Welfare Assessment

The use of a species-specific health and welfare assessment tool for the giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini

Cephalopods are increasingly viewed as sentient animals that require the same welfare consideration as their vertebrate counterparts. In this study, an observational welfare assessment tool developed by the EU Directive was revised to be species-specific for the giant Pacific octopus,...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cephalopod, Invertebrate

Citation: Holst, M. M., Miller-Morgan, T. 2021. The use of a species-specific health and welfare assessment tool for the giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 24(3), 272-291.

Assessment of behaviour in groups of zebrafish (Danio rerio) using an intelligent software monitoring tool, the chromatic fish analyser

Background: Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are an increasingly popular model species within a variety of biomedical and neurobiological contexts. Researchers are required to prevent any negative states, such as pain, when using experimental animals to optimise fish welfare but analysis tools...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Fish, Zebrafish

Citation: Thomson, J. S., Al-Temeemy, A. A., Isted, H. et al. 2019. Assessment of behaviour in groups of zebrafish (Danio rerio) using an intelligent software monitoring tool, the chromatic fish analyser. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 328, 108433.

Automated face recognition of rhesus macaques

Background: Rhesus macaques are widely used in biomedical research. Automated behavior monitoring can be useful in various fields (including neuroscience), as well as having applications to animal welfare but current technology lags behind that developed for other species. One difficulty...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Macaque, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Witham, C. L. 2018. Automated face recognition of rhesus macaques. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 300, 157-165.

Infrared thermal image for assessing animal health and welfare

Infrared thermal imaging is a non-destructive testing technology that can be used to determine the superficial temperature of objects. This technology has an increasing use in detecting diseases and distress in animal husbandry within the poultry, pig and dairy production....

Year Published: 2015Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Bird, Cattle, Chicken, Pig

Citation: Nääs, I. A., Garcia, R. G., Caldara, F. R. 2015. Infrared thermal image for assessing animal health and welfare. Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology 2(3), 66-72.

The urinary hormonal state of cats associated with social interaction with humans

Research to assess the relationship between cats and humans is in a nascent stage. Some studies have assessed the stress status in cats using physiological indicators, such as the cortisol hormone, but have not focused on the social interaction with...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Human-Animal Interaction, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Nagasawa, T., Ohta, M., Uchiyama, H. 2021. The urinary hormonal state of cats associated with social interaction with humans. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 680843.

Using the judgment bias task to identify behavioral indicators of affective state: Do eye wrinkles in horses reflect mood?

Identifying and validating behavioral indicators of mood are important for the assessment of animal welfare. Here, we investigated whether horses' eye wrinkle expression in a presumably neutral situation is a measure of mood as assessed in a cognitive judgment bias...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Equine

Citation: Hintze, S., Schanz, L. 2021. Using the judgment bias task to identify behavioral indicators of affective state: Do eye wrinkles in horses reflect mood? Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 676888.

Potential pain in fish and decapods: Similar experimental approaches and similar results

I review studies that examined the possibility of pain experience in fish and note how they provided guidance on general methods that could be applied to other animals such as decapod crustaceans. The fish studies initially reported the occurrence of...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Crustacean, Fish, Invertebrate

Citation: Elwood, R. W. 2021. Potential pain in fish and decapods: Similar experimental approaches and similar results. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 631151.

Moving beyond the absence of pain and distress: Focusing on positive animal welfare

For many years, researchers, veterinarians, animal ethics committees, and regulators have focused on minimizing pain and distress as a primary goal of refinement when working with animals in science. More recent publications as well as a shift in animal ethics...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Turner, P. V. 2019. Moving beyond the absence of pain and distress: Focusing on positive animal welfare. ILAR Journal 60(3), 366-372.

Activity budget comparisons using long-term observations of a group of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) under human care: Implications for animal welfare

Zoos and aquaria must provide optimal husbandry conditions and the highest welfare standards for their animals. How the welfare state of an animal or a group of animals can be precisely assessed is currently under debate, and new approaches are...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Marine Mammal

Citation: Huettner, T., Dollhaeupl, S., Simon, R. et al. 2021. Activity budget comparisons using long-term observations of a group of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) under human care: Implications for animal welfare. Animals 11(7), 2107.

Identification of animal-based welfare indicators in captive reptiles: A Delphi consultation survey

There is an increasing focus on evidence-based welfare assessment by animal care staff in zoos, along with a strong interest in animal welfare by the zoo-visiting public, to the extent that this can influence their choice of institutions to visit....

Year Published: 2021Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Lizard, Reptile, Snake, Turtle & Tortoise

Citation: Whittaker, A. L., Golder-Dewar, B., Triggs, J. L. et al. 2021. Identification of animal-based welfare indicators in captive reptiles: A Delphi consultation survey. Animals 11(7), 2010.