A concept of welfare based on reward evaluating mechanisms in the brain: anticipatory behaviour as an indicator for the state of reward systems

Methods of Assessment of the Welfare of Shelter Cats: A Review

At any moment, there are millions of cats housed in foster care facilities for abandoned and stray animals for various reasons worldwide. Care, management and regulation among these facilities differ. Moreover, shelters can never substitute the full comfort of a good home for the animal, and the welfare of cats in shelters is a subject of discussion in many respects. Cats are animals sensitive to changes; for most of them, placement in a shelter is a stressful experience because of changes in routine, environment and the presence of other animals. Stress is reflected in changes in behaviour, causes fluctuations in physiological values and disrupts the immune system, which is a predisposition to the development or reactivation of disease. Evaluation of the presence and intensity of negative impacts is possible through the use of evaluation tools based on indicators that help set the environment and management of keeping so as to disrupt the quality of life as little as possible. Although a comprehensive and valid welfare tool that would evaluate animal-based and at the same time resource-based (or management-based) indicators of cats in shelters is not currently available, it is possible to use partial evaluation of individual welfare indicators to assess welfare. This review aims to provide the readers with an insight into current options of assessment of the welfare of cats in shelters with an emphasis on behavioural, physiological and health indicators with an application in both practical and scientific contexts.

Reward and punisher experience alter rodent decision-making in a judgement bias task

The influence of affective states on decision-making is likely to be complex. Negative states resulting from experience of punishing events have been hypothesised to generate enhanced expectations of future punishment and ‘pessimistic’/risk-averse decisions. However, they may also influence how decision-outcomes are valued. Such influences may further depend on whether decisions at hand are germane to the rewards or punishers that induced the affective state in the first place. Here we attempt to dissect these influences by presenting either many or few rewards or punishers of different types (sucrose vs air-puff; 50 kHz vs 22 kHz ultrasonic vocalisations) to rats, and investigating their subsequent decisions in a judgement bias task that employed sucrose and air-puff as decision outcomes. Rats that received many sucrose pellets prior to testing were more risk-averse than those receiving many air-puffs. Ultrasonic vocalisations did not alter decision-making. Computational analysis revealed a higher weighting of punishers relative to rewards (in agreement with findings from a separate behavioural task) and a bias towards the risk-averse response following pre-test sucrose compared to pre-test air-puff. Thus, in this study reward and punisher manipulation of affective state appeared to alter decision-making by influencing both expectation and valuation of decision-outcomes in a domain-specific way.

A One Health Perspective on the Human-Companion Animal Relationship with Emphasis on Zoonotic Aspects

Over time the human-animal bond has been changed. For instance, the role of pets has changed from work animals (protecting houses, catching mice) to animals with a social function, giving companionship. Pets can be important for the physical and mental health of their owners but may also transmit zoonotic infections. The One Health initiative is a worldwide strategy for expanding collaborations in all aspects of health care for humans, animals, and the environment. However, in One Health communications the role of particularly dogs and cats is often underestimated.

OBJECTIVE

Evaluation of positive and negative One Health issues of the human-companion animal relationship with a focus on zoonotic aspects of cats and dogs in industrialized countries.

METHOD

Literature review.

RESULTS

Pets undoubtedly have a positive effect on human health, while owners are increasing aware of pet's health and welfare. The changing attitude of humans with regard to pets and their environment can also lead to negative effects such as changes in feeding practices, extreme breeding, and behavioral problems, and anthropozoonoses. For the human, there may be a higher risk of the transmission of zoonotic infections due to trends such as sleeping with pets, allowing pets to lick the face or wounds, bite accidents, keeping exotic animals, the importation of rescue dogs, and soil contact.

CONCLUSIONS

One Health issues need frequently re-evaluated as the close human-animal relationship with pet animals can totally differ compared to decennia ago. Because of the changed human-companion animal bond, recommendations regarding responsible pet-ownership, including normal hygienic practices, responsible breeding, feeding, housing, and mental and physical challenges conforming the biology of the animal are required. Education can be performed by vets and physicians as part of the One Health concept.

Body Contacts and Social Interactions in Captive Odontocetes Are Influenced by the Context: An Implication for Welfare Assessment

Simple Summary

Even though species differ in terms of personality traits and responses to external stimuli, welfare-oriented studies conducted on odontocetes are mostly focused on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Odontocetes are highly social animals; social behaviors are therefore interesting to investigate in relation to welfare. Video recording was conducted over a year on three groups of captive odontocetes, to record the frequency of social behaviors across different contexts. Captive odontocetes’ social behaviors, such as pectoral contacts, other body contacts, agonistic interactions or social play were influenced by the context and the patterns observed in this study suggest their potential usefulness to assess welfare in these animals, and that species and groups might react differently to a stimulus.

Abstract

Research on the welfare of captive odontocetes has increased in recent years, but has been mostly focused on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Few studies investigated potential welfare indicators using quantitative data linked to a range of conditions or stimuli that are thought to impact the animals’ emotional state. Since odontocetes are social animals that engage in various social interactions, these interactions might inform us on their welfare state. We investigated pectoral contact laterality and the effect of the context on several social behaviors in three groups of captive odontocetes (Yangtze finless porpoises, YFPs: Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis; East-Asian finless porpoises, EAFPs: N. a. sunameri, and bottlenose dolphins, BDs). Animals exhibited patterns depending on the time of the day for most of the social behaviors we analyzed; social separation was associated with lower rates of social behaviors for the two analyzed groups (YFPs and BDs), the accessibility to several pools was associated with higher rates of social behaviors for BDs. The effect of enrichment, disturbances and public presence was less clear and strongly depended on the group, the type of enrichment and disturbance. Our results confirm that captive odontocetes’ social behaviors are influenced by the context, and that, depending on the group, some of them, such as pectoral contacts, other body contacts, agonistic interactions or social play exhibit consistent patterns across contexts. Monitoring these behaviors might be useful to adapt the captive management to each species and group. The different responses among the three studied groups confirm that species and groups react differently to a stimulus and therefore, management decisions should be species/group specific. We recommend that more studies should be conducted to validate our findings in other groups of odontocetes under human care.

