Some supporters of religious slaughter methods claim that efficiency of bleed-out is adversely affected by stunning. Our previous study carried out in sheep at an abattoir comparing the Muslim method of slaughter without stunning with pre-slaughter stunning using a captive bolt or by electrical methods concluded that bleed-out is not adversely affected by stunning, nor improved by a neck cut without stunning. In this paper, a similar study carried out in cattle is reported. In this study, captive bolt stunning followed by neck cutting was compared with the Muslim slaughter method without stunning. The total blood loss, percentage blood loss expressed as a percentage of live weight and percentage loss of estimated total blood were calculated and compared between each group. In addition, the time periods taken to reach 25, 50, 75 and 90% of total blood loss were also calculated. There was no significant difference between the two stunning groups for any of these blood loss variables. The results, subjected to statistical analyses, also showed no apparent difference in the PCV levels and meat quality parameters between treatments. These results confirm the findings with sheep and show that the bleed-out is not adversely affected by captive bolt stunning, nor improved by a neck cut without stunning in cattle. It is anticipated that these findings may help promote the use of stunning methods during Halal slaughter.

Refinement techniques are being increasingly employed in all fields of animal research to try to ensure that the highest standards of welfare are upheld. This review concerns one of the main emerging techniques for the assessment of welfare itself, namely the non-invasive measurement of glucocorticoids (GCs) as indicators of stress. The paper is divided into three sections. The first discusses the relationship between GCs and stress. The second section considers whether factors other than stress are linked to rises in GCs, eg exercise, oestrus cycle and diet. The final part examines the reliability of the non-invasive techniques that measure GCs from samples of saliva and faeces. Although it is important to take into account some caveats associated with the methodologies employed, it is concluded, nevertheless, that these techniques can give accurate and reliable information regarding the welfare status of an individual or group of animals without the procedures themselves causing any kind of distress to the subjects.

Isolating an animal refers to the situation where the animal is physically fully demarcated from conspecifics without physical, visual, olfactory and auditory contact. Animals housed in separate cages in the same room are, although deprived of physical and visual contact, still in olfactory and auditory contact, and thus not totally isolated. During the fifties and sixties several studies claimed to show physiological and behavioural differences between individually and group housed rats and mice. The so-called ‘Isolation Syndrome’ characterised by changes in corticosterone levels, metabolism, growth, and behaviour was introduced, rather as a model for psychoneurosis than through any concern for animal welfare. Today, it is often stated as common knowledge in laboratory animal science textbooks that individual housing as well as isolation of rats and mice has an effect on physiology and behaviour. It is, however, unclear whether this effect actually impairs animal welfare.

The aim of this paper is to analyse studies on individual housing of mice and rats to evaluate whether there is documented proof that individual housing affects welfare, and, alternatively whether it is possible to house these animals individually without negative impact on welfare, eg by providing special housing improvements.

A range of studies have shown that individual housing or isolation has effects on corticosterone, the open field behaviour, barbiturate sleeping time and the metabolism of different pharmaceuticals in the animals. However, this review of 37 studies in rats and 17 studies in mice showed divergence in test results difficult to explain, as many studies lacked basal information about the study, eg information on genetic strains and housing conditions, such as bedding, enrichment and cage sizes. Furthermore, test and control groups most frequently differed in cage sizes and stocking densities, and behavioural tests differed in ways which may very well explain the differences in results. Overall, there seemed to be an effect of individual housing, although it may be small, and it seems reasonable to assume that, through making small changes in the procedures and housing environments, the effects can be minimised or even eliminated. More well-controlled and standardised studies are needed to give more specific answers to the questions this issue poses.

Forty-eight budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) were pairwise housed in small (80 × 40 × 50 cm) and large (160 × 40 × 50 cm) (length × breadth × height) boxes, as well as in 2.0 × 1.0 × 2.0 m aviaries. All boxes and aviaries had two or three (aviaries) perches and food was offered on the bottom. The body masses of female budgerigars increased significantly when they were housed in boxes instead of aviaries. The size of the box did not influence body mass. The frequency of flying was adjusted to the size of the box as both males and females flew approximately twice as often from perch to perch in a small box than in a large box of double length. Flying behaviour differed significantly between large and small boxes and aviaries. The ratio of invariantly flying from perch to perch to all flying events increased from aviaries < large boxes < small boxes. About 75% of all flying events in small boxes consisted of flying from perch to perch. Females in boxes spent more time on the bottom where the food was placed than females in aviaries. Both the significant body mass gain in female budgerigars, as well as the invariant, stereotypic flying movements, indicated reduced welfare in budgerigars housed in boxes, compared with those in aviaries. Providing a large box did not prevent body mass gain, but did increase the variation in flying patterns. Under long-term housing conditions, boxes could lead to at least two serious welfare problems; obesity and stereotypic behaviour, and should be avoided for budgerigars. Therefore, aviary housing should be chosen wherever possible.

