The effects of enrichment and floor type on the behaviour and welfare of cubicle loose-housed dry sows were investigated in a 2x2 factorial design with four replicates. Sixty-four dry sows were housed in groups of four in pens containing a communal exercise area and four feeding stalls. Pens were either enriched (using spent mushroom compost on suspended wood and wire flat racks) or barren (containing either a solid or part-slatted floor). Enrichment reduced aggressive behaviour, injuries, nosing the ground and lying with eyes open and led to an increase in lying with eyes closed. Floor type had no overall significant effect on sow behaviour. Presentation of spent mushroom compost on suspended racks was found to be a cheap and practical form of enrichment. Incorporation of this system into the design of cubicle loose housing could reduce many of the problems associated with this type of housing and improve the welfare of the sows.

Animal Care Committees (ACCs) in Canada operate within guidelines established by the Canadian Council on Animal Care, an autonomous advisory and supervisory body sponsored by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. ACCs are established to ensure appropriate, humane use of animals in research and teaching, including the adoption of valid alternatives. Their role includes an educative responsibility: to ensure that both ACC members and scientists using animals are acquainted with the ethical issues surrounding animal use and principles relating to refinement of techniques, reduction of numbers used and replacement where possible.

Strategies employed by one university ACC consistent with these aims are described and evaluated. Qualitative and quantitative data are presented derived from participant observation by the author as an ACC member, committee protocols, minutes and other records and a survey of animal users ‘ perceptions of the role and value of the ACC. Results indicated a relatively low level of familiarity with ethical principles relating to the humane treatment of animals, although regulations governing housing and care were well known.

Thirteen overwintered juvenile hedgehogs (six male, seven female) were released in an area of farm land and gardens on Jersey, Channel Islands. Six (three of each sex) were originally from the same area, the rest came from other parts of the island. They were radio-tracked and monitored regularly for 6 weeks to investigate survival and especially whether ‘site-native’ animals and those from elsewhere differed in respect of their propensity to disperse widely following release. All animals survived at least 4 weeks and 10 were known to be alive after 6 weeks. The fate of the others is unknown, but there is no reason to believe that any of them suffered an early death.

Male hedgehogs used new nests more frequently than females. All remained within 400m of the release point for at least a month, some were still within 200m 6 weeks post-release. Five hedgehogs dispersed, travelling at least 400m from the release point. Four of these were males, including one recaptured 5.2km away. Dispersal seemed to be more related to sex than origin. All animals lost weight initially, but most stabilized after 2-3 weeks; proportionately more weight was lost by larger animals. None was seen to use supplementary food put out for them, despite weight losses, and no aggressive interactions with wild conspecifics were noted. Despite all the animals being naïve juveniles, with little or no previous experience of life in the wild, none were killed by road traffic. Positive conclusions from previous studies concerning the success and welfare implications of releasing hedgehogs after care in captivity are confirmed.

Male laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus; Wistar, Alderley Park) were housed as singletons or groups of three in units of two joined, but divided cages. Units were divided by different types of barrier that allowed different degrees of social contact across the barrier. Singletons were established either with another singleton as a neighbour on the other side of the barrier, or with a group of three as neighbours. Relative to group-housed animals, singly-housed rats showed reduced activity and a greater incidence of self-directed behaviours and behaviours apparently related to escape or seeking social information. Pathophysiological evidence was consistent with Baenninger's (1967) suggestion that tail manipulation in singletons is a surrogate social response, but was also consistent with an overall increase in self-directed activity, reflecting elasticity in time budgeting. Variation in the degree of increase in self-directed activity among singletons and the negative correlation between self-directed activity and organ pathology may have reflected differences in the ability of individuals to avoid an activity limbo. While reduced corticosterone concentration and organ pathology compared with grouped rats implied that separation may remove social stress, responses to contact with neighbours, and correlations between behaviours and organ pathology suggested that rats may actively seek social interaction. Broad differences in stress responses between single and grouped housing conditions may therefore be an inadequate yardstick to the animals’ welfare. However, exposure to neighbours reduced the aggressiveness of singly-housed males when they were eventually introduced into an unfamiliar group, suggesting that a degree of exposure to neighbours (separation, but not isolation) may have some welfare benefits for laboratory-housed rats, depending on procedures.