The Matter of Non-Avian Reptile Sentience, and Why It "Matters" to Them: A Conceptual, Ethical and Scientific Review

The concept of sentience, how it is characterised and which non-human animals possess it have long been of contention in academic and intellectual debates. Many have argued that there is no way to empirically know that animals have conscious experiences. Yet others argue that consciousness, awareness and sentience in non-human animals can be quite obvious, and can indeed be measured empirically. Most modern declarations of animal sentience from official organisations and governments now include all vertebrate animals as sentient beings, including reptiles and fish. Some declarations also include some invertebrate species. This conceptual, ethical and scientific review first focuses on conceptual components and definitions of consciousness, awareness and sentience. It then specifically discusses how cognitive, neurobiological, ethological and comparative psychological research in non-avian reptiles over the last century has evidenced many capacities that historically were denied to this class of animals. Non-avian reptiles do indeed possess all of the necessary capacities to be declared as sentient beings, at least in the small proportion of reptile species that have actually been empirically investigated so far. It is suggested that much innovative future research will continue to uncover evidence of capabilities linked to sentience within a wide range of species, including non-avian reptiles, fish and invertebrates.

The Effect of Behind-The-Scenes Encounters and Interactive Presentations on the Welfare of Captive Servals (Leptailurus serval)

Simple Summary

Live animal encounter programs are an increasingly popular occurrence in the modern zoo. The effects of such encounters on program animal welfare have not been studied extensively to date. The aim of this study was, therefore, to explore animal welfare effects associated with encounter programs in a small felid, the serval, which is commonly involved as a program animal in zoos. Specifically, this study investigated how serval behaviour and adrenocortical activity (level of faecal cortisol metabolites) were affected by short-term variations in encounter frequency. Over the course of the study, the frequency of encounters was manipulated so that servals alternated between four different treatments, involving interactive presentations, behind-the-scenes encounters, both activities combined, or no interaction at all. The cats exhibited a significant reduction in stereotypic pacing on weeks when participating in interactive presentations, or the two activities combined. However, behavioural diversity (total number of behaviours exhibited) was strongly reduced on weeks when cats participated in both activities. Adrenocortical activity did not vary significantly between treatments. The reduction in stereotypic pacing suggests that involvement in an encounter program may exert a positive short-term welfare effect on the individual servals. A reduction in behavioural diversity, which was not considered a negative welfare effect in the short term, may, however, warrant some need for caution if a more frequent encounter program was to be implemented long-term. These findings contribute to the current knowledge of visitor–animal interaction in zoo-housed felids, which is very limited to date, and could also provide valuable guidance to zoo professionals that are currently engaging in an encounter program with servals or planning on implementing such a program in the future.

Abstract

The serval (Leptailurus serval) is a small African felid that is well represented in zoos and often serves as an animal ambassador in encounter programs with zoo visitors. The impact on serval welfare in relation to such programs has not been investigated to date, and the aim of this study was to assess short-term welfare effects of varying levels of visitor interaction in two captive servals. Weekly blocks of four different treatments were imposed three times on each animal over 12 weeks, and the treatments involved (1) Presentations (serval undertaking a routine training session in a designated presentation space, typically attracting high visitor numbers), (2) Behind-the-scenes (BTS, a close encounter allowing a small group of visitors to interact closely with the cat in its enclosure), (3) Presentations and BTS combined, and (4) No visitor interaction. Serval activity budgets as well as behavioural diversity were created from behaviours observed from Close Circuit Television (CCTV) footage during four daily recording sessions per animal over three consecutive days per treatment, using instantaneous scan sampling every 60 s. Individual faecal samples were collected daily to monitor changes in faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentration. Results indicate that the mean number of scans with stereotypic pacing was significantly reduced (p = 0.01) during Treatments 1 and 3, when cats participated in presentations only, or the two activities combined. Conversely, a significant reduction in behavioural diversity (p < 0.001) was observed when cats participated in Treatment 3, i.e., cats expressed fewer behaviours when interaction with visitors was more frequent. FGM concentrations did not vary significantly with treatment (p > 0.05). Given the reduction in stereotypic pacing, these findings suggest that involvement in an encounter program appears to exert an overall positive short-term welfare effect on the individual servals in this study. Although a reduction in behavioural diversity was not considered a negative welfare effect in the short term, potential long-term negative welfare effects resulting from a more frequent encounter program could not be ruled out in the present study.

Effects of personality and rearing-history on the welfare of captive Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica)

BACKGROUND

The long-term success of ex-situ conservation programmes depends on species-appropriate husbandry and enrichment practices complemented by an accurate welfare assessment protocol. Zoos and conservation breeding programmes should employ a bottom-up approach to account for intraspecific variations in measures of animal welfare. We studied 35 (14:21) captive Asiatic lions in Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden, Junagadh, India to understand the implications of individual variations on welfare measures. We categorized the subjects based on personality traits (bold or shy), rearing history (wild-rescued or captive-raised), sex, and social-grouping. We explored the association of these categorical variables on welfare indices such as behavioural diversity, latency to approach novel objects, enclosure usage and aberrant repetitive behaviours. Further, we assessed the inter-relationships between different behavioural measures of welfare.

RESULTS

Our results show that intraspecific variations based on rearing-history and personality traits are significantly associated with the welfare states of captive Asiatic lions. Asiatic lions with bold personality traits (M = 0.50, SD = 0.12, N = 21) and those raised in captivity (M = 0.47, SD = 0.12, N = 16) used enclosure space more homogenously compared to shy (M = 0.71, SD = 0.15, N = 14) and wild-rescued (M = 0.67, SD = 0.15, N = 19) animals. Behaviour diversity was significantly higher in captive-raised (M = 1.26, SD = 0.3, N = 16) and bold (M = 1.23, SD = 0.26, N = 21) subjects compared to wild-rescued (M = 0.83, SD = 0.35, N = 19) and shy (M = 0.73, SD = 0.34, N = 14) individuals. Aberrant repetitive behaviours (stereotypy) were significantly lower in bold (M = 7.01, SD = 4, N = 21) and captive-raised (M = 7.74, SD = 5.3) individuals compared to wild-rescued (M = 13.12, SD = 6.25, N = 19) and shy (M = 16.13, SD = 5.4, N = 16) lions. Sex and social-grouping of subjects did not show significant associations with behavioural welfare indices. Interestingly, behaviour diversity was reliably predicted by the enclosure usage patterns and aberrant repetitive behaviours displayed by subjects.

DISCUSSION

Our findings underline the importance of individual-centric, behaviour-based, and multi-dimensional welfare assessment approaches in ex-situ conservation programmes. The results suggest that behavioural welfare indices complemented with individual variations can explain inter-individual differences in behavioural welfare measure outcomes of Asiatic lions. These findings also provide zoo managers with a non-invasive tool to reliably assess and improve husbandry practices for Asiatic lions. Understanding the unique welfare requirement of individuals in captivity will be crucial for the survival of the species.

