Unit 3 Sustainability and interdependence Sub Topic 3.4: Animal welfare Page 1 of 12
On completion of this topic I will be able to: Describe the costs, benefits and ethics of providing different levels of animal welfare in livestock production; Describe behavioural indicators of poor welfare; Describe stereotypy behaviour, misdirected behaviour, failure in sexual and parental behaviour and altered levels of activity; State that observing behaviour in animals is known as ethology; State that a catalogue of observed behaviour is known as an ethogram; State that an ethogram of animals in natural and semi-natural surroundings provides information about animal behaviour; State that information from these studies can be used to improve the environment for domesticated animals; Describe the use of preference tests and measurements of motivation in animal welfare studies. Page 2 of 12
Animal welfare Animal welfare refers to both the physical and mental well-being of animals. It is important that domesticated animals are well looked after. The animals should be able to: behave in natural ways; live free from disease; grow vigorously. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 made legal the Five freedoms for animal welfare identified by the Farm Animal Welfare Council. The five freedoms animals should have are: 1 Freedom from hunger and thirst The animal should be able to drink fresh water whenever they need it and they should be fed on a diet which keeps them healthy and strong. 2 Freedom from chronic discomfort The animals should be kept in a comfortable environment. The animals should not be too hot in summer or too cold in winter, there should be plenty of fresh air and they should have a comfortable, dry place to lie down. 3 Freedom from pain, injury and disease The environment that the animal lives in shall be safe for them and not cause them injury. If the animals have any problem of injury or disease, a vet should be called immediately. 4 Freedom from fear and distress The animals should not be kept in conditions where they are afraid or where they might suffer any unnecessary pain or distress. This also applies when they are in transport, at market or abattoirs. 5 Freedom to express normal behaviour The animals should be able to move around easily and mix with others in their group. Page 3 of 12
Costs and benefits Improving the conditions for animals is expensive for farmers and results in food that is more costly for human consumers. However, animals which are healthy and unstressed grow and reproduce better and produce better quality products e.g. meat, milk and eggs. Ethics Ethical questions involve values and rules that govern moral conduct. Many traditions stress the need to care for domesticated animals e.g. from the Jewish tradition A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal (The Book of Proverbs). The need for food security should not compromise the ethical treatment of animals. In the UK, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) advise the government on the changes to legal regulations needed to ensure animal welfare. Complete the following table with the correct examples of freedom. Freedoms of Animals Freedom from hunger and thirst Example Freedom from chronic discomfort Freedom from pain, injury and disease Freedom to express normal behaviour Freedom from fear and the avoidance of stress whenever possible Animals should be able to move around freely and mix with other animals in the group Animals should not be exposed to unnecessary pain Environment should be safe for animals and not cause them injury Animals should be able to drink fresh water when they need it Animals should be kept in a comfortable environment Page 4 of 12
Indicators of poor animal welfare When animals experience poor welfare standards they may display unusual/ uncharacteristic behaviours. The behavioural indicators of poor welfare include: 1. Stereotypy 2. Misdirected behaviour 3. Failure in reproductive behaviour 4. Altered levels of activity. 1. Stereotypy Stereotypy is a behaviour which involves unusual repetitive movements in captive animals. It is often displayed in confined spaces. Examples of types of stereotypy include: chewing movements in pigs; pacing in zoo cages by big cats; chewing and kicking in stabled horses. Some view stereotypy as a natural response to confinement in an unnatural environment. Page 5 of 12
2. Misdirected behaviour Misdirected behaviour involves a normal behaviour being displayed in a different/inappropriate situation. This behaviour may be misdirected towards the individual itself, other members of its species or its surroundings. Abnormal misdirected behaviour comes in a variety of forms. Examples of types of misdirected behaviour include: self-mutilation e.g. hens over-plucking their feathers; damage to others e.g. tail biting in pigs and caged hens pecking feathers and skin; surroundings e.g. chewing cage bars or other inanimate objects in pigs. All of these misdirected behaviours are clear signs of suffering by the animal. 3. Failure in reproductive behaviour Reproductive success can be used as a measure of animal welfare. Those animals kept in isolation or in low welfare conditions often have low reproductive success. This can be a result of these animals: failing to perform sexual behaviour; rejecting/ neglecting any offspring they do produce. For a young animal to develop normal sexual behaviour it must be allowed to interact with members of its own species in a suitable enclosure. Page 6 of 12
