Includes free online access.
Animal Welfare - Content and Abstracts
Volume 3 Abstracts
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFICACY OF MECHANICAL MOLE SCARERS
M Gorman* and A Lamb
University of Aberdeen, Department of Zoology, Culterty Field Station, Newburgh, Grampian AB41 0AA, UK
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 3-12
This paper investigates the responses of European moles (Talpa europaea) to mechanical mole scarers. The three devices tested emitted vibrations in the frequency range 0 to 20kHz. Vibrations of this frequency are rapidly attenuated when passing through soil. Moles fitted with radio transmitters gave no indication of being repelled by the mechanical devices.
Keywords: animal welfare, control, European mole, mechanical scarers
A GRASS FORAGING DEVICE FOR CAPTIVE CHIMPANZEES (PAN TROGLODYTES)
S P Lambeth* and M A Bloomsmith
The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Route 2, Box 151-B1, Bastrop, Texas 78602, USA
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 13-24
In the wild, chimpanzees spend most of their time foraging, so any device that stimulates this behaviour in captivity could potentially be effective enrichment. A simple grass foraging device constructed of a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe cut in half lengthwise and planted with rye grass seed was designed to allow captive chimpanzees living in non-grassy enclosures to exhibit foraging similar to that of their wild counterparts. The grass containers were attached to the outside of six different enclosures. Observational data were collected on 14 adult chimpanzees (eight females, six males) within groups of either two or four members. A total of 54 hours of behavioural observations were conducted and comparisons were made across three conditions: baseline; grass container; grass container with extra foraging material (one half cup of sunflower seeds). Subjects used the grass container for 4.0 per cent of their time, but for 19.8 per cent of their time when the grass container with extra foraging material. There was no statistical evidence of habituation to the device. Overall, the grass container only increased time spent foraging when it contained additional food items. Since behavioral benefits associated with this device are few, its potential application is limited.
Keywords: animal welfare, chimpanzees, environmental enrichment, foraging, psychological well-being
EFFECTS OF ENRICHMENT ON VETERINARY TREATMENT OF LABORATORY RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA)
S J Schapiro* and D Bushong
The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Route 2, Box 151-B1, Bastrop, Texas 78602, USA
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 25-36
For captive primates, environmental enrichment may improve psychological well-being, as indicated by changes in the frequency of species-typical and abnormal behaviours. The effects of enrichment on physical well-being have also been examined, but little attention has been devoted to the relationship between enrichment and animal health. We therefore studied the health records of 98 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) to measure the effects that enrichment and social housing manipulations had on the number of veterinary treatments and days of therapy required by the monkeys. Subjects were housed singly, in pairs and in groups. Half of the subjects in each housing condition were enriched and the others were controls. Control and enriched subjects did not differ in the number of treatments they required, but enriched subjects received longer therapies than did controls. Neither treatments nor days of therapy were frequent or randomly distributed across housing conditions; pair-housed subjects required the least treatment and therapy, whereas singly-housed subjects were treated slightly more frequently for diarrhoea-related problems, and group-housed subjects for trauma-related problems. Subject age, however, was a potential confounding factor. Because subjects were part of a specific pathogen-free breeding programme, they spent only certain ages in each housing condition. Results suggest that inanimate enrichment neither diminishes nor improves the health of young macaques, but that enriched monkeys may require longer periods of therapy than do controls. Pair housing may be an effective housing strategy from both veterinary and behavioural points of view, necessitating relatively few treatments, but providing some social enrichment opportunities.
Keywords: animal welfare, environmental enrichment, pair housing, physical well-being, psychological well-being, rhesus macaques
THE EFFECT OF CUBICLE AND STRAW YARD HOUSING ON THE BEHAVIOUR, PRODUCTION AND HOOF HEALTH OF DAIRY COWS
C J C Phillips* and S A Schofield
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 37-44
An experiment is described where 40 spring-calving dairy cows were allocated to be housed in a deep straw yard or a cubicle house from November to April, in order to examine the effects on behaviour, milk production and hoof health. Cows in straw yards spent longer lying down and feeding, except during oestrus when they increased their time spent standing proportionately more than cows in cubicles. In the straw yard cows spent longer in associative behaviour during oestrus and had fewer unsuccessful mounting attempts. There were no differences in milk production or composition but cows in the straw yard lost more weight after calving. Cows in the cubicles had a reduction in heel depth, which is a predisposing factor to lameness. It is concluded that a straw yard system for dairy cows allows greater opportunity to display normal behaviour, leads to better hoof health and provides acceptable levels of production.