Anticipatory Behavior for a Mealworm Reward in Laying Hens Is Reduced by Opioid Receptor Antagonism but Not Standard Feed Intake

It is widely accepted that the absence of suffering no longer defines animal welfare and that positive affective experiences are imperative. For example, laying hens may be housed in environments that do not cause chronic stress but may lack particular resources that promote positive affective experiences, such as conspecifics or effective enrichment. Despite a consensus of how important positive affect is for animal welfare, they are difficult to identify objectively. There is a need for valid and reliable indicators of positive affect. Pharmacological interventions can be an effective method to provide insight into affective states and can assist with the investigation of novel indicators such as associated biomarkers. We aimed to validate a pharmacological intervention that blocks the subjective hedonistic phase associated with reward in laying hens via the administration of the non-selective (μ, δ, and κ) opioid receptor antagonist, nalmafene. We hypothesized that nonfood deprived, hens that did not experience a positive affective state when presented with a mealworm food reward due to the administration of nalmefene, would show minimal anticipatory and consummatory behavior when the same food reward was later presented. Hens (n = 80) were allocated to treatment groups, receiving either nalmefene or vehicle (0.9% saline) once or twice daily, for four consecutive days. An anticipatory test (AT) was performed on all days 30 min post-drug administration. Behavioral responses during the appetitive and consummatory phase were assessed on days 1, 3 and 4. Anticipatory behavior did not differ between treatment groups the first time hens were provided with mealworm food rewards. However, antagonism of opioid receptors reduced anticipatory and consummatory behavior on days 3 and 4. Feed intake of standard layer mash was not impacted by treatment, thus nalmefene reduced non-homeostatic food consumption but not homeostatic consumption. Behavioral observations during the AT provided no evidence that nalmefene treated hens were fearful, sedated or nauseous. The results suggest that we successfully blocked the hedonistic subjective component of reward in laying hens and provide evidence that this method could be used to investigate how hens perceive their environment and identify associated novel indicators to assess hen welfare.

Differences in facial expressions during positive anticipation and frustration in dogs awaiting a reward

Facial expressions are considered sensitive indicators of emotional states in humans and many animals. Identifying facial indicators of emotion is a major challenge and little systematic research has been done in non-primate species. In dogs, such research is important not only to address fundamental and applied scientific questions but also for practical reasons, since many problem behaviours are assumed to have an emotional basis, e.g. aggression based on frustration. Frustration responses can occur in superficially similar contexts as the emotional state of positive anticipation. For instance, the anticipated delivery of a food reward may induce the state of positive anticipation, but over time, if the food is not delivered, this will be replaced by frustration. We examined dogs’ facial expressions in contexts presumed to induce both positive anticipation and frustration, respectively, within a single controlled experimental setting. Using DogFACS, an anatomically-based method for coding facial expressions of dogs, we found that the “Ears adductor” action was more common in the positive condition and “Blink”, “Lips part”, “Jaw drop”, “Nose lick”, and “Ears flattener” were more common in the negative condition. This study demonstrates how differences in facial expression in emotionally ambiguous contexts may be used to help infer emotional states of different valence.

Dolphins' Willingness to Participate (WtP) in Positive Reinforcement Training as a Potential Welfare Indicator, Where WtP Predicts Early Changes in Health Status

Welfare science has built its foundations on veterinary medicine and thus measures of health. Since bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) tend to mask symptoms of poor health, management in captivity would benefit from advanced understanding on the links between health and behavioural parameters, and few studies exist on the topic. In this study, four representative behavioural and health measures were chosen: health status (as qualified by veterinarians), percentage of daily food eaten, occurrences of new rake marks (proxy measure of social activity), and willingness to participate (WtP) in Positive Reinforcement Training sessions as qualitatively measured by their caretakers. These data were collected multiple times a day, every day over the course of a year from a multi-facility, large sample size (n dolphins = 51), allowing powerful analyses of the relationships between measures. First, it was found that dolphins with a higher WtP score also had a significantly better health status, ate a higher percentage of their daily food, and a lower occurrence of new rake marks. In addition, the WtP score was significantly lower up to 3 days before the weekly veterinary diagnosis of a decrease in health state; the percentage of daily food eaten and new rake mark measures did not show any significant change before such a diagnosis. These results suggest that WtP in training sessions is a potential behavioural measure of dolphin welfare, and an indicator of early changes in the dolphins' health state. We therefore suggest measurement of WtP as a more practical and non-invasive tool to support veterinary care and general management. More work needs to be conducted to elucidate the influence of social behaviour on health, and to identify other potential welfare indicators, but this long-term study has shown that qualitative measures can be both practical and valid when assessing dolphin welfare.

Assessing and Enhancing the Welfare of Animals with Equivocal and Reliable Cues

Simple Summary

Actions of human caretakers influence the experience of animals under their care, in zoos and elsewhere. These animals often learn to associate stimuli—sights, smells, sounds—with desirable outcomes such as feedings, training sessions, or other positive experiences. Here, we propose that a conscientious approach to providing reliable cues about daily events and observing animal behavior in response to both reliable and uncertain cues can help caretakers support and assess animal welfare.

Abstract

The actions of human caretakers strongly influence animals living under human care. Here, we consider how intentional and unintentional signals provided by caretakers can inform our assessment of animals’ well-being as well as help to support it. Our aim is to assist in further developing techniques to learn animals’ affective state from their behavior and to provide simple suggestions for how animal caretakers’ behavior can support animal welfare. We suggest that anticipatory behavior towards expected rewards is related to decision-making behavior as viewed through the cognitive bias lens. By considering the predictions of the theories associated with anticipatory behavior and cognitive bias, we propose to use specific cues to probe the cumulative affective state of animals. Additionally, our commentary draws on the logic of reward sensitivity and judgement bias theories to develop a framework that suggests how reliable and equivocal signals may influence animals’ affective states. Application of this framework may be useful in supporting the welfare of animals in human care.

Mutual interactions between cognition and welfare: The horse as an animal model

Research in cognitive psychology has repeatedly shown how much cognition and emotions are mutually related to one another. Psychological disorders are associated with cognitive (attention, memory and judgment) biases and chronic pain may affect attention, learning or memory. Laboratory studies have provided useful insights about the processes involved but observations about spontaneous animal models, living in different stress/welfare conditions may help understand further how cognition and welfare are interrelated in the « real world ». Domestic horses constitute such a model as they live in a variety of conditions that impact differently their welfare state. In the present review, we try and provide an overview of the scientific literature on cognition and welfare of domestic horses and their interrelationship. We address how emotions and welfare may affect cognitive processes in horses and impact the way they perceive their environment (including work). We propose new methods for assessing the relationship between welfare and cognition and open up the discussion on the evolution of the brain and the part domestication may have played.

