Since the release of the revised Appendix A from the Council of Europe for housing of laboratory animals there have been claims that laboratory animals should be housed under more complex conditions; known popularly as enrichment. A number of studies have expressed concerns that this may increase uncontrollable variation in the animals, thereby creating the need for greater numbers of animals. Within neurobiology there would appear to be a scientific basis for such concern. However, even though this may be used as an argument for denying the animal environmental enrichment, it is unclear whether there is any basis for concern within other research areas. The aim of this study, therefore, was to explore whether clinical pathology and cardiovascular parameters were influenced by housing rats under environmentally enriched conditions. Male, Sprague-Dawley rats were housed under three different regimes: non-enriched, standard-enriched (according to the guidelines of the Council of Europe) and extra-enriched with a shelf and higher cages. All housing forms were based upon commercially available, standardised equipment. A total of 41 different parameters were monitored via clinical pathology, telemetry and coagulation tests and virtually no differences were observed in relation to the manner in which the rats were housed. The uncontrollable variation observed in our study was compared to within-strain variation data supplied from the breeder and was relatively low in all three types of housing. We conclude, based upon our studies in male, Sprague-Dawley rats, that so far there is no basis for concern that enriched housing will lead to increased group sizes when using animals for research within this field and, as such, there is no reason not to enrich the environment of such rats.

The effect that breed standards and selective breeding practices have on the welfare of pedigree dogs has recently come under scrutiny from both the general public and scientific community. Recent research has suggested that breeding for particular aesthetic traits, such as tightly curled tails, highly domed skulls and short muzzles predisposes dogs with these traits to certain inherited defects, such as spina bifida, syringomyelia and brachycephalic airway obstruction syndrome, respectively. Further to this, there is a very large number of inherited diseases that are not related to breed standards, which are thought to be prevalent, partly as a consequence of inbreeding and restricted breeding pools. Inherited diseases, whether linked to conformation or not, have varying impact on the individuals affected by them, and affect varying proportions of the pedigree dog population. Some diseases affect few breeds but are highly prevalent in predisposed breeds. Other diseases affect many breeds, but have low prevalence within each breed. In this paper, we discuss the use of risk analysis and severity diagrams as means of mapping the overall problem of inherited disorders in pedigree dogs and, more specifically, the welfare impact of specific diseases in particular breeds.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of social rank (Experiment 1) and familiarity (Experiment 2) on dust-bathing in domestic hens (Gallus gallus domesticus). We conducted choice tests between two conditions using actual birds as the stimuli and evaluated the effects in terms of quality and quantity of dustbathing performed. Twenty-four, medium-ranked hens were selected as test subjects. The stimuli presented were combinations of a high-ranked hen, a low-ranked hen, or no hen at all for Experiment 1, and a combination of a familiar hen, an unfamiliar hen, or no hen for Experiment 2. The number and duration of dustbaths, wing tosses as well as other behaviours were measured. For Experiment 1, the test hen performed dustbathing more frequently on the side of the hen, regardless of its social rank, when presented with a choice of a high- or low-ranked hen, or no hen. For Experiment 2, the test hen performed dustbathing more frequently on the side of the familiar hen when presented with a familiar hen or no hen, and more frequently on the side of no hen when presented with an unfamiliar hen and no hen. It was concluded that dustbathing was not affected by social rank, and that the quality and quantity of dustbathing was greater on the side of the familiar hen. However, dustbathing was restricted by the presence of an unfamiliar hen.

The stunning and killing efficiency of ice, superchilling (N2 gas), freezing (-37°C), gradual heating (40°C), boiling, piercing of ganglia, salt baths (NaCl and KCl), gas (CO2) and electricity (50 Hz AC) on edible crabs was studied. Results showed that electricity was the most efficient stunning method, whereby edible crabs could be rendered insensible within 1 s using electric field strengths of 400 V m−1 and above. Prolonging the electrical current to 10 s resulted in less potential difference (220 V m−1) required to stun the crabs. Applying a two-stage stun with 530 Vm−1 for 1 s followed by 170 V m−1 for 2 min resulted in a state of prolonged unconsciousness and 60% mortality. Failure to stun the crabs with electricity resulted in massive autotomy, where all appendages were lost. Behavioural responses were lost in approximately 30% of crabs after 100 min of chilling on ice, while freezing did not render the crabs unconscious until temperatures of subzero were reached. The exposed chelipeds stiffened, and once frozen, irreversible damage was caused. Placing crabs into heated seawater (40°C) led all responses to be lost after 5 min, while the internal temperature exceeded an average of 26°C, representing approximately 2.5 min of boiling. Gas, in the form of CO2, NaCl, and a low concentration of KCl (5%), failed to render the animals insensible within 12 min. Using 20% KCl saw all animals lose all behavioural responses within 3 min. The piercing of single ganglions failed to kill the animal; both ganglia must be pierced in order to kill the animal. We conclude that electrical stunning is recommended prior to boiling or carving, while piercing can alternatively be carried out by trained personnel.