Keywords: animal welfare, behaviour, cattle housing, dairy cow, hoof health
TESTING FOR UNI-DIMENSIONAL SCALING OF STIMULI USED IN PREFERENCE EXPERIMENTS
I R Inglis
Central Science Laboratory, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Worplesdon, Surrey GU3 3LQ, UK
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 45-49
Many animal preference experiments involve test stimuli that have been chosen by the experimenter to represent different strengths of a single attribute. It is assumed that the animals also scale the test stimuli along a single dimension. This paper shows how it is possible to use the 'Unfolding Technique' developed by Coombs (1964) to check the validity of this assumption. A simple experiment is described which used Coombs' technique to verify that three visual test stimuli were ranked by laboratory rats along a single dimension. These stimuli were subsequently used in an experiment to see how different housing conditions changed rats' preferences for visual complexity.
Keywords: animal welfare, experimental design, preference experiments, scaling criterion
COGNITIVE ETHOLOGY AND THE TREATMENT OF NON-HUMAN ANIMALS: HOW MATTERS OF MIND INFORM MATTERS OF WELFARE
M Bekoff
Department of Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
Correspondence address: 296 Canyonside Drive, Boulder, Colorado 80302, USA
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 75-96
Anthropocentric claims about the ways in which non-human animals (hereafter animals) interact in their social and non-social worlds are often used to influence decisions on how animals can or should be used by humans in various sorts of activities. Thus, the treatment of individuals is often tightly linked to how they are perceived with respect to their ability to perform behaviour patterns that suggest that they can think &endash; have beliefs, desires, or make plans and have expectations about the future. Here, I review some basic issues in the comparative study of animal minds and discuss how matters of mind are related to matters of welfare and well-being. Much comparative research still needs to be done before any stipulative claims can be made about how an individual's cognitive abilities can be used to influence decisions about how she or he should be treated. More individuals from diverse species whose lives, sensory worlds, motor abilities and nervous systems are different from those of animals with whom we identify most readily or with whom we are the most familiar, need to be studied. As others, I stress the importance of subjectivity and common sense along with the use of empirical data in making decisions about animal welfare, and that subjective assessments should be viewed in the same critical light as are supposedly objective scientific facts. I also argue that whatever connections there are between an individual's cognitive abilities and what sorts of treatment are permissible can be overridden by that individual's ability to feel pain and to suffer. When we are uncertain, even only slightly, about their ability to experience pain or to suffer, individual animals should be given the benefit of the doubt. There is a great deal of uncertainty about the phylogenetic distribution of pain and suffering.
Keywords: animal cognition, animal consciousness, animal welfare, cognitive ethology, sentience
A STUDY OF SPATIAL BEHAVIOUR OF PREGNANT SOWS HOUSED IN PENS WITH VARIOUS FEEDING AND DUNG DISPOSAL SYSTEMS
N Walker* and D J Kilpatrick¹
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, County Down, BT26 6DR, UK
1 Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, Belfast, UK
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 97-105
Ninety-six pregnant sows, previously penned in individual stalls, were housed in groups of four in pens containing three zones: a) four individual feeding stalls without rear gates, b) a communal sleeping kennel and c) a dunging area between the stalls and kennel. The feeding stalls were either long (2m) or short (1m) with barriers made of wire mesh. The daily allowance of 2.5kg pelleted feed per sow was presented either all at once (dump) or at the rate of approximately 100g/min by a manual system (trickle). Dung disposal systems were either a pit filled with sawdust-based compost, a slatted floor, or straw on a sloped concrete floor. There were two replicates of the 2x2x3 factorial design. The location of sows was observed from time-lapse video recordings taken at regular intervals throughout the 31 day experimental period.
Use of the three zones of the pens was influenced by feeding method, barrier length and dung disposal system. Overall the feeding stalls were used more with trickle than with dump feeding (P<0.05); more with long than with short barriers (P<0.001), and most with slatted floors and least with the straw system (P<0.001). All these treatments had the opposite effects on the use of the communal kennel. The use of the dunging area was not affected by feeding method or stall length but was greater (P<0.01) on the compost compared with the other two dung disposal systems. Throughout the experimental period the use of feeding stalls decreased (P<0.001). Circadian use of the pen zones interacted with barrier length and dung disposal system. Kennels were used most at night in pens with straw, exceeding 54min/h with half length (1m) stalls. The lowest night-time use of kennels, around 8min/h, was found in pens with full length (2m) stalls combined with either compost or slats. Ambient temperature did not have a major influence on use of pen zones.