Enrichment with Lucerne Hay Improves Sow Maternal Behaviour and Improves Piglet Survival

This study investigated the effects of providing lucerne hay on the behaviour and the performance of sows housed in farrowing crates during farrowing and lactation. Seventy-two mixed parity sows received either 1 kg lucerne hay daily from entry into the farrowing crate (-2 d from expected farrowing date) until weaning at 17 d (lucerne group, n = 36), or received no additional enrichment (control group, n = 36). In the 18 h prior to farrowing, the sows in the lucerne treatment spent more time performing nest-building behaviour (14.8% lucerne vs 11.1% control, p = 0.0009) and less time sham-chewing (1.0% lucerne vs 1.9% control, p = 0.01) than control sows, and gave birth to fewer stillborn piglets/litter (0.1 lucerne vs 0.4 control, p = 0.027). After farrowing (Day 3), the control sows spent less time lying than the lucerne sows (26% control vs 43% lucerne, p < 0.05). The control sows also spent less time interacting with their piglets during early lactation compared to late lactation (25.5% Day 5 vs 47.3% Day 12, p < 0.05), suggesting reduced maternal behaviour in this group. The lucerne sows continued to interact with the lucerne throughout lactation, indicating that they still found the enrichment rewarding after the nesting period had ceased. Based on these results, lucerne enrichment was considered to improve sow welfare during farrowing and lactation and reduce the number of stillborn piglets.

Pharmacologically-induced stress has minimal impact on judgement and attention biases in sheep

The emotional impact of exposure to stressors has not been well quantified in animals. We hypothesised that exogenous induction of stress in sheep would induce a pessimistic judgement bias and increased attention towards a threatening stimulus, suggestive of a negative emotional state. Stress was induced pharmacologically by administering synthetic adrenocorticotropic hormone. Judgement bias was assessed using a spatial go/no-go task after exposure to acute stress (one injection), chronic stress (21 daily injections) and acute-on-chronic stress (2 min isolation after 28 daily injections). Attention bias was assessed during chronic stress only (22 daily injections). In contrast with our hypotheses, there was no strong evidence that Synacthen administration altered judgement bias or attention bias at any stage of the experiment. Stressed sheep were more likely to approach ambiguous locations than saline Control animals, however, statistical evidence for models fitting treatment group was very weak. Overall, our findings suggest that elevated levels of cortisol may not fully explain changes to judgement bias observed in previous studies after environmentally-induced stress. Further studies are required to better understand which aspects of environmentally-induced stress alter judgement bias and to further validate cognitive methods of assessing affect in sheep.

Elevated Sensitivity to Tactile Stimuli in Stereotypic Horses

Although stereotypic behaviors are a common problem in captive animals, why certain individuals are more prone to develop them remains elusive. In horses, individuals show considerable differences in how they perceive and react to external events, suggesting that this may partially account for the emergence of stereotypies in this species. In this study, we focused on crib-biting, the most common stereotypy displayed by horses. We compared how established crib-biters (“CB” = 19) and normal controls (“C” = 18) differed in response to a standard “personality” assessment test battery, i.e., reactivity to humans, tactile sensitivity, social reactivity, locomotor activity, and curiosity vs. fearfulness (both in novel and suddenness situations). Our analyses showed that crib-biters only differed from control horses in their tactile sensitivity, suggesting an elevated sensitivity to tactile stimuli. We suggest that this higher tactile sensitivity could be due to altered dopamine or endogenous opioid physiology, resulting from chronic stress exposition. We discuss these findings in relation to the hypothesis that there may be a genetic predisposition for stereotypic behavior in horses, and in relation to current animal husbandry and management practices.

Seizure-alerting behavior in dogs owned by people experiencing seizures

INTRODUCTION

The unpredictability of epileptic seizures is considered an important threat to the quality of life of a person with epilepsy. Currently, however, there are no tools for seizure prediction that can be applied to the domestic setting. Although the information about seizure-alert dogs - dogs that display changes in behavior before a seizure that are interpreted by the owner as an alert - is mostly anecdotal; living with an alerting dog (AD) has been reported to improve quality of life of the owner by reducing the stress originating from the unpredictability of epileptic seizures and, sometimes, diminishing the seizure frequency.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The aim of the study was to investigate, at an international level, the behaviors displayed by trained and untrained dogs that are able to anticipate seizures and to identify patient- and dog-related factors associated with the presence or absence of alerting behavior.

METHODOLOGY

An online questionnaire for dog owners with seizures was designed. Information about the participants (demographics, seizure type, presence of preictal symptoms) and their dogs (demographics, behavior around the time of seizures) was collected. In addition, two validated scales were included to measure the human-dog relationship (Monash Dog-Owner Relationship scale (MDORS)) and five different traits of the dogs' personality (Monash Canine Personality Questionnaire refined (MCPQ-R)).

RESULTS

Two hundred and twenty-seven responses of people experiencing seizures were received from six participant countries: 132 from people with dogs that had started alerting spontaneously, 10 from owners of trained AD, and the rest from owners of dogs that did not display any alerting behavior (nonalerting dog (NAD)). Individuals' gender, age, or seizure type did not predict the presence of alerting behavior in their dogs. People who indicated that they experience preictal symptoms were more likely to have a spontaneously AD. The owner-dog bond was significantly higher with ADs compared with NADs, and ADs scored significantly higher than NADs in the personality traits "Amicability", "Motivation", and "Training focus".

CONCLUSION

This study collected a large group of dog owners with seizures reporting behavioral changes in their dogs before their seizures occurred. This was associated with the presence of preictal symptoms. The seizure-alerting behavior of the dog may have a positive influence on the bond between the owner and the dog.

What is animal happiness?

Today, we see a growing concern for the quality of life of nonhuman animals and an accompanying call for viable means of assessing how well animals thrive. Past research focused on minimizing negatives such as stress, while more recent endeavors strive to promote positives such as happiness. But what is animal happiness? Although often mentioned, the term lacks a clear definition. With recent advances in the study of animal emotion, current interest into positive rather than negative experiences, and the call for captive and domesticated animals to have good lives, the time is ripe to examine the concept of animal happiness. We draw from the human and animal literature to delineate a concept of animal happiness and propose how to assess it. We argue that animal happiness depends on how an individual feels generally-that is, a typical level of affect.