It is widely recognised that single housing is detrimental to the welfare of social species. However, some experimental procedures dictate that laboratory animals are housed individually. There is evidence to suggest that, by mimicking social contact, mirrors are beneficial to the welfare of singly housed horses and heifers. However, experiments with singly caged laboratory mice have found mirrors to be mildly aversive. The present study investigated the behavioural response of singly housed male and female rabbits to a mirror in their cage. After a period of pre-trial behavioural observations, rabbits were provided with an acrylic mirror, either at the front or the back of their cage, for a period of seven days. This was followed by a post-trial period, at the beginning of which all mirrors were removed. Both sexes showed some changes in behaviour and in the use of space within the cage. The addition of a mirror significantly reduced grooming in females, which was previously considered to be at high levels. Both males and females showed an increase in investigatory behaviour, although the patterns of change differed between the sexes. Differences between males and females are attributed to differences in socio-sexual strategies between the sexes. It is concluded that, when single housing is unavoidable, mirrors might be appropriate to partially compensate for social contact in female laboratory rabbits. Further research using a wide range of welfare indicators is needed to establish whether the provision of a mirror could be used as a successful method of improving laboratory rabbit welfare.

Social interactions between individuals, such as co-operation and competition, are key factors in evolution by natural selection. As a consequence, evolutionary biologists have developed extensive theories to understand the consequences of social interactions for response to natural selection. Current genetic improvement programmes in animal husbandry, in contrast, largely ignore the implications of social interactions for the design of breeding programmes. Recently, we have developed theoretical and empirical tools to quantify the magnitude of heritable social effects, ie the heritable effects that animals have on their group mates’ traits, in livestock populations, and to utilise those effects in genetic improvement programmes. Results in commercial populations of pigs and laying hens indicate large heritable social effects, and the potential to substantially increase responses to selection in traits affected by social interactions. In pigs, including social effects into the breeding programme affected aggressive behaviour, both at mixing and in stable groups, indicating changes in the way dominance relationships are established and in aggressiveness. In laying hens, we applied selection between kin-groups to reduce mortality due to cannibalistic pecking. This resulted in a considerable difference in mortality between the low mortality line and the unselected control line in the first generation (20 vs 30%). Furthermore, changes in behavioural and neurobiological responses to stress were detected in the low mortality line, pointing to reduced fearfulness and stress sensitivity. These first results indicate that including social effects into breeding programmes is a promising way to reduce negative social interactions in farm animals, and possibly to also increase positive social interactions, by breeding animals with better social skills.

A total of 560 cattle and water buffalo were examined at livestock markets in Bangladesh. The aim was to assess the frequency of nose and tail injuries that could have occurred during handling and transport. The frequency of nose piercing was 64%, and 69% of the cattle and 54% of the water buffalo had rubbing or tearing injuries at the nostrils from nose ropes fitted through the pierced hole. Almost half of the nose-pierced animals (47%) had lacerations and ulcerations where the nose rope had rubbed against the nose. Pus at the nostril was observed in 56% of the animals, and 57 and 58% had severe and extended nose injuries, respectively. Nose injuries were more severe in imported Hariana cattle compared with exotic and local breeds. In cattle plus water buffalo, 39% had tail injuries of which the two major abnormalities were absent tail end (2%) and kinked tail (98%). Tail injuries were more common in cattle (51%) than water buffalo (15%). Among the cattle breeds, the frequency of tail injuries in Hariana was 65%. In conclusion, the cattle and water buffalo experienced a number of serious injuries and this calls for greater attention to be paid to handling methods in draught animals in south Asia.

This study explores the use of Free Choice Profiling (FCP) methodology for the qualitative behaviour assessment of emotional expression in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris). Qualitative behaviour assessment is based upon the integration of many pieces of information that in conventional quantitative approaches are recorded separately or not at all. Observers are asked to focus on an animal's interaction with its surrounding environment, and to describe the animal's expressive demeanor, or ‘body language’. A specific characteristic of FCP methodology is that it allows observers the freedom to devise their own descriptive terms, and then to use these personal terms to quantitatively score observed subjects. Application of FCP to qualitative behaviour assessment in animals was originally tested for pigs, and more recently for dairy cows, horses, and ponies. The goal of this study was to apply FCP to the domestic dog, and to investigate the inter-observer reliability of assessments of emotional expression in 10 individual Beagles by a group of 18 untrained observers. The data was analysed using Generalised Procrustes Analysis (GPA), a multivariate statistical technique associated with FCP. The observers achieved highly-significant agreement in their assessments of the dogs’ expressions, thereby establishing the applicability of this methodology for the first time in the domestic dog.