The occupation of stalls, especially full length stalls, indicates that offering a choice between solitary and communal areas may improve the welfare of group-housed sows.
Keywords: animal welfare, behaviour, pen design, sows
A COMPARISON OF THREE MODELS FOR ETHICAL EVALUATION OF PROPOSED ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS¹
Tj de Cock Buning* and E Theuneá
Chair on Ethics, Alternatives and History of Animal Experimentation, Department of Animal Problems, Faculty of Medicine, PO Box 9606, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
á Department of Applied Philosophy, Wageningen Agricultural University
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
1 This paper is based on an oral presentation given at the International Academy of Animal Welfare Sciences workshop Laboratory Animal Welfare Research &endash; Legislation and the 3Rs; Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London, 11-13 September 1992
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 107-128
Three recently developed and published schemes to evaluate the acceptability of proposed animal experiments are discussed and compared:
- The model developed at the request of the Dutch Veterinary Public Health Chief Inspectorate by the Department of Animal Problems of Leiden University (the 'Dutch Model');
- The model proposed by the Canadian, David G Porter (the 'Porter model');
- The model developed by the British Institute of Medical Ethics, published in 'Lives in the Balance: The Ethics of Using Animals in Biomedical Research' (the 'IME model').
It is concluded that the Porter model, although compact, does not have an acceptable level of discrimination; nor does it provide the researcher with any pragmatic tools to optimize the research design. The other models appear to be quite adequate for the different purposes for which they were developed. The Dutch model was developed to guide the evaluation procedure at the level of local institution-based committees (ie internal evaluation by colleagues), whereas the IME model will serve the professional officers of the United Kingdom Home Office Inspectorate (ie external evaluation).
Finally, the pragmatic consequences of the three models are discussed with respect to two hypothetical cases.
Keywords: animal experimentation, animal welfare, cost benefit analyses, ethical decision models
SKIN STIMULATED INDUCTION OF MOUTH MOVEMENTS IN CATTLE
H B Simonsen
Department of Animal Science and Animal Health, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, B*lowsvej 13, 1870 Frederiksberg C, DK Denmark
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 129-134
Six animals in a free-ranging herd of ten Aberdeen Angus cattle showed mouth movements induced by skin stimulation by grooming of the sacro-coccygeal region with a horse grooming brush. Three of the animals reacted by mouth movements similar to stereotypic tongue rolling. Twenty-two (ie 37 %) of 59 animals at a cattle show reacted by mouth movements when firmly scratched by hand on the skin in the sacro-coccygeal region and among these animals, significantly more beef breed cattle reacted compared to dairy breeds (P<0.02).
Stereotypic mouth movements of cattle including tongue-rolling, bar-biting and bar-licking are regularly observed in dairy cows and calves. Although it is generally accepted that these kinds of behaviour are behavioural stress reactions, scientific evidence related to the mechanisms behind these oral movements is scarce. In relation to animal welfare science these behavioural stress reactions are important because knowledge of the aetiology of the abnormal behaviour is necessary for the prevention and cure of the symptoms. The present demonstration of skin stimulated induction of mouth movements in cattle, similar to tongue- rolling, therefore seems interesting, as the discovery of such a behaviour may be used in further research on oral stereotypies in cattle.
Keywords: animal welfare, cattle, induction of mouth movements, skin stimulation, stereotypies, tongue-rolling
TRAINING A LARGE TROOP OF RHESUS MACAQUES TO CO-OPERATE DURING CATCHING: ANALYSIS OF THE TIME INVESTMENT
L Luttrell, L Acker, M Urben and V Reinhardt*
Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center, 1223 Capitol Court, Madison, WI 53715, USA
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 135-140
This study demonstrates that only a minimal time investment was needed to train a large troop of laboratory non-human primates to co-operate in the catching procedure. A group of 45 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) was trained to enter a chute system voluntarily and be caught one by one. The total duration of the training sessions was under six hours, with less than 15 total work-hours invested by three people. The result was an improved capture procedure which minimized risk to personnel and distress to the animals.