Evaluation of Sheep Anticipatory Response to a Food Reward by Means of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Simple Summary

Anticipatory behaviour to an oncoming food reward can be triggered via classical conditioning, implies the activation of neural networks, and may serve to study the emotional state of animals. This work aimed to investigate how the anticipatory response affects cerebral cortex activity in sheep. Eight ewes were conditioned to associate a neutral auditory stimulus (water bubble) to a food reward (maize grains). Then, sheep were trained to wait 15 s before accessing the food (anticipatory phase). Behavioural reaction and changes in cortical oxy-haemoglobin ([ΔO₂Hb]) and deoxy-haemoglobin ([ΔHHb]) concentration were recorded by functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). During the anticipatory phase, sheep increased their active behaviour together with a cortical activation (increase of [ΔO₂Hb] and a decrease of [ΔHHb]) compared to baseline. Sheep showed a greater response of the right hemisphere compared to the left hemisphere, possibly indicating frustration. Behavioural and cortical changes observed during anticipation of a food reward reflect a learnt association and an increased arousal, but no clear emotional valence of the sheep subjective experience.

Abstract

Anticipatory behaviour to an oncoming food reward can be triggered via classical conditioning, implies the activation of neural networks, and may serve to study the emotional state of animals. The aim of this study was to investigate how the anticipatory response to a food reward affects the cerebral cortex activity in sheep. Eight ewes from the same flock were trained to associate a neutral auditory stimulus (water bubble) to the presence of a food reward (maize grains). Once conditioned, sheep were trained to wait 15 s behind a gate before accessing a bucket with food (anticipation phase). For 6 days, sheep were submitted to two sessions of six consecutive trials each. Behavioural reaction was filmed and changes in cortical oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin concentration ([ΔO₂Hb] and [ΔHHb] respectively) following neuronal activation were recorded by functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Compared to baseline, during the anticipation phase sheep increased their active behaviour, kept the head oriented to the gate (Wilcoxon’s signed rank test; p ≤ 0.001), and showed more asymmetric ear posture (Wilcoxon’s signed rank test; p ≤ 0.01), most likely reflecting a learnt association and an increased arousal. Results of trial-averaged [ΔO₂Hb] and [ΔHHb] within individual sheep showed in almost every sheep a cortical activation during the anticipation phase (Student T-test; p ≤ 0.05). The sheep showed a greater response of the right hemisphere compared to the left hemisphere, possibly indicating a negative affective state, such as frustration. Behavioural and cortical changes observed during anticipation of a food reward reflect a learnt association and an increased arousal, but no clear emotional valence of the sheep subjective experience. Future work should take into consideration possible factors affecting the accurateness of measures, such as probe’s location and scalp vascularization.

Advances in Applied Zoo Animal Welfare Science

Nonhuman animal welfare science is the scientific study of the welfare state of animals that attempts to make inferences about how animals feel from their behavior, endocrine function, and/or signs of physical health. These welfare measurements are applicable within zoos yet inherently more complex than in farms and laboratories. This complexity is due to the vast number of species housed, lack of fundamental biological information, and relatively lower sample sizes and levels of experimental control. This article summarizes the invited presentations on the topic of "Advances in Applied Animal Welfare Science," given at the Fourth Global Animal Welfare Congress held jointly by the Detroit Zoological Society and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums in 2017. The article focuses on current trends in research on zoo animal welfare under the following themes: (a) human-animal interactions and relationships, (b) anticipatory behavior, (c) cognitive enrichment, (d) behavioral biology, and (e) reproductive and population management. It highlights areas in which further advancements in zoo animal welfare science are needed and the challenges that may be faced in doing so.

Stereotypic horses (Equus caballus) are not cognitively impaired

Stereotypies in animals are thought to arise from an interaction between genetic predisposition and sub-optimal housing conditions. In domestic horses, a well-studied stereotypy is crib-biting, an abnormal behaviour that appears to help individuals to cope with stressful situations. One prominent hypothesis states that animals affected by stereotypies are cognitively less flexible compared to healthy controls, due to sensitization of a specific brain area, the basal ganglia. The aim of this study was to test this hypothesis in crib-biting and healthy controls, using a cognitive task, reversal learning, which has been used as a diagnostic for basal ganglia dysfunction. The procedure consisted of exposing subjects to four learning tasks; first and second acquisition, and their reversals. For each task, we measured the number of trials to reach criterion and heart rate and heart-rate variability. Importantly, we did not try to prevent crib-biters from executing their stereotypic behaviour. We found that the first reversal learning task required the largest number of trials, confirming its challenging nature. Interestingly, the second reversal learning task required significantly fewer trials to reach criterion, suggesting generalisation learning. However, we did not find any performance differences across groups; both stereotypic and control animals required a similar numbers of trials and did not differ in their physiological responses. Our results thus challenge the widely held belief that crib-biting horses, and stereotypic animals more generally, are cognitively impaired. We conclude that cognitive underperformance may occur in stereotypic horses if they are prevented from crib-biting to cope with experienced stress.

The Mysterious Food-Entrainable Oscillator: Insights from Mutant and Engineered Mouse Models

The food-entrainable oscillator (FEO) is a mysterious circadian clock because its anatomical location(s) and molecular timekeeping mechanism are unknown. Food anticipatory activity (FAA), which is defined as the output of the FEO, emerges during temporally restricted feeding. FAA disappears immediately during ad libitum feeding and reappears during subsequent fasting. A free-running FAA rhythm has been observed only in rare circumstances when food was provided with a period outside the range of entrainment. Therefore, it is difficult to study the circadian properties of the FEO. Numerous studies have attempted to identify the critical molecular components of the FEO using mutant and genetically engineered mouse models. Herein we critically review the experimental protocols and findings of these studies in mouse models. Several themes emerge from these studies. First, there is little consistency in restricted feeding protocols between studies. Moreover, the protocols were sometimes not optimal, resulting in erroneous conclusions that FAA was absent in some mouse models. Second, circadian genes are not necessary for FEO timekeeping. Thus, another noncanonical timekeeping mechanism must exist in the FEO. Third, studies of mouse models have shown that signaling pathways involved in circadian timekeeping, reward (dopaminergic), and feeding and energy homeostasis can modulate, but are not necessary for, the expression of FAA. In sum, the approaches to date have been largely unsuccessful in discovering the timekeeping mechanism of the FEO. Moving forward, we propose the use of standardized and optimized experimental protocols that focus on identifying genes that alter the period of FAA in mutant and engineered mouse models. This approach is likely to permit discovery of molecular components of the FEO timekeeping mechanism.

