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Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
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The effects of environmental enrichment and intermittent lighting on the behaviour and welfare of male domestic turkeys.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 1999 | No Comments
Does pecking at inanimate stimuli predict cannibalistic behaviour in domestic fowl?
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Cannibalism involves the pecking and tearing of skin and underlying tissues of another bird. It is a serious welfare problem in egg laying stains of domestic fowl. This study assessed the pecking behaviour of caged White Leghorn hens towards feather-shaped stimuli varying in colour (red or blue), material (paper or feather) and movement (stationary or movable) attached to a board placed in the feed trough. Each of the eight stimulus combinations was presented to two replicate groups of 5 young hens for 15 min at 45 and 57 days of age. Severe pecks were directed more frequently at feathers than paper stimuli and at movable than stationary stimuli but there was no differential response to red and blue stimuli. When reassessed the responses to the stimuli in groups of four hens at 696 and 710 days of age the study found no significant effects of colour, material or movement on the latency to peck the stimuli, or the frequency of gentle and severe pecks at the stimuli. There was a positive correlation between the frequency of severe feather pecking at flock mates and the frequency of cannibalistic behaviour. This study did not find significant correlation between the frequency of pecking at the inanimate stimuli and the frequencies of pecking at the flesh and feathers of flock mates. In summary it is concluded that the frequency of pecking at inanimate stimuli was not a good predictor of future cannibalistic behaviour by hens in this study.
Tail docking and beliefs about the practice in the Victorian dairy industry.
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Relationship between leg disorders and changes in the behaviour of broiler chickens.
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Animal ethics and animal welfare: bridging the two cultures
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The study of animal welfare and animal ethics, by scientists and philosophers, respectively, has had a common goal since the 1970s. Both areas of study strive to understand and express the proper type of relationship that should exist between humans and animals. However, with very little communication between the two groups, different concepts, assumptions, and vocabulary have emerged. In a sense, the two groups became two ‘cultures’. Some philosophers have obstructed the advancement by scientists because they tended to: focus on the individual as opposed to the population or species, promote single ethical principles rather than considering conflicting principles, dismiss the traditional ethics of care, responsibility and community with animals, only use ethical theory to find solutions (with little regard for empirical knowledge), to use single moral categories to cover different taxonomic groups, and to propose blanket solutions to a variety of animal use practices. On the other hand, ethicists did not accept the views of some scientists. Some scientists were proponents that subjective experiences and suffering could not be measured scientifically, and that welfare could be measured only as an empirical concept. However, there are some ethicists that have used the empirical results of animal welfare research to resolve animal ethics issues. This work uses more concrete notions (that could be analyzed scientifically) to express moral concerns about animals, places value on the traditional ethics of care, responsibility and community with animals, understands that good and bad animal use practices can be discriminated between using empirical analysis, and recognizes that different types and levels of ethical concern are required for different taxonomic groups. Similarly, the methods used by some animal welfare scientists have become more compatible with the methods of some ethicists. Such scientists are becoming more interested in the scientific study of subjective states of animals and the relationship of normative and empirical components in the assessment of animal welfare. A more integrated field of study may result as the scientific and philosophical approaches continue to converge. Also, as the cultures continue to converge, both empirical information and ethical reflection will be used to provide better answers to questions about the proper relationship between humans and animals.
Mixing induces long-term hyperthermia in growing pigs.
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Behavioural and physiological responses of calves to dehorning by heat cauterization with or without local anesthesia.
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Calves (4-6 week old) were observed during an initial sham dehorning (handled but not dehorned) and then again during and for 4 hours after actual dehorning using a heated iron. Physiological measurements were also obtained. The calves were assigned to three treatments related to anesthetics. One group received a local anesthetic (lidocaine), another group received saline injections, and the third group received no injections (Control). Both the Control and saline injected animals demonstrated more frequent tail wagging, head moving, tripping, rearing, abnormal backward-locomotion, and head shaking than did the calves receiving anesthetic. Plasma levels of vasopressin, ACTH and cortisol were elevated in the Control and saline injected animals. Dehorning calves using heat cauterization is accompanied by considerable pain and distress, which can be significantly alleviated during and for up to 2 hours afterward by local anesthesia