Dolphins in captivity have to cope with severe changes in their environment. So far, there are few studies on the welfare of these animals under these conditions. The aim of the present study was to find if cortisol was present in the saliva of dolphins and to explore the possibility of performing serial, non-invasive cortisol assays in captive dolphins. Saliva was collected non-invasively during a month from four dolphins that had responded to previous training, in order to provide saliva samples, in two aquaria in Mexico City. In addition, serum and saliva time-matched samples were obtained in an aquarium in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Cortisol concentrations in saliva and blood were measured by radioimmunoanalysis (RIA). Results show for the first time that measurable quantities of cortisol are secreted within the saliva of dolphins. Salivary cortisol measurements could be a useful tool for carrying out long-term cortisol sampling. It is far less invasive than blood-sampling and could be used, in conjunction with behavioural observations, to monitor the welfare of captive dolphins, non-invasively.

Aggression and agonism typically accompany the initial interactions exchanged between unfamiliar primates. As a part of a larger study examining the social function of scrotal colour in vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus), this paper offers experimental data to show how scrotal colour can influence aggression, and how artificial colour treatment can be used as an effective tool for managing aggression. Study animals were 81 vervet monkey pairs composed of 162 similarly-sized, unfamiliar adult males originating from non-adjacent parishes in Barbados. Non-contact and contact aggression were recorded on a continuous basis during 90 minute introductions. The main effects of the Test male scrotal colour, Stimulus male colour, and the interaction of the Test male and Stimulus male colours were not significant predictors of non-contact aggression. The effects of scrotal colouration of the Test male and Stimulus male were not significant predictors of contact aggression either, but there was a significant interaction effect; pairs of males with similar scrotal colour engaged in contact aggression more often than pairs of males differing in colour. Painting the scrotum dark led to more aggression when these males were paired with dark coloured males and less aggression when these males were paired with pale coloured males. These findings suggest a practical and inexpensive means of reducing the likelihood of aggression when introducing new animals. These results may also be applicable for other taxa that have colourful sexual skin, such as mandrills, drills, talapoins, patas monkeys, and many guenon species.

As adult cats can often be difficult to re-home, they may spend long periods in rescue shelters where barren housing and inconsistent handling can reduce their welfare. In this study, 165 adult cats in an animal shelter in Vancouver, Canada, were assigned to four treatments. The Basic Single treatment reflected typical conditions in that particular shelter, with cats handled in an inconsistent manner by various staff and housed singly in relatively barren cages. Three alternative treatments involved more consistent, positive handling by only the experimenter and research assistants, plus three housing conditions: Enriched Single (individual cages with opportunities to perch and hide), Basic Communal (group housing with opportunity for each cat to have personal space), and Enriched Communal (group housing enriched to encourage play and cat – cat interaction). The Basic Single treatment had the lowest percentage adopted in 21 days (45% versus 69-76% for other treatment, and higher stress scores than other treatments. The three alternative treatments did not differ significantly on any measure. Cats euthanised for poor health showed higher stress levels when alive than other cats. In a questionnaire, most adopters cited certain behavioural/emotional traits (‘friendly’, ‘playful’, ‘happy’) as reasons for selecting cats; these were generally associated with lower stress scores. The results suggest that consistent handling combined with a range of improved housing options can improve the chances of adoption for adult cats, perhaps by reducing fear-related behaviours that make cats less attractive to adopters.

A key question in the management of group-housed captive animals is how long can an individual be removed from a social group and still be reintroduced with minimal social upheaval. In order to answer this question we require a knowledge of how long cage-mates, following a specified period of group-housing, can remember one another after separation. This issue was investigated in laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus). Rats were group-housed for 18 days before being housed individually. One hour, 48 hr, and 96 hr after separation, they were exposed simultaneously to odour cues originating from unfamiliar rats and from former cage-mates. The rats spent significantly more time investigating the unfamiliar odour 1 hr and 48 hr, but not 96 hr, after separation, suggesting that, after 18 days of group-housing, juvenile rats remember former cage-mates for between 48 and 96 hr. The implications of this result for animal welfare are discussed.

The aim of this study was to determine whether or not oestrus induction on the day of weaning would reduce the distress experienced by ewes upon separation from lambs. For this, 43 ewes, their eight week-old lambs and six mature rams were used. Prior to weaning, 21 of these ewes were induced to display oestrus on the day of mother-young separation (treated group [T]) while the remaining 22 untreated ewes served as controls (C). T and C ewes were housed together. Blood samples were collected on the day of weaning (prior to mother-young separation and 24 hours later) and then nine days later, for plasma progesterone (P4) and cortisol determination. Lambs were separated from their dams by a wire fence at weaning in full view of each other. Three rams were tethered to posts with 3 m plastic chains in the ewes' pen. T and C groups were simultaneously tested in identical test pens. C ewes showed a greater increase in serum cortisol concentration after separation from lambs (47.64 ± 4.26 n mol l–1) than T ewes (28.79 ± 6.29 n mol l–1). T ewes exhibited fewer vocalisations ewe–1h–1 and fewer vocalisations at 6, 12 and 18 h post separation than C ewes. On the day of weaning, more T ewes were seen to be situated away from lambs and in close proximity to the males, compared to the C group. Thus, more T than C ewes were mounted (14 as opposed to 3) and these received a greater number of mounts (1.02 ± 0.23 per hour, as opposed to 0.11 ± 0.06). It was concluded that by inducing ewes into oestrus at weaning it is possible to reduce the signs of separation distress.