An unexpected acoustic indicator of positive emotions in horses

Indicators of positive emotions are still scarce and many proposed behavioural markers have proven ambiguous. Studies established a link between acoustic signals and emitter’s internal state, but few related to positive emotions and still fewer considered non-vocal sounds. One of them, the snort, is shared by several perrisodactyls and has been associated to positive contexts in these species. We hypothesized that this could be also the case in horses. In this species, there is a clear need for a thorough description of non-vocal acoustic signals (snorts, snores or blows are often used interchangeably) but overall this sound produced by nostrils during expiration has up to now been mostly considered as having a hygienic function. However, observations revealed that snorts were produced more in some individuals than in others, without relationship with air conditions. We observed 48 horses living in two “extreme” conditions: restricted conditions (single stall, low roughage diet) and naturalistic conditions (stable groups in pasture). The immediate place (e.g. stall/pasture) and the behavioural/postural (behaviour performed/ears positions) contexts of snort production were observed. We additionally performed an evaluation of the welfare state, using validated behavioural (e.g. stereotypies) and postural (e.g. overall ears positions) welfare indicators. The results show that 1) snort production was significantly associated with situations known to be positive for horses (e.g. feeding in pasture) and with a positive internal state (ears in forward or sidewards positions), 2) the riding school horses produced twice as many snorts when in pasture than in stall, 3) the naturalistic population emitted significantly more snorts than riding school ones in comparable contexts, 4) the frequency of snorts was negatively correlated with the composite total chronic stress score (TCSS, reflecting compromised welfare based on the horse’s rank on the different indicators): the lower the TCSS, the higher the snort rate. Snorts therefore appear as reliable indicators of positive emotions.

Assessment of Welfare in Zoo Animals: Towards Optimum Quality of Life

Zoos are required to maintain a high standard of animal welfare, and this can be assessed using a combination of resource-based and animal-based indices usually divided into behavioural indicators, physiological indicators and clinical/pathological signs. Modern animal welfare assessments should aim to encompass positive affective states and the indicators that are useful in assessing these are discussed. When developing factors to be scored for each species, there is huge variability in the available information about the natural biology for some zoo species and even less information concerning those animals in captivity. Wild baselines are not always the most accurate indicator of what is right for an animal in captivity, which makes the identification of factors to include within species-specific welfare assessment even more challenging. When planning a welfare strategy for any species, it is important that the full range of their biological requirements and needs are considered, but this can be challenging for some zoo species and it is not possible to define a &ldquo;one size fits all&rdquo; welfare strategy. The different approaches for welfare assessment are reviewed, including the development of the Animal Welfare Assessment Grid which offers an evidence-based tool for continual welfare assessment, using technology where appropriate, to facilitate decision making and lead to improvements in the animals&rsquo; quality of life.

Cognitive Bias in Zoo Animals: An Optimistic Outlook for Welfare Assessment

Cognitive bias testing measures how emotional states can affect cognitive processes, often described using the &ldquo;glass half-full/half-empty&rdquo; paradigm. Classical or operant conditioning is used to measure responses to ambiguous cues, and it has been reported across many species and contexts that an animal&rsquo;s cognitive bias can be directly linked to welfare state, e.g., those in better welfare make more optimistic judgements. Cognitive bias testing has only recently been applied to animals and represents a key milestone in welfare science: it is currently one of the only accurate methods available to measure welfare. The tests have been conducted on many farm, laboratory, and companion animal species, but have only been carried out in zoo settings a handful of times. The aims of this review are to evaluate the feasibility of cognitive bias testing in zoos and its potential as a tool for studying zoo animal welfare. The few existing zoo cognitive bias studies are reviewed, as well as those conducted on similar, non-domesticated species. This work is then used to discuss how tests could be successfully designed and executed in zoo settings, which types of tests are most appropriate in different contexts, and how the data could be used to improve animal welfare. The review closely examines the many variables are present in the zoo which cannot be controlled as in other settings, termed here the Zoo Environment (ZE) Variables. It is recommended that tests are developed after consideration of each of the ZE Variables, and through strong collaboration between zookeepers, managers, and academic institutions. There is much unexplored potential of cognitive bias testing in the zoo setting, not least its use in investigating animal welfare in zoos. It is hoped that this review will stimulate increased interest in this topic from zoo managers, scientists, and industry regulators alike.

Methods for Investigating the Motivation of Mice to Explore and Access Food Rewards

The emotional state of domestic animals is an essential component of the assessment of their welfare. In addition, sensitivity to various rewards can be a valuable indicator when investigating these states. We aimed to design an exploration test and a contrast test that did not evoke fear and anxiety in C57BL/6N mice but that instead were perceived as positive experiences and that might be used to assess sensitivity to various rewards. The exploratory arena had a larger central area and 8 smaller sections containing various objects. Motivation (measured as latency to enter the arena under conditions of increasing weight of the entrance door), anticipation (measured as latency to enter the arena under conditions of increasing delay in opening the entrance door), and the numbers of visits to the different sections were evaluated during a 5-min session in the arena. In the contrast test, after traversing a runway, half of the mice received a tasty reward (hazelnut cream), whereas the others received a neutral reward (food pellet) at the far end. Latency to reach the reward was recorded. After baseline training, rewards were swapped for half of the mice from each category for 3 d, to establish a negative and positive contrast. Mice were both motivated and showed anticipation to enter the exploration arena; after entering, they were active and visited many sections. In the contrast test, latency during the baseline period was longer for mice given the neutral reward compared with the tasty reward. Compared with baseline, latency during the postshift phase decreased for the positive-contrast group (neutral-tasty reward pattern) but did not differ for the negative-contrast group (tasty-neutral reward pattern). Overall, both tests seemed to be positive experiences for the mice and showed potential for use to investigate reward sensitivity.

Cognitive judgement bias is associated with frequency of anticipatory behavior in bottlenose dolphins

Many animals display a suite of increased vigilance and/or activity responses in relation to upcoming events, termed "anticipatory behavior." Anticipatory behavior toward positive events has been suggested as a cross-species measure of affective state as it likely reflects the balance of the reward-sensitivity system: various studies suggest that animals in poorer welfare situations show higher or excessive levels of anticipation for positive events. Another tool for evaluating animals' affective state is cognitive bias testing, and although it has been attempted, a link has not yet been made between cognitive bias and anticipatory behavior levels. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in captivity increase the performance of behaviors such as surface-looking and spy-hopping in anticipation of training sessions during which food is provided. In this study we measured anticipatory behavior frequency in bottlenose dolphins prior to positive reinforcement training sessions, and assessed whether frequency of anticipatory behavior correlated with their performance on cognitive bias tasks. We found that higher frequencies of anticipatory behavior for training sessions was significantly associated with more pessimistic judgements in cognitive bias tests, supporting previous findings linking higher reward sensitivity with negative affective states. Anticipatory behavior is an easily measured activity and could represent a welfare indicator in dolphins as well as other animals in captive environments.

