统的表型选种时代,对育种准确性的提高起到了至关重要的作用。我国在毛皮动物育种软件的研发与应用上还不成熟,而软件在动物育种中的应用是当前乃至未来规模化养殖的大势所趋。本文针对目前育种软件在畜禽和毛皮动物中的应用现状,从育种资料管理、遗传评估系统、计算机模拟研究、育种专家系统、网络信息传递与共享5个方面进行了相关论述,并在归纳、总结畜禽育种软件研究成果、先进经验的基础上,结合毛皮动物的自身特点,探讨了在毛皮动物中应用育种软件的必要性和可行性,以期能为今后毛皮动物育种软件的应用提供参考。     

Backyard poultry: legislation,zoonoses and disease prevention

In law, backyard poultry are “food‐producing animals” and “farmed animals” and are subject to regulations regarding welfare, prescribing, banned procedures, disposal of carcases, feeding bans, notifiable diseases and disease surveillance in addition to those applying to most other pets. Many owners and some veterinary surgeons are unclear about the requirements of these regulations. Backyard poultry are also associated with some different zoonotic disease risks to mammalian pets. Because a high proportion of poultry morbidity and mortality relates to infectious diseases, the health of backyard poultry is amenable to improvement through basic husbandry, biosecurity, hygiene and preventive medicine measures that can be incorporated into a simple “flock‐health plan”. This article reviews these topics.     

Ethical equitation: Capping the price horses pay for human glory

Ethical equitation is nowadays coming into sharp focus in equestrian culture. Concerns surround the ethics of sports based on controlling an animal's locomotory responses and in using animals such as horses in sport in general. Anthropomorphically labeled misinterpretations of the responses of trained horses, such as the use of terms like “mad,” “lazy,” “keen,” and “stubborn,” may be detrimental to optimal equine welfare. Similarly, the concept of the “equine athlete” may imply an ill-informed teleological explanation of the motives of the horse in sport. Despite problems in identifying the happy horse, rewarding optimal welfare and the absence of critical stress responses in performance horses is an important step forward.Horse racing is the source of many welfare concerns because of the use of the whip and the physical dangers to horses involved in hurdle racing and steeplechasing. The use of the whip in racing is controversial and, because it does not always lead to acceleration, problematic. There is a pressing need for learning theory to be adopted in all equestrian pursuits, because such an approach would obviate the need for whips, punishment, and the use of fear in escape learning. In other disciplines, practices such as hyperflexion and soring have a significant potential to compromise the welfare of the horse in sport.The future of horse sports should involve abandoning the mandatory use of primitive control devices, such as curb bits, that have a real potential to cause harm. International governing bodies and national equestrian federations ought to proceed with removing any requirements to use curb bits and judges should reward riders who use the most humane control devices at the higher levels of competition.Finally, horse breeding should also be scrutinized under an ethical spotlight. Selecting horses on the basis of temperament has inherent risks, including lowered motivation of riders and trainers to refine their training skill set, which may also lead to significant wastage. Pure breeding risks the health and welfare of horses owing to increases in homozygous deleterious genes expressing themselves.     

Towards an GMO Discipline: Ethical Remarks

The present technological transformation calls for a new kind of vet: he has to accomplish his own institutional tasks bearing in mind the definition of a “good practice” code and also performing educational and informative tasks in zootechny in order to ensure the animal well-being.

Therefore, his contribution can be relevant in developing and interpreting laws related to the protection of animal welfare and further considerations on the ethical and deontological thought, concerning the technological use of animals.

The vet's role is also fundamental in the following areas: further study of bioethical issues related to zootechny and the professional growth of whoever is engaged, in different ways, in productive activities and research on animals.