Indicators of poor welfare

Broom, Donald M.

doi:10.1016/0007-1935(86)90109-0

Cited by 717 publications

(416 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Second, it remains an open question whether an animal that spends a lot of time in a stereotypy really is better off than one that, say, develops a gastric ulcer (Wiepkema 1987). The animal's welfare, if defined in terms of the amount of coping it is having to do (Broom 1986;Fraser & Broom 1990), could be said still to be poor.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stereotypies: a critical review

1991

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Abstract. Stereotypies are repetitive, invariant behaviour patterns with no obvious goal or function. They seem to be restricted to captive animals, mentally ill or handicapped humans, and subjects given stimulant drugs. In this respect they are abnormal, although possibly the product of normal behavioural processes. Stereotypies are often associated with past or present sub-optimal aspects of the environment, and have been used as a welfare indicator. It has been hypothesized that stereotypies have beneficial consequences which reinforce their performance, although other means, such as positive feedback, may equally explain their persistence. Empirical evidence links them with lowered awareness of external events, and reduced arousal and distress. However, as most of this evidence is correlational it remains uncertain that the stereotypies are themselves the cause of coping. Furthermore, they are heterogeneous in source of origin, proximate causation and physical characteristics, and they change over time in important respects, becoming more readily elicited by a wider range of circumstances. Therefore the properties of one stereotypy are not necessarily those of another.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stereotypies: a critical review

1991

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“…In welfare assessment, pain and sources of pain should be evaluated, where possible, in order to establish how far the animal's physical and, also likely, emotional state is affected (Broom, 1986). Bruises on the carcass surface are straightforward to quantify and represent an indirect measurement of likely painful events, and therefore they are useful to evaluate the welfare of meat production animals and this study provides evidence of it.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bruises in culled cows: when, where and how are they inflicted?

Strappini

Metz

Gallo

et al. 2013

Animal

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In Chile, cow carcasses present the highest bruise prevalence compared with other cattle categories; however, the causes of the bruises are frequently unknown. In this study, 52 cull cows were transported to the slaughterhouse in three batches under identical transport conditions. A combination of direct observation and video analyses was used to determine moment, pre-slaughter stage and cause of potential bruising events during the period from loading on the farm until stunning at the slaughterhouse. After slaughter, number of bruises, location on the carcass and characteristics of the bruises were assessed. Seventy-eight bruises were observed on 37 carcasses. Fifty-two bruises were linked back to their causal event. Results showed that 46% of these bruises were a result of interactions between animal and facility, and most of them were inflicted in the stunning box, 27% of the bruises originated from animal-animal interactions and were mostly inflicted during lairage, another 27% was a result of human-animal interactions and were mostly inflicted during loading and unloading of animals. The percentages of potential bruising events resulting in a bruise were 43%, 9% and less than 1% for animal-facility, human-animal and animal-animal interactions, respectively. Most bruises on the back site were inflicted when the animal was in the stunning box (91.2%), whereas bruises on the pin site were mostly (75%) inflicted during loading at the farm. One may conclude that in relative short journeys (<4 h) directly from farm to the slaughterhouse and long lairage times (.12 h), most bruises are the result of circumstances at the slaughterhouse. A substantial amount of these bruises could be avoided by proper animal handling and adequate stunning facilities.

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“…Broom [24] defined the welfare of an animal as "its state as regards its attempts to cope with its environment". Any evidence of attempting to cope with the environment, whether successful or not, would be reflective of an animal's welfare.…”

Section: Homeostasismentioning

confidence: 99%

A new animal welfare concept based on allostasis

Korte

Olivier

Koolhaas

2007

Physiology & Behavior

258

181

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Animal welfare is an increasing issue of public concern and debate. As a result, many countries are reconsidering the way animal welfare is embedded in the legislation and rules for housing and care of animals. This requires general agreement of what animal welfare is. Unfortunately, the current science of animal welfare is less scientific than what has been claimed. In our view, it is overly guided by anthropocentric thinking about how animals ought to be handled and neglects the latest concept of physiology: 'The Allostasis Concept'. Allostasis, which means stability through change, has the potential to replace homeostasis as the core model of physiological regulation. Not constancy or freedoms, but capacity to change is crucial to good physical and mental health and good animal welfare. Therefore, not homeostasis but allostasis is at the basis of our new animal welfare concept. This paper is aimed at a broader scientific discussion of animal welfare that includes knowledge from the latest scientific developments in neurobiology and behavioral physiology, and generates views that are extremely relevant for the animal welfare discussion.

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Indicators of poor welfare

Cited by 717 publications

References 6 publications

Stereotypies: a critical review

Stereotypies: a critical review

Bruises in culled cows: when, where and how are they inflicted?

A new animal welfare concept based on allostasis

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