Mood As Cumulative Expectation Mismatch: A Test of Theory Based on Data from Non-verbal Cognitive Bias Tests

Affective states are known to influence behavior and cognitive processes. To assess mood (moderately long-term affective states), the cognitive judgment bias test was developed and has been widely used in various animal species. However, little is known about how mood changes, how mood can be experimentally manipulated, and how mood then feeds back into cognitive judgment. A recent theory argues that mood reflects the cumulative impact of differences between obtained outcomes and expectations. Here expectations refer to an established context. Situations in which an established context fails to match an outcome are then perceived as mismatches of expectation and outcome. We take advantage of the large number of studies published on non-verbal cognitive bias tests in recent years (95 studies with a total of 162 independent tests) to test whether cumulative mismatch could indeed have led to the observed mood changes. Based on a criteria list, we assessed whether mismatch had occurred with the experimental procedure used to induce mood (mood induction mismatch), or in the context of the non-verbal cognitive bias procedure (testing mismatch). For the mood induction mismatch, we scored the mismatch between the subjects’ potential expectations and the manipulations conducted for inducing mood whereas, for the testing mismatch, we scored mismatches that may have occurred during the actual testing. We then investigated whether these two types of mismatch can predict the actual outcome of the cognitive bias study. The present evaluation shows that mood induction mismatch cannot well predict the success of a cognitive bias test. On the other hand, testing mismatch can modulate or even inverse the expected outcome. We think, cognitive bias studies should more specifically aim at creating expectation mismatch while inducing mood states to test the cumulative mismatch theory more properly. Furthermore, testing mismatch should be avoided as much as possible because it can reverse the affective state of animals as measured in a cognitive judgment bias paradigm.

To Group or Not to Group? Good Practice for Housing Male Laboratory Mice

Simple Summary

Wild mice live in territories inhabited by one adult male, several females, and their offspring. This cannot be replicated in the laboratory, so male mice are usually housed in single-sex groups or individually. However, there can be serious animal welfare problems associated with both these approaches, such as lack of social contact when housed individually or aggression between males when kept in groups. Group housing is widely recommended to give male laboratory mice the opportunity to behave as ‘social animals’, but social stress can be detrimental to the welfare of these animals, even without injurious fighting. All of this can also affect the quality of the science, giving rise to ethical concerns. This review discusses whether it is in the best welfare interests of male mice to be housed in groups, or alone. We conclude that it is not possible to give general recommendations for good practice for housing male laboratory mice, as responses to single- and group-housing can be highly context-dependent. The welfare implications of housing protocols should be researched and considered in each case.

Abstract

It is widely recommended to group-house male laboratory mice because they are ‘social animals’, but male mice do not naturally share territories and aggression can be a serious welfare problem. Even without aggression, not all animals within a group will be in a state of positive welfare. Rather, many male mice may be negatively affected by the stress of repeated social defeat and subordination, raising concerns about welfare and also research validity. However, individual housing may not be an appropriate solution, given the welfare implications associated with no social contact. An essential question is whether it is in the best welfare interests of male mice to be group- or singly housed. This review explores the likely impacts—positive and negative—of both housing conditions, presents results of a survey of current practice and awareness of mouse behavior, and includes recommendations for good practice and future research. We conclude that whether group- or single-housing is better (or less worse) in any situation is highly context-dependent according to several factors including strain, age, social position, life experiences, and housing and husbandry protocols. It is important to recognise this and evaluate what is preferable from animal welfare and ethical perspectives in each case.

The 24/7 approach to promoting optimal welfare for captive wild animals

We have an ethical responsibility to provide captive animals with environments that allow them to experience good welfare. Husbandry activities are often scheduled for the convenience of care staff working within the constraints of the facility, rather than considering the biological and psychological requirements of the animals themselves. The animal welfare 24/7 across the lifespan concept provides a holistic framework to map features of the animal's life cycle, taking into account their natural history, in relation to variations in the captive environment, across day and night, weekdays, weekends, and seasons. In order for animals to have the opportunity to thrive, we argue the need to consider their lifetime experience, integrated into the environments we provide, and with their perspective in mind. Here, we propose a welfare assessment tool based upon 14 criteria, to allow care staff to determine if their animals' welfare needs are met. We conclude that animal habitat management will be enhanced with the use of integrated technologies that provide the animals with more opportunities to engineer their own environments, providing them with complexity, choice and control.

Vocal expression of emotional valence in Przewalski's horses (Equus przewalskii)

Vocal expression of emotions has been suggested to be conserved throughout evolution. However, since vocal indicators of emotions have never been compared between closely related species using similar methods, it remains unclear whether this is the case. Here, we investigated vocal indicators of emotional valence (negative versus positive) in Przewalski’s horses, in order to find out if expression of valence is similar between species and notably among Equidae through a comparison with previous results obtained in domestic horse whinnies. We observed Przewalski’s horses in naturally occurring contexts characterised by positive or negative valence. As emotional arousal (bodily activation) can act as a confounding factor in the search for indicators of valence, we controlled for its effect on vocal parameters using a behavioural indicator (movement). We found that positive and negative situations were associated with specific types of calls. Additionally, the acoustic structure of calls differed according to the valence. There were some similarities but also striking differences in expression of valence between Przewalski’s and domestic horses, suggesting that vocal expression of emotional valence, unlike emotional arousal, could be species specific rather than conserved throughout evolution.

Applying Behavioral Conditioning to Identify Anticipatory Behaviors

The ability to predict regular events can be adaptive for nonhuman animals living in an otherwise unpredictable environment. Animals may exhibit behavioral changes preceding a predictable event; such changes reflect anticipatory behavior. Anticipatory behavior is broadly defined as a goal-directed increase in activity preceding a predictable event and can be useful for assessing well being in animals in captivity. Anticipation may look different in different animals, however, necessitating methods to generate and study anticipatory behaviors across species. This article includes a proposed method for generating and describing anticipatory behavior in zoos using behavioral conditioning. The article also includes discussion of case studies of the proposed method with 2 animals at the San Francisco Zoo: a silverback gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and a red panda (Ailurus fulgens). The study evidence supports anticipation in both animals. As behavioral conditioning can be used with many animals, the proposed method provides a practical approach for using anticipatory behavior to assess animal well being in zoos.