Keywords: animal welfare, handling, rhesus macaques, training procedures
A STUDY OF REHABILITATED JUVENILE HEDGEHOGS AFTER RELEASE INTO THE WILD
P A Morris* and H Warwick
Department of Biology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX, UK
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 163-177
Many juvenile hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) are 'rehabilitated' with little or no previous experience of life in the wild. A study is described in which twelve such animals were monitored after release in Devon. They quickly learned their way about, built nests and found them again, and interacted normally with each other and with wild conspecifics. While several showed significant weight loss, this represented only the excess accumulated in captivity. Deaths caused by a predator (badger) and motor cars suggest that captives destined for release should not be allowed to become tame and unwary. However, deaths are to be expected in natural circumstances and at least one third of these animals survived beyond the nine-week study, despite having no previous experience of life in the wild. This supports the belief that, although deaths are to be expected, rehabilitating hedgehogs (even naïve juveniles) is possible and worthwhile.
Keywords: animal welfare, behaviour, juvenile hedgehogs, rehabilitation, survival
COMPARISON OF THE BEHAVIOUR OF BROILER CHICKENS IN INDOOR AND FREE-RANGE ENVIRONMENTS
C A Weeks*, C J Nicol, C M Sherwin and S C Kestin
Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford, Bristol BS18 7DU, UK
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 179-192
The behaviour of broilers reared at pasture from 4 to 12 weeks of age on a low density diet supplied either indoors or outdoors, was compared with that of birds reared inside on deep litter. This single study found few differences in behaviour. Activity levels of birds outside were initially greater, but from six weeks of age lying increased to comparable levels in all groups.
Surprisingly little use was made of the extra space and facilities such as perches at pasture. It is proposed that the main reason for this was leg weakness as 80 per cent of the birds had a detectable gait abnormality at seven weeks of age. There was no evidence of reduced motivation to extend the behavioural repertoire, as, for example, ground pecking remained at significantly higher levels in the outdoor groups because it could also be performed from a lying posture.
Keywords: animal welfare, behaviour, broiler chickens, free-range, leg weakness
CAUSES OF BODY ROCKING IN CHIMPANZEES (PAN TROGLODYTES)
R P Spijkerman*¹, H Dienske, J A R A M van Hooff² and W Jens
Primate Centre TNO, Rijswijk, The Netherlands
1 Present address: Azoren 1, 3524 ET, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2 Ethology and Socio-ecology, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 193-211
The behavioural development of 90 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) was followed. Of these, 65 had been separated from their mothers to prevent casualties or, at a later age, to increase breeding success. Some showed body rocking and others did not. To obtain insight into the causes of the onset and development of body rocking, chimpanzees raised with peers, with their mother, or in a semi-natural group were compared. Rocking was never observed in the semi-natural group. It was occasionally seen when with the mother. Separation from the mother soon after birth induced anxiety and rocking developed after sitting upright had developed. Rocking levels of three per cent of the time were still present at seven to nine years of age.
The most probable causes of the development of rocking are frustrating social circumstances and the inability to cope with these. Merging groups, disturbances and the introduction of a fearful object increased rocking in the individuals that had developed the habit. However, rockers reacted less to those circumstances than non-rockers, showing smaller increase in body contact and less reduction of play. This finding suggests that rocking, instead of being a bizarre reaction to unsurmountable stress, could be a behaviour that helps an individual to cope with difficulties and stress. In terms of animal welfare, rocking in chimpanzees housed in laboratory conditions is an indication of a less optimal reaction pattern to frustrating circumstances. The development of rocking may be prevented if the babies are left with the mother and in their social group. Rocking after (late) separation may be prevented when transfer takes place together with familiar peers.
Keywords: animal welfare, behaviour development, captive management, chimpanzees, early rearing conditions, stereotyped body rocking
INDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN RESPONSE TO STRESSORS IN FARM ANIMALS: IMPLICATIONS FOR EXPERIMENTERS
X Manteca* and J M Deag¹
Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Veterinary Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
1 Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, UK
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 213-218
Physiological and behavioural responses to stressors may affect experimental results. Since individual animals differ in their pattern of response to stressors, it is suggested that stress during experiments has the potential for increasing variability in responses to experimental treatments. Evidence supporting this is given from experiments carried out on farm animals. The main factors accounting for individual differences in response to stressors such as handling are habituation, early experiences and genetic background. Several ways of reducing stress during experiments are suggested and the need for skilful and humane handling is emphasized. It is concluded that reducing stress during experiments will have welfare benefits and may reduce the number of animals that need to be used.