4. Altered levels of activity Altered levels of activity are also behavioural indicators of poor welfare. Examples are: High activity levels e.g. hyper-aggressive stamping and head-lowering in bulls Low activity levels e.g. excessive sleeping. Key Questions Using the Torrance textbook, pages 285-287, answer the following questions. 1. What can be done to eliminate: a) the incidence of stereotypy? b) the incidence of misdirected behaviour? c) the incidence of animals failing to sexually reproduce? Page 7 of 12
Ethology Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour. Animal behaviourists observe the behaviour of domesticated animals in their natural or semi-natural environment and produce an ethogram. An ethogram is a list or diagram that describes animal behaviour. Scientists can then use this ethogram to record the frequency of different behaviours. Ethogram example: Capuchin monkeys Behaviour Definition category Aggression Play Resting alone Resting together Feeding Moving alone Moving together Chasing, biting, hitting or screaming at another monkey. May include threat displays, such as shaking branches or lunging at another. One monkey chases or wrestles with another, in a non-aggressive manner. Lying or sitting away from the group. Lying or sitting in contact with another monkey Searching for/manipulating/ingesting food Locomoting across the ground or in the trees without another monkey. Locomoting across the ground or in the trees with another monkey. Ethogram example: Sealion Showing the percentage of time spent on different activities. An ethogram gives evidence of an animal s normal responses. Data from an ethogram can be tested by appropriate investigation and can be used to make conclusions about abnormal behaviour and welfare needs. Page 8 of 12
Key Questions Below is a graph showing the results of an ethogram for five crickets over a short period of time. 1. From the results of the crickets ethogram, during what percentage of observations were crickets jumping? 2. During what percentage of observations were the crickets not motionless? 3. Suggest how the results for the cricket s ethogram could be made more reliable. Page 9 of 12
Anthropomorphism When conducting behaviour studies it is important not to anthropomorphise the animals being studied. Anthropomorphism is the tendency to attribute animals with qualities such as mental, social and emotional characteristics of humans. For example when chimpanzees feel threatened they display a fear grin. If we were to anthropomorphise this behaviour we may think that the chimpanzee is happy because it is smiling, when in actual fact it is experiencing fear. Preference tests A preference test is an experiment set up to provide information on which one of two experimental conditions an animal will prefer. For example an animal may be presented with a choice of: food; bedding types; different areas of living space. This information can be used to improve the living conditions of that animal. Page 10 of 12
Motivation Motivation is a measure of the extent to which an animal is driven to seek out a basic need such as food, water, sleep or freedom from discomfort. The degree of motivation depends on the level of need. The same stimulus does not always evoke the same response in the same organism. The difference is always circumstantial and may be controlled by either internal or external factors. For example, presenting food to a starved animal will produce a different response from that shown by an animal that has been fed. In between the two extremes, responses of varying strengths will be produced depending upon the degree of hunger experienced by the organism. However, if the act of feeding would place a hungry animal in danger of being attacked by a predator the feeding response would be curbed until the danger passed. A preference test can be used to compare motivation for two behaviours by offering a choice. For example giving hens access to food in one choice and dust in the other, determines which motivation (for feeding or dust bathing) is greater. Page 11 of 12
Sub topic 3.4 Animal welfare How well do you rate your knowledge? Complete: Column 1 before your Unit assessment Column 2 before your Prelim Column 3 before your final exam I am able to. Describe the costs, benefits and ethics of providing different levels of animal welfare in livestock production. Describe behavioural indicators of poor welfare. Describe stereotypy behaviour, misdirected behaviour, failure in sexual and parental behaviour and altered levels of activity. State that observing behaviour in animals is known as ethology. State that a catalogue of observed behaviour is known as an ethogram. State that an ethogram of animals in natural and semi-natural surroundings provides information about animal behaviour. State that information from these studies can be used to improve the environment for domesticated animals. Describe the use of preference tests and measurements of motivation in animal welfare studies. Page 12 of 12