Neurophysiological assessment of animal welfare

Livestock industries such as the pork industry are striving to continuously improve the welfare of animals. Inherent to the success of this is the ability to rigorously assess the welfare of animals in the field. While much progress has been made towards the development of methodology to assess the welfare of animals, there have been major challenges to establishing practical and definitive procedures to assess the welfare of animals. These include, but are not limited to, establishing a universally accepted definition of animal welfare and the choice of measures that are taken from the animal to assess its welfare. Measures of biological functioning and affective (emotional) state of the animal have been common, but there have been many limitations in terms of practical application. Some of the reasons for this include the choice of physiological measures, which are often restrictive in providing information about welfare, affective measures being restricted to specific behavioural measures and the biological-functioning and affective-states approaches being undertaken in isolation. Biological and affective functioning are integrated and controlled by the brain. Many of the regions of the brain involved in the regulation of biological and emotional functioning have been identified. Furthermore, there is considerable knowledge about the roles and interactions among the neurophysiological systems in these brain regions. We propose a strategy to use this knowledge to develop procedures to assess animal welfare. The initial phase is to identify the neural pathways that regulate the physiological and emotional processes that allow animals to adapt and cope. The next phase is to determine the activity of these pathways in conscious animals in the field. This requires the identification of biomarkers of specific neuronal activity that can be measured in the conscious animal in the field. Emerging technologies are offering promise in the identification of such biomarkers and some of these are already applicable to the pig. There is now the opportunity to apply this strategy within the pork industry to assess the welfare of pigs throughout the value chain.

Cognitive Bias in Ambiguity Judgements: Using Computational Models to Dissect the Effects of Mild Mood Manipulation in Humans

Positive and negative moods can be treated as prior expectations over future delivery of rewards and punishments. This provides an inferential foundation for the cognitive (judgement) bias task, now widely-used for assessing affective states in non-human animals. In the task, information about affect is extracted from the optimistic or pessimistic manner in which participants resolve ambiguities in sensory input. Here, we report a novel variant of the task aimed at dissecting the effects of affect manipulations on perceptual and value computations for decision-making under ambiguity in humans. Participants were instructed to judge which way a Gabor patch (250ms presentation) was leaning. If the stimulus leant one way (e.g. left), pressing the REWard key yielded a monetary WIN whilst pressing the SAFE key failed to acquire the WIN. If it leant the other way (e.g. right), pressing the SAFE key avoided a LOSS whilst pressing the REWard key incurred the LOSS. The size (0–100 UK pence) of the offered WIN and threatened LOSS, and the ambiguity of the stimulus (vertical being completely ambiguous) were varied on a trial-by-trial basis, allowing us to investigate how decisions were affected by differing combinations of these factors. Half the subjects performed the task in a ‘Pleasantly’ decorated room and were given a gift (bag of sweets) prior to starting, whilst the other half were in a bare ‘Unpleasant’ room and were not given anything. Although these treatments had little effect on self-reported mood, they did lead to differences in decision-making. All subjects were risk averse under ambiguity, consistent with the notion of loss aversion. Analysis using a Bayesian decision model indicated that Unpleasant Room subjects were (‘pessimistically’) biased towards choosing the SAFE key under ambiguity, but also weighed WINS more heavily than LOSSes compared to Pleasant Room subjects. These apparently contradictory findings may be explained by the influence of affect on different processes underlying decision-making, and the task presented here offers opportunities for further dissecting such processes.

Changes in the Welfare of an Injured Working Farm Dog Assessed Using the Five Domains Model

Simple Summary

The Five Domains Model is now increasingly used to assess the welfare status of a wide range of species in markedly different circumstances. Particular strengths are that the Model facilitates structured, systematic and comprehensive evaluations of animals’ negative and positive mental experiences, the overall balance of which underlies their welfare status or quality of life. Importantly, the Model also clarifies the specific internal and external factors that give rise to those experiences. The welfare evaluation published here is the first to use the most up-to-date version of the Model, and stands as a detailed example that may assist others undertaking such welfare evaluations in other species and contexts. Moreover, it is the first such evaluation of a companion animal. It employs a fictitious scenario involving a working farm dog before, during and after it sustains a serious hind leg injury requiring amputation and its subsequent rehoming as a pet. A wide range of negative and positive experiences are graded, interactions between them are revealed, and the balance between negative and positive states at different stages of the scenario is described. Such Model evaluations can highlight current practices that merit re-evaluation. More generally, when major welfare issues are identified, use of the Model could enhance expert witness participation in related prosecutions by highlighting scientifically supported connections between indicative physical/functional states and behaviours and their associated negative experiences in ill-treated animals. Five Domains Model evaluations can also facilitate quality of life assessments and end-of-life decisions.

Abstract

The present structured, systematic and comprehensive welfare evaluation of an injured working farm dog using the Five Domains Model is of interest in its own right. It is also an example for others wanting to apply the Model to welfare evaluations in different species and contexts. Six stages of a fictitious scenario involving the dog are considered: (1) its on-farm circumstances before one hind leg is injured; (2) its entanglement in barbed wire, cutting it free and transporting it to a veterinary clinic; (3) the initial veterinary examination and overnight stay; (4) amputation of the limb and immediate post-operative recovery; (5) its first four weeks after rehoming to a lifestyle block; and (6) its subsequent life as an amputee and pet. Not all features of the scenario represent average-to-good practice; indeed, some have been selected to indicate poor practice. It is shown how the Model can draw attention to areas of animal welfare concern and, importantly, to how welfare enhancement may be impeded or facilitated. Also illustrated is how the welfare implications of a sequence of events can be traced and evaluated, and, in relation to specific situations, how the degrees of welfare compromise and enhancement may be graded. In addition, the choice of a companion animal, contrasting its welfare status as a working dog and pet, and considering its treatment in a veterinary clinical setting, help to highlight various welfare impacts of some practices. By focussing attention on welfare problems, the Model can guide the implementation of remedies, including ways of promoting positive welfare states. Finally, wider applications of the Five Domains Model are noted: by enabling both negative and positive welfare-relevant experiences to be graded, the Model can be applied to quality of life assessments and end-of-life decisions and, with particular regard to negative experiences, the Model can also help to strengthen expert witness testimony during prosecutions for serious ill treatment of animals.

A Multi-Institutional Assessment of Factors Influencing Locomotion and Pacing in Captive Okapis (Okapia johnstoni)

The okapi (Okapia johnstoni), native to the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a large, solitary, and diurnal forest-dwelling ungulate highly sensitive to captive conditions. The captive population demonstrates persistent health problems, reproductive abnormalities, and several potentially abnormal repetitive behaviors. This study reports on locomotion and pacing in adult male and female okapis. Commonly, data on repetitive behavior have been derived from surveys. Although insightful, the results are often highly generalized and provide little information about the true preponderance and nature of such behavior in a population. In this study, direct observations determining how often and when a behavior of interest occurs are paired with information on factors (intrinsic and extrinsic) that can impact a nonhuman animal's propensity to perform repetitive behavior. More than half of the North American okapi population comprised the study population. Each animal was studied for 2 summer and winter seasons. Factors predictive of pacing in both males and females included 3 housing and habitat factors and 4 management factors. Patterns of locomotion and the rate and pattern of pacing in males when compared with females suggested different mechanisms may be driving these behaviors in the different sexes and that a sex-specific management strategy would benefit this species.