Keywords: animal welfare, farm animals, individual differences, stress, variability
THE EFFECTS UPON BADGERS (MELES MELES) OF THE ACTIVITIES OF A SINGLE, PERSISTENT POACHER
H I Griffiths
Department of Genetics, University of Leeds, Woodlands Road, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 219-225
Although the hunters known as 'terrier men' are known to play a significant role in the illicit and cruel persecution of the badger in Britain, very little information is available upon their activities. In this study, detailed records of the hunting practices of a single terrier man, covering a period of seven years, are analysed. This provides the first insight into the activities of illegal badger-digging groups, and also emphasizes the extreme stress that may be caused to quarry species during the practice of this illegal sport.
Keywords: animal welfare, badgers, terrier men
PORTABLE HANDLING FACILITIES TO IMPROVE THE WELFARE OF FARMED RED DEER (CERVUS ELAPHUS)
W J Hamilton
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Glensaugh Research Station, Laurencekirk AB30 1HB, UK
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 227-233
The welfare of farmed animals can be greatly influenced by the availability of appropriately designed and tested handling systems. Farmers who start a new enterprise, such as deer farming, with a small herd may be reluctant to invest in a permanently located handling facility, and this may have an adverse effect on the welfare of the deer. The design, construction and use of a portable handling facility for farmed deer is described. The advantages to management and the benefits to the welfare of deer of being able to transport the handling system to where the deer are grazing are illustrated. The system enhances the ability to monitor the incidence of disease and injury in a deer herd and provides for proper therapeutic or prophylactic treatments to be given as required.
Keywords: animal welfare, deer, handling, portable
THE WELFARE OF FREE-LIVING WILD ANIMALS: METHODS OF ASSESSMENT
J K Kirkwood*, A W Sainsbury and P M Bennett
Institute of Zoology, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 257-273
In assessing the relative merits of farm animal production systems or research procedures using live animals, the impact on the welfare of the animals involved is increasingly being taken into account. Many human activities and human-induced environmental changes can, similarly, adversely affect the welfare of free-living wild animals. As part of a study to investigate the ways in which, and the extent to which, this occurs, we considered methods for the assessment of wildlife welfare. Although it is widely accepted that animals can experience and suffer pain and stress, there are difficulties in measuring the intensities of these states (and continuing debate about the terminology and meaning of these and related concepts as applied to animals). In attempting to scale the degree of harm in the various cases examined, a number of factors need to be considered, including: the nature of the harm caused, its duration, the numbers of animals affected and their capacity for suffering. We explored ways of quantifying these. The study was undertaken to provide a basis for prioritizing actions to alleviate existing wildlife welfare problems and for assessing the possible wildlife welfare impact of future environmental changes or changes in industrial, agricultural and other practices.
Keywords: animal welfare, birds, mammals, pain, stress, welfare assessment, wildlife
DIVING AND UNDERWATER SWIMMING AS ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES FOR CAPTIVE RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA)
J R Anderson*, A Rortais and S Guillemein
Laboratoire de Psychophysiologie (CNRS URA 1295), Université Louis Pasteur, 7 rue de l'Université, 67000 Strasbourg, France
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 275-283
In order to assess the environmental enrichment value of a small swimming pool for captive juvenile rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), observations of social and individual behaviours were made during baseline and experimental (pool) conditions. When the pool was available there was less social grooming and cage manipulation, and more play. Most of the monkeys engaged in diving and underwater swimming. The presence of pieces of banana at the bottom of the pool reduced these water-related activities, whereas when raisins were spread along the bottom or when there was no food in the water, there was more diving and less aggression. Certain effects tended to vary with dominance status, but individual differences appeared more important than social status in determining reactions to the water. The provision of a small swimming pool for captive macaques is an effective contribution to improving their welfare.
Keywords: aggression, animal welfare, dominance, environmental enrichment, play, rhesus macaques, swimming
AN ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOUR AND KILLING TIMES RECORDED DURING A PILOT WHALE HUNT
D Bowles* and J Lonsdale
Environmental Investigation Agency, 2 Pear Tree Court, London EC1R ODS, UK
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 285-304
Data are presented on a number of aspects of a drive hunt of a pod of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas; Traill) which occurred in the Faroe Islands in July 1992. Empirical data collected by observers are presented on aspects of the drive and killing phase of the drive hunt. These focus on the welfare implications of the two main pieces of equipment used in the hunt, the gaff and the knife. The body zone targeted by the gaff ranged from the melon to the dorsal fin. Ten of the 14 initial uses of the gaff recorded resulted in the whale being insecurely fastened and entailed further gaff strikes. Five case studies are presented of towing times, before cutting occurred but post-gaffing, when the whale was secured by the gaff to a boat (median: 66s). The number of gaff strikes on an individual whale ranged from zero to four (median: two). Fifty-seven per cent of cutting episodes using the knife were initiated behind the blowhole, 43 per cent on the whales' flanks. Data on the sequential use of the gaff and the knife are presented for seven whales. Data are also presented on the duration of the cutting episodes for these seven whales (median: 80s) and the total time elapsed from initial wounding until loss of voluntary movement occurred (median: 126s). Certain behaviours shown by the whale after the use of the gaff and knife are discussed and analysed in the context of the physiology, anatomy and social structure of pilot whales. Conclusions are presented on a number of welfare aspects of this hunt and compared with data from other whaling operations.