Welfare is being promoted as a reason why ostriches should not be kept on farms in Europe. It is reasoned that the climate, particularly during winter, is unsuitable for these birds despite there being little scientific evidence to support this claim. This study recorded the frequency of behaviours of male and female adult ostriches kept on a farm in Britain during the spring of 1996. ‘Rainy’, ‘dull and dry’, ‘bright and dry’, and ‘sunny’ weather categories were used to assess the influence of climate on behaviour. Six main behaviours (sitting, standing, pacing, walking, foraging and feeding) were observed together with a variety of low frequency ‘other’ behaviours which were combined for analysis. Gender had no significant effect on any of the behaviour frequencies. During ‘rainy’ periods both males and females showed sitting behaviour five times more than during ‘dull’ and ‘bright’ weather and two and a half times more than during ‘sunny’ weather. Increased sitting behaviour during rainy periods was due to a significant reduction in pacing and ‘other’ behaviours with no significant effect on feeding and foraging behaviours. Sitting during sunny weather also occurred more often than during dull and bright weather but not at the expense of any other particular behaviour. Adult ostriches in Britain alter their behaviour in response to prevailing weather conditions, particularly rain.

The purpose of this study was to enrich parrot enclosures by creating foraging opportunities appropriate for the species and to investigate the possible preference for a variable versus a constant food supply. The foraging device comprised of a length of wood (2×0.08×0.08m) with 50 holes (0.02m diameter x 0,02m depth) drilled into one face. Food was placed in the holes of the foraging device in one of two distributions: ‘constant’, one food item in every hole (total = 50 food items) or ‘variable’, 5 food items in 10 of the holes (total = 50 food items). The holes were then covered with starch paper. During the enrichment period the parrots spent significantly more time allopreening than in the baseline or post-enrichment periods. The results also provide some evidence of contrafreeloading in parrots, but no preference for a variable over a constant food source. The study shows that providing extra foraging opportunities for parrots is a useful form of enrichment.

Companion or pet animals are an integral part of many societies. Ownership rates of at least one pet for every two households (50%) have been reported in numerous countries, including the UK (Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association 1996), The Netherlands (Endenburg et al 1990), Poland (Fogle 1994), the USA (Rowan 1992), France (Anon 1995a) and Australia (Anon 1995b). While on one hand the animals gain from their close association with humans by being sheltered, fed and loved, they can also suffer neglect, cruelty, abandonment, unnecessary euthanasia, and may develop behaviour problems. The quality of our relationships with these animals is indeed variable.

This publication addresses many of the welfare and management problems arising from the domestication of the cat. Although we tend to think of the cat as a companion animal, many stray from or are thrown out of their homes, and some may become feral or are born as feral animals.

This Report considers the main systems of egg production in the UK (battery cages, deep litter, perchery, aviary and free-range) and makes recommendations for the improvement of hen welfare. On the opening pages, the FAWC Chairman Sir Colin Spedding, in a covering letter to the Agriculture Ministers, introduces the Report and highlights key points. These include the recommendation that Directive 88/166/EEC, which sets the minimum space requirement at 450cm2 per bird, should be amended immediately to require a minimum space of 600cm2 in all battery cages within 5 years. Furthermore, the Council recommends that conventional battery cages should be phased out in the long-term subject to three provisions (a) the UK industry must be protected from unfair competition within the EU (b) imports of eggs and egg products into the EU from countries in which battery cages are still used must be banned and (c) the phasing out of battery cages should not be effected until injurious pecking and cannibalism have been eliminated or successfully controlled.

The UK's Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order 1997 came into force on 1 July 1997. This Order updates and supercedes the Welfare of Animals during Transport Order 1994 and other pieces of UK animal welfare legislation relevant to animal transport, and implements Council Directive 91/628/EEC as amended by Council Directive 95/29/EEC.

This Report, which reviews current scientific evidence on the welfare of laying hens under various systems of housing, was presented to the European Council in autumn 1996 by Mr F Fischler, the Commissioner for Agriculture. It was prepared by an international panel of experts under the chairmanship of Dr H K Blokhuis of the Netherlands and was approved by the Scientific Veterinary Committee of the European Commission. It is an update of a 1992 report produced under Article 9 of Council Directive 88/166/EEC (on minimum standards for the protection of laying hens) but on which no action was taken at the time.

The new space allowances for weaners and rearers specified by Schedule 3 of the Welfare of Livestock Regulations 1994 (implementing EC Directive 91/630) come into force in the UK on 1 January 1998. The Welfare of Livestock Regulations 1994 also include the ban on close confinement stalls and tethers which come into effect on 1 January 1999. In answer to requests from pig producers, the Agriculture Departments of England, Scotland and Wales have produced guidelines on the enforcement of provisions on space requirements set out in this legislation.

In April this year the Standing Committee of the European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes adopted a Recommendation (a 15 page document) on the management of farmed ratites (ostriches, emus and rheas). In accordance with Article 9 of the Convention, the Recommendation will enter into force on 22 October 1997. Twenty-four Articles covering a variety of subjects: general provisions, biological characteristics of ratites, stockmanship and inspection, enclosures, buildings and equipment, management, changes in phenotype or genotype, killing and arrangements for review of the Recommendation. Appendices are included which cover topics to be included in the training of ratite farmers, technical details for the catching and handling of ratites, general provisions for ostriches, emus and rheas, and guidelines for size of bedding or fodder chop.