Animal welfare and ethics update

Welfare and ethics UPDATE

Virginia Williams, for MPI and the NZVA, provides an

EXPERT OPINIONS ON ANIMAL WELFARE ISSUES IN THE UK

A study has highlighted a number of common welfare issues of high priority in cattle, pigs, poultry and small ruminants in the UK (Rioja-Lang et al., 2020). These include: inadequate nutrition; lack of stockperson skills; inability of farm workers to recognise and/or treat pain or behaviour problems; foot and leg health resulting in lameness; long-term health issues; euthanasia delay and methods; and neonatal mortality.

The study aimed to obtain consensus among 58 experts (practising veterinarians, academics, charity-sector employees, farmer representatives, and policy officials with responsibility for farmed livestock) on the issues that were most important. Welfare issues specific to each species included abnormal behaviours and poor housing in pigs and poultry, a lack of veterinary care in beef cattle and sheep, and poor handling and transport of sheep, beef cattle and poultry.

The study prioritised a mix of animal-, resource- and management-based factors influencing animal welfare. The authors say these factors can be addressed through further research, education, better communication and policy changes that aim to achieve improved farm animal welfare.

REFERENCE:

Rioja-Lang FC, Connor M, Bacon HJ, Lawrence AB, Dwyer CM. Prioritization of farm animal welfare issues using expert consensus. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 6, 495, 2020

FRUSTRATED DOGS

New research by animal behaviour specialists at the University of Lincoln (UK) suggests separation anxiety in dogs should be seen as a sign of underlying frustrations rather than a diagnosis (De Assis et al., 2019). The specialists identified four main forms of distress for dogs left home alone: a focus on getting away from something in the house; wanting to get to something outside; reacting to external noises or events; and a form of boredom. The authors state that understanding these root causes could be key to effective treatment.

REFERENCE: De Assis LS, Matos R, Pike TW, Burman OHP,

Mills DS. Developing diagnostic frameworks in veterinary behavioural medicine: Disambiguating separation problems in dogs. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 6, 499, 2019 update on welfare and ethics.

BOBBY CALF MORTALITY DECLINE

Since 2008, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) veterinarians at processing premises have recorded the mortality rates of young calves as reflective of young calf welfare.

In 2008 the percentage of calves dying, or being euthanased for welfare reasons, during transport to, on arrival at and in lairage at processing premises was 0.68% of the total. Thanks to a programme in which MPI veterinarians and animal welfare inspectors accompanied transport and slink-skin operators when picking up calves on farm, this percentage declined to 0.04% in 2019. In the same year there were no prosecutions for inadequate calf care during transport.

MORE FREEDOM FOR SOWS

Germany’s Parliament has announced a ban on sow stalls and farrowing crates, except for five days around farrowing. The Government has offered $520 million (€300 million) to farmers to assist with conversions, allowing a 15-year transition period. Germany’s pig producers’ union is not enthusiastic about the ban, suggesting that the transition time is too short. However, it has stressed that the subsidy is a positive move.

BRACHYCEPHALIC HEALTH

Dogs NZ is collaborating with the UK’s Kennel Club to improve and protect the health of brachycephalic breeds in New Zealand by agreeing to operate, under licence, the Kennel Club/University of Cambridge Respiratory Function Grading Scheme.

This move is part of an evidence-based approach by Dogs NZ to encourage breeders to improve the health of Pugs, Bulldogs and French Bulldogs (brachycephalic breeds) in New Zealand. The scheme will be one of the compulsory health tests for these three brachycephalic breeds for breeders choosing to adopt the organisation’s Litter Registration Limitation Scheme, and will be mandatory for the three breeds for breeders under the Dogs NZ Accredited Breeders Scheme. Dogs NZ also plans to establish a nationwide network of assessors in veterinary clinics.

PRESTIGIOUS MEDAL FOR DAN WEARY

Dan Weary has been awarded this year’s Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Animal Welfare Science.

Dan is a Professor based at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems and is an Industrial Research Chair in Dairy Cattle Welfare at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. He has made major contributions to understanding and improving the welfare of animals, including dairy cattle and laboratory rodents, using non-invasive methods to study their behaviour and motivations.

Dan’s research has included using specific vocalisations and other carefully validated indicators of pain and hunger in calves, so that dairy calves are now typically fed to satiety instead of being left hungry, and work that has led to a recognition of the inhumaneness of carbon dioxide as a killing method for laboratory rodents.

The UFAW Medal recognises exceptional achievements of individual scientists who have made fundamental contributions to the advancement of animal welfare for a number of years. David Mellor (formerly from Massey University) was a joint winner in 2015.

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