Abnormal Repetitive Behaviours

Transcription

1 Abnormal Repetitive Behaviours what do they tell us about zoo animal welfare? Ros Clubb 19th BIAZA Annual Research Conference July 2017

2 Collaborators Markus Gusset María Díez -León RVC CLICK Swiss Federal TO EDIT MASTER TEXT STYLES Office for Agriculture (formerly WAZA) Sabrina Brando Animal Concepts

3 Survey 13 questions Target audience: those currently working in a zoo/ wildlife park etc Distributed via Zoo Biology Listserv, WAZA regional offices CLICK 204 respondents TO EDIT MASTER TEXT STYLES

4 Abnormal Repetitive Behaviour (ARB) Broad term covering a diverse range of odd-looking repetitive behaviours Very repetitive, consistent (in terms of the pattern or goal of the behaviour) and either appear to serve no function or are maladaptive, harmful, or inappropriate (Garner 2006)

5 Prevalent 82% of carnivores (Mason & Latham 2004) 80% giraffes & okapis (Bashaw et al. 2001) 85% elephants (Greco et al. 2016) 85% polar bears (Shepherdson et al. 2013) 49% clouded leopards self-injurious (Wielebnowski et al. 2002) 10-15% pet parrots feather pluck CLICK 80% (3.5 TO billion) EDIT battery MASTER hens TEXT pace STYLES before laying their eggs if not provided with suitable nest (Yue & Duncan, 2003)

6 If you have seen these behaviours at your current/previous collection, do you think they are an ARB/stereotypy? Yes No Sometimes

7 Do ARBs tell us about animal welfare?

8 Negative? Develop in captivity; barren, unstimulating environments / poor maternal care (e.g. Jeppesen et al. 2000; Mallapur & Chellam 2002) Increase with bad experiences, decrease with good experiences (e.g. Meyer-Holzapfel 1968; Kolter & Zander 1995; Meehan et al. 2003; Carlstead 1993; Barron & Breton 2014; Bildsøe et al 1991) Correlate with other poor welfare indicators (e.g. Brilot et al. 2010; Novak et al. 2016; Pomerantz et al. 2012) Reduced by anxiolytic drugs (e.g. Poulsen et al. 1995; Nicol 2000) CLICK Can cause TO welfare EDIT MASTER problems: TEXT abrasions, STYLES sores, abscesses (Morris, 1964; Meyer-Holzapfel, 1968; Mason, 1991), stunt offspring growth (Mason et al 1995) BUT conflicting evidence

9 Negative? Situations that induce ARBs are bad for welfare review of several hundred papers shows link with poor welfare in 68% of cases where studies compared treatments/environments BETWEEN TREATMENTS/ ENVIRONMENTS X 2 = , Mason df & = Latham 2, p< , Animal Welfare 13:S57-69

10 Negative? Situations that induce ARBs are bad for welfare e.g. signs of fear, stress, depression review of several hundred papers shows link with poor welfare in 68% of cases where studies compared treatments/environments BETWEEN TREATMENTS/ ENVIRONMENTS X 2 = , Mason df & = Latham 2, p< , Animal Welfare 13:S57-69

11 Positive? ARB animals may be better off than normal animals within a particular environment around 60% studies showed link with improved welfare WITHIN TREATMENTS/ ENVIRONMENTS Mason & Latham 2004, Animal Welfare 13:S57-69

12 Positive? ARB animals may be better off than normal animals within a particular environment around 60% studies showed link with improved welfare WITHIN TREATMENTS/ ENVIRONMENTS e.g. lowered heart rate Mason & Latham 2004, Animal Welfare 13:S57-69

13 Tackling ARBs Never prevent, block or punish ARBs, or breed against Don t ignore animals without ARBs Always be concerned about ARBs Use multiple measures of welfare and account for activity and personality Measure different ARB forms Persist with considered, varied enrichment & CLICK evaluate TO EDIT MASTER TEXT STYLES Prevention is better than cure

14 Any questions?

15 Survey XX questions asked about ARBs Target audience was zoo keepers, directors Distributed via...

16 Survey: ARBs XX questions asked about ARBs Target audience was zoo keepers, directors Distributed via...