The effects of presumed long distance transport on blood parameters were examined in cattle and water buffalo exported from India to Bangladesh. The aim was to assess the welfare of the animals in terms of the frequency of dehydration, metabolic depletion and muscle injury or activation, when they reached their destination. The physiological indicators were total plasma protein, serum sodium, plasma glucose, serum non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and serum creatine kinase (CK). Ninety-eight cattle and 57 water buffalo were randomly selected from 24 trucks as they arrived at the market between 0700 and 1000h each day during the hot season (April). In the majority of animals, all five blood variables were higher than published normal values. In all the cattle, total plasma protein concentration, serum NEFA concentration and serum CK activity were higher than the normal range and these values were higher than normal in over 84% of the buffalo. Seventy-two percent of all the animals were hypernatraemic. About 90% of the buffalo and 86% of the cattle were hyperglycaemic. There were no differences in total plasma protein and serum sodium between cattle and water buffalo. By contrast, cattle had significantly higher NEFA and CK and lower glucose than water buffalo. It was evident that this long distance export trade was associated with dehydration, lipolysis and muscle injury or activation. It is recommended that both cattle and water buffalo are given adequate feed and water whenever they are off-loaded from vehicles during the course of journeys.

A cross-sectional study of lactating sows in 71 commercial pig herds in England was carried out to estimate the prevalence of foot lesions and abnormal posture and investigate the associated risks. Observational data were collected on the standing posture, lesions on the hind left foot, and the pen the sow was housed in for 233 sows. The prevalence of foot lesions was 76.8% and 10.8% of lactating sows had abnormal posture. Sows housed on slatted floors during pregnancy had an associated increased risk of heel flaps but a reduced risk of toe erosion, compared with sows housed on solid concrete floors with bedding during pregnancy. There was an increased risk of abnormal posture in lactating sows housed on slatted floors during pregnancy compared with those housed on solid concrete floors with straw bedding during pregnancy. In addition, there was an increased risk of abnormal posture in lactating sows with wounds on the limbs and erosions on the toe and the heel/sole. The positive association between abnormal posture and foot lesions suggests that these lesions might be painful. Housing sows on solid floors during pregnancy might reduce the risk of abnormal posture, and certain foot lesions, in sows during lactation. However, posture is a less sensitive measure of lameness than gait, and the nature of the causal relationship between foot lesions and lameness requires further investigation.

Amphibians, like other vertebrates, respond to acute stressors by releasing glucocorticoid steroid hormones that mediate physiological and behavioural responses to stress. Measurement of stress hormones provides a potential means to improve the welfare of laboratory animals. For example, manipulations of laboratory housing and procedures combined with measurement of glucocorticoids may identify which conditions are more stressful to animals. This is important because there is very little experimental evidence to guide best practice for welfare in amphibians and other lower vertebrates. We investigated the effect of different methods of euthanasia on the circulating plasma corticosterone levels in the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), a model amphibian organism that is frequently used in laboratories. In particular, we investigated the effect of different concentrations and pH of the anaesthetic tricaine methanesulphonate (MS-222). Low concentration and unbuffered (low pH) solutions of MS-222 caused elevated corticosterone levels, but only after the effect of MS-222 treatment on blood fluid volume had been taken into account. The level of disturbance that animals experienced also affected corticosterone levels. Thus, our data suggest that to minimise stress to X. laevis, animals should be euthanised after minimal disturbance and in a 3 g L−1 MS-222 solution, buffered to pH 7. The potential for the improvement of amphibian welfare using corticosterone measures as a tool is discussed.

Current alterations in the farm environment, such as a reduced number of farm workers, may mean that sheep genotypes that are highly dependent on man for nutritional and reproductive success will experience poorer welfare within that environment. In the past 30 years, average flock size has doubled, and flocks of over 1,000 ewes managed by one stockperson are common. The reduction in the ratio of stockpeople to sheep affects animal welfare, with less time for tasks such as healthcare and inspection. It has also led to increased interest in the development of new genotypes that are better able to look after themselves. Selection and management of sheep to promote behaviours associated with survival, and selection of robust animals that require less human intervention for good welfare, are important breeding goals. As these animals will receive less inspection at close quarters, selection for resistance to disease will have significant animal welfare benefits. In addition, the development of sheep lines that require little or no intervention at lambing will be important. In areas where wool is not valuable, the use of wool-shedding breeds to avoid the stress associated with shearing, and to reduce the incidence of flystrike are already proving to be beneficial. Importantly, this selection should not be interpreted as providing no care to these animals, and careful management during the production of these genotypes is needed to avoid at least transient welfare problems where genotypes and environment (eg lower shepherding) are mismatched.