Keywords: animal welfare, drive hunt, Faroe Islands, killing efficiency, long-finned pilot whale, whaling
TAIL-BITING IN MINK (MUSTELA VISON) IS INFLUENCED BY AGE AT REMOVAL FROM THE MOTHER
G J Mason
Sub-department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, Madingley, Cambridge
Present address: Animal Behaviour Research Group, Department of Zoology, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 305-311
Previous studies have shown that male mink (Mustela vison) removed from their mothers at seven weeks of age develop more tail-biting than males left with their mothers until six months. Mink in the wild do not damage their own pelts in this way, and such behaviour may well be an indication of chronic stress.
The aim of this experiment was to investigate further the causes of tail-biting by considering female young as well as male, and by lowering the age at which the 'late-weaned' mink were separated from their mother to 11 weeks, by which age their period of socialization should be complete. This was to generate results of more practical use to farmers, who cannot leave all young with their mothers until six months of age for reasons of space. Mink removed from their mothers at seven or eleven weeks of age did indeed differ in the incidence of tail-biting. 'Early-weaned' females were more likely than late-weaned females to have bitten their tails at six months of age. A similar result was evident as a trend for both sexes at ten months. Furthermore, at this age, some animals' tail tips were completely bald, and such animals were all early-weaned.
Where provided with plastic drinker dishes, early-weaned animals were also more likely to chew these. Thus weaning age had long-lasting effects on a number of oral behaviour patterns. These results suggest that young animals predisposed to tail-bite might be diverted by the provision of other objects to chew, and that if problems of over-crowding are avoided, leaving mink kits with their mothers until 11 weeks might improve their welfare.
Keywords: animal welfare, grooming, mink, self-directed behaviour, tail-biting, weaning
DICHOTOMY IN CHOICE OF NEST CHARACTERISTICS BY CAGED LAYING HENS
C M Sherwin* and C J Nicol
Department of Animal Husbandry, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford, Bristol BS18 7DU, UK
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 313-320
Soiling of nests in modified cages for laying hens might be reduced by using a wire mesh floor for the nest. However, use of such a material might be contrary to the preferences of the hens and compromise their welfare. Twenty-four laying hens were housed singly in modified cages which incorporated two nests. One nest had the standard perforated plastic floor whilst the other had one of two types of metal mesh floor. To determine whether hens preferred any one of the floor types for oviposition, the positions of the nest floors were swapped three times during 110 days. The hens showed a dichotomy in their behaviour after the nest floors were swapped: the majority (12 of those making a consistent choice) continued to lay in the same nest location (ie location conservative) whereas 6-9 hens changed the nest in which they laid (ie floor type conservative). Only one of the floor type conservative hens preferred to lay on metal mesh. These results show that although the majority of hens showed no apparent aversion to laying in nests with metal mesh floors, 57-68 per cent preferred plastic floors and changed location to lay on this substrate.
Keywords: animal welfare, hens, laying behaviour, modified cages, nests
AMELIORATION OF LABORATORY CONDITIONS FOR PIGEONS (COLUMBA LIVIA)
L Huber
Department of Theoretical Biology, Institute of Zoology, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
Abstract Animal Welfare 1994, 3: 321-324
Learning tests in animal psychology are highly standardized with regard to both the formulation of scientific questions and the methods employed to obtain reliable answers. The Skinnerian technique of conditioning rats or pigeons in small test chambers has established itself as the main laboratory method in this field. Despite the undeniable advantages of highly controlled and manipulated test conditions, a number of problems with respect to the welfare of the test animals arise from the standard application of this method. These problems are specified here along with the presentation of new techniques that have been developed at the University of Vienna. The methodological improvements are related to the housing, testing and weighing of the pigeons and ameliorate the conditions these animals previously confronted within the laboratory.
Keywords: animal welfare, conditioning, learning tests, outdoor housing, pigeons, Skinner Box
