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.     

养殖企业从业人员“动物福利”社会态度研究

1 525份有效问卷的调查表明,中国畜牧行业大多数从业人员对动物福利有基本的认知。如75.4%的从业人员听说过动物福利,76.5%的从业人员赞成就动物福利立法,强迫生产者为猪鸡提供良好的生长和生存条件等。从业人员普遍认同动物的生理福利和环境福利,但对行为福利等却认知不足。从业人员在赞同动物福利的同时,又不太愿意因推行动物福利而承担过大的成本,如59.8%的从业者只愿意承担因遵守动物福利而导致5%及以下的成本增加。     

Identifying animal welfare impacts of livestock air transport

Air transport of livestock occurs frequently from most Australian major cities. The total journey time starts with road transport from the farm or pre-export facility to the departing airport where livestock are crated, and ends with the unloading of animals at the premises or farm in the importing country. We reviewed the literature regarding airfreight and conclude that there was minimal information on current practices within this industry, particularly for procedures after arrival at the Australian airport, and during the on-board phase.     

Natural living—a precondition for animal welfare in organic farming

This article discusses animal welfare in organic farming systems in relation to values and aims in organic farming. It sums up experiences from a 4-year interdisciplinary project. An important finding is that animal welfare is understood somewhat differently in organic farming from what is common in conventional agriculture. It is interpreted in terms of natural living, which includes the possibility to perform a natural behaviour, feed adapted to the animal's physiology and a natural environment. Some of the criticism of animal welfare in organic farming may stem from different understandings of what “welfare” actually means. However, although welfare is an important aim in organic farming, the overall concern is to develop sustainable farming systems. This causes some welfare dilemmas. For example, a healthy system does not automatically mean good welfare for the individual. Based on available literature the actual welfare situation in organic systems was scrutinized. Unfortunately little research has been done, but a careful conclusion was that animal health is as good or better than in conventional farming—with the exception of parasitic diseases. Organic farming systems have a “welfare potential”, but organic farmers must deal with the dilemmas and take animal welfare issues seriously.     

动物福利对动物保健业的影响

1　动物福利理念的提出与发展　　动物福利理念的提出 ,已有 2 0多年历史。1 976年 ,Hughes将饲养于农场的动物福利定义为“动物与它的环境协调一致的精神和生理完全健康的状态”。 1 990年 ,我国台湾学者夏良宙提出 ,就对待动物而言 ,动物福利可以简述为“善待活着的动物 ,减少死亡的痛苦”。自 1 980年以来 ,欧盟及美国、加拿大、澳大利亚等国都进行了动物福利方面的立法 ,在畜禽饲养、运输和屠宰过程中实施。瑞士政府近年来通过立法禁止出售和进口由笼养系统生产的鸡蛋。1 998年 6月 ,丹麦议会通过了一项关于妊娠母猪和青年母猪室内装置…     

Considerations on ethics and animal welfare in extensive pig production: Breeding and fattening Iberian pigs

The extensive pig production in Spain is traditionally characterised by: the use of the Iberian pig, an autochthonous breed perfectly integrated into the environment in which they have developed; a long duration of the productive cycle for about 23–24 months; a high level of animal welfare level, specially in the fattening process with freedom of movement and feeding base on natural sources: acorns and grass, and an equilibrated “dehesa” agro-forestry system where this activity has been developed. Nowadays, the introduction of more intensificated methods due to the increasing demand led to important changes, such as: the shortening of the productive cycle (10–12 months); freeing from the territorial base; changes during the fattening period, fattening with mixed feed and less animal freedom. All these facts may implicate a loss of the animal welfare condition. These circumstances lead us to question it from an ethical point of view.     

The veterinarian and animal welfare

At no important point does the Animals Protection Statute mention the competence of Veterinarians, but the "competent Authority". Also, the Animal Epidemics Statute and the Federal Hunting Statute provide for the cooperation of the veterinarian, but not for his competence to make decisions. This situation is even being overlooked by the investigating authorities, when in the case of using animals for "sport" or other problematic events, questions of the animals psychology and ethology have to be dealt with. In the courts the remarks of non-specialist qualified persons can lead to wrong decisions as can either unsuitable or wrong evidence.     

Objective measures of welfare in farming environments

Welfare in farm animals is both difficult to define and measure. Definitions of welfare and the indicators of welfare which can be scientifically measured are discussed. These indicators are health, productivity, physiological and biochemical changes, and behavioural patterns; they can often be correlated from a husbandry system to give a good indication of the welfare status of the animals in the system. Most of the research work in this area has been done in the intensive pig and poultry industries, although the correlation of biochemical measures with husbandry procedures used in sheep and cattle has begun. It is difficult at this stage to develop a simple stress test that would take all the variables into account, but a change of any of the indicators will suggest further investigation is required. The most obvious to monitor is behaviour, as even a slight change can indicate a change in welfare status.