Positive reinforcement training is one component of behavioural management employed to improve psychological well-being. There has been regulatory promotion to compensate for restricted social housing in part by providing human interaction to singly caged primates, implying an efficacy standard for evaluating human interaction. The effect of positive reinforcement training on the behaviour of 61 singly housed laboratory rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) was evaluated at two large primate facilities. Training involved body part presentation and basic control behaviours. Baseline data were compared to two treatment phases presented in varying order across individuals, six minutes per week of positive reinforcement training and six minutes per week of unstructured human interaction. While a MANOVA involving behavioural categories and study conditions across study subjects was significant, univariate ANOVAs found no effect of phase within any behavioural category. Categorising subjects according to rearing, housing facility, or baseline levels of abnormal behaviour did not reveal changes in behaviour with positive reinforcement training or human interaction. This study failed to detect, to any degree, the types of behavioural changes documented in the scientific literature to result from pairing singly housed monkeys. Implementing short durations of positive reinforcement training across large numbers of singly housed animals may not be the most effective manner for incorporating positive reinforcement training in the behavioural management of laboratory macaques. Rather, directing efforts toward individuals with specific behavioural, management, clinical, research or therapeutic needs may represent a more fruitful approach to improving psychological well-being with this technique.

The focus of wildlife rehabilitation is the survival of the individual animal, often leading to rehabilitators being in conflict with government wildlife officials, who regulate the industry and whose focus is on the security of entire wildlife communities. In South Africa, wildlife rehabilitation has been the focus of recent attention from the general public, government and academics, due mostly to the development and adoption of norms and standards for the management of primates. Our study was initiated to provide the first survey of rehabilitation centres in South Africa. Questionnaires were returned by 65% known rehabilitation centres in South Africa, including all nine Provinces, through which several thousand injured, diseased and orphaned animals pass each year. It is clear there is a need for rehabilitation centres in South Africa. However, due to a lack of scientific research on the efficacy of rehabilitation methods for care and release, and minimal post-release monitoring, wildlife rehabilitation techniques and protocols have been based on work experience and subjective intuition. In conjunction with a lack of funds, there may be negative impacts on individual animal welfare and survival, as well as on conservation efforts for wildlife communities. Similar issues have been documented in other regions of the world. In the authors’ opinion, centralisation of wildlife rehabilitation to national or provincial government is a necessity. Furthermore, it is suggested that guidelines of minimum standards should be developed in consultation with experienced rehabilitators, veterinarians and conservation scientists; to be enforced by trained and dedicated conservation officials.

One option for improving the welfare of purebred dog breeds is to implement health breeding programmes, which allow selection to be directed against known diseases while controlling the rate of inbreeding to a minimal level in order to maintain the long-term health of the breed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the predicted impact of selection against disease in two breeds: the Cavalier King Charles spaniel (CKCS) and the Labrador Retriever. Heritabilities for mitral valve disease, syringomyelia in the CKCS and hip dysplasia in the Labrador were estimated to be 0.64 (± 0.07), 0.32 (± 0.125) and 0.35 (± 0.016), respectively, which suggest encouraging selection responses are feasible based upon the estimation of breeding values (EBVs) if monitoring schemes are maintained for these breeds. Although using data from disease databases can introduce problems due to bias, as a result of individuals and families with disease usually being over-represented, the data presented is a step forward in providing information on risk. EBVs will allow breeders to distinguish between potential parents of high and low risk, after removing the influence of life history events. Analysis of current population structure, including numbers of dogs used for breeding, average kinship and average inbreeding provides a basis from which to compare breeding strategies. Predictions can then be made about the number of generations it will take to eradicate disease, the number of affected individuals that will be born during the course of selective breeding and the benefits that can be obtained by using optimisation to constrain inbreeding to a pre-defined sustainable rate.

This study introduces Health Technology Assessment (HTA) — a systematic, evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach to assessing human health technologies, aimed at supporting decision-making in health policy and clinical practice — into laboratory animal science. A conceptual presentation is provided on how the assessment concept of HTA can be adapted to procedures in laboratory animal science (LAS), using phenotyping of mutant mice as an example of how decision-making in this particular setting can be supported. Since a full HTA can be a comprehensive task, a limited version, the Mini-HTA, is introduced, and a proposal for an adapted Mini-HTA form of assessment of phenotyping protocols is presented. It is the conclusion of this study that the principles of HTA could improve the decision-making process, resulting in increased validity of scientific results and animal welfare.