Excessive human population growth, uncontrolled use of natural resources, including deforestation, mining, wasteful systems, biodiversity reduction by agriculture, and damaging climate change affect the existence of all animals, including humans. This discussion is now urgent and people are rethinking their links with the animals we use for clothing, food, work, companionship, entertainment, and research. The concepts of one health, one welfare, and one biology are discussed as a background to driving global change. Nothing should be exploited without considering the ethics of the action and the consequences. This review concerns domesticated animals, including those used for human consumption of meat, eggs, and milk; horses kept for work; and dogs kept for company. Animal welfare includes health, emotional state, and comfort while moving and resting, and is affected by possibilities to show behavior and relationships with others of the same species or with humans. We show some examples of the relations between humans and domesticated animals in the environmental context, including zoonotic diseases, and consider the consequences and the new paradigms resulting from current awareness.

The aims of this study were to evaluate the potential impacts of training in good practices of cattle handling on stockpeople's attitudes and behavior, and on cattle welfare, in Brazilian beef farms. Additionally, we aimed to investigate whether the quality of cattle handling deteriorates as the working day progresses. The study was conducted on 24 commercial beef cattle farms (located in Northeastern Pará State, Brazil), which were classified into three groups with different levels of training: Regularly trained (TRAINED-R, n = 9), Occasionally trained (TRAINED-O, n = 9) and Never trained (NON-TRAINED, n = 6). A total of 150 stockpeople working on these farms were categorized according to the level of training received: i) Trained (TS, n = 43), those who attended formal handling skills training; ii) Non-trained, but had close contact with a trained stockperson (CTS, n = 62), and iii) Non-trained, and had no contact with a trained stockperson (NT, n = 45). On each farm, indicators of quality of handling (including animal and stockpeople behavior, and stockpeople attitudes) were measured on one workday, during the vaccination handling procedures of approximately 236 ± 65 (mean ± SD) heads of cattle per farm. We observed that NON-TRAINED farms had the poorest quality of handling, as well as more undesirable animal behaviors during handling (P < 0.05), when compared with the other farm categories (TRAINED-R, TRAINED-O). Stockpeople attitudes and behaviors varied according to their degree of training in good practices of beef cattle handling (P < 0.05). People who participated in a formal training course (TS) had the highest positive and the lowest negative behavior and attitude scores, compared with people in the other groups (CTS and NT). We observed an effect of the progression of the workday (P < 0.05) only on NON-TRAINED farms, where handling became worse over time. Our results support the hypothesis that training stockpeople in good cattle handling practices leads to better attitudes and behavior toward cattle. Thus, training stockpeople can be an effective and practical strategy to promote positive human-animal interactions on beef cattle farms, improving the quality of life of both animals and workers.

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The aim of this study was to identify the influence of different catching practices during manual upright handling on broiler welfare and behavior. Catching was examined in a total of 4,595 Cobb broilers with average live weight of 3.2 kg and 42 days old. Six catching practices were evaluated: shed curtain position, loading time, catching method, catching team, height of the crates from the floor, and placement of the bird in the crate. Behavioral welfare indicators were defined as follows: 1) broiler agitation in the catcher's hands, measured when the birds flapped their wings, kicked, or wriggled in the hands; 2) broiler striking the crate entrance as it was being placed in the crate, measured when the birds get the head, wings, or legs, hit at the crate entrance; and 3) broiler agitation in the crate, measured when birds flapped the wings or jumped inside the crate for 3 s or more after placement in the crate. A logistic regression model was used to calculate the chance of occurrence of each behavioral welfare indicator due to the handling factors. All catching practices evaluated in the present study influenced the birds’ welfare and behavior. Thus, some procedures during broiler catching potentially improved their behavior, making them less prone to accidents, and consequently improved their welfare. The catching process should be performed with the curtains in the closed position, carrying one broiler per catcher in an upright position while containing its wings, carefully placing the birds inside the crates, and with the crates being positioned at a height of at least 21 cm from the ground. Additionally, it was concluded that more attention should be given to the broiler catchers, since the position of the curtain, loading time, and position of the crate during handling can influence the work done by them, affecting the welfare and behavior of both humans and birds.