Scientists' Assessment of the Impact of Housing and Management on Animal Welfare

Anonymous

Twenty-two scientists contributed to a consensus-oriented conceptual framework for assessment of farm animal welfare, addressing priority issues in cattle, pigs, and chickens. They used the Delphi-method, in which participants contributed anonymously through e-mail The framework puts welfare in an evolutionary context. Welfare problems arise when animals are kept in environments to which they have difficulty adapting. For integrated welfare assessment, design criteria and performance criteria must be used, where the former may be weighted based on the latter, which, in turn, may be weighted based on the aspects of intensity, duration, and incidence. The main performance criteria were pathological states, abnormal behaviors, and behavioral restrictions. Space, social conditions, and substrates were the main design criteria. Conventional housing systems generally ranked lower than alternative systems. This paper shows that a broad consensus-basis exists among welfare scientists concerning assessment of farm animal welfare.
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The Influence of Stocking Density on Tonic Immobility, Lameness and Tibial Dyschondroplasia in Broilers

Sanotra, Gurbakhsh Singh, Lawson, Lartey Godwin , and Vestergaard, Klaus S.
Division of Ethology and Health, Department of Animal Science and Animal Health, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark

Thomsen, Martin Gaardbo
Danish Institute of Agricultural Science, Research Centre Foulum, Denmark

This study assessed the effect of stocking density on the development of fear reaction (tonic immobility), lameness (gait), and tibial dyschondroplasia in broiler chicks of mixed sex. During three experiments, the study used 49,500 broiler chicks. (Ross 208) . Of these, the study randomly selected and studied 432 focal chicks in three experiments (144 per experiment). The focal chicks were color-marked individually on the head and wings for identification. Series of stocking densities compared were 9 & 29, 13 & 25, 17 & 21, 18 & 30 and 20 & 28 chicks per m2. From 8 to 42 days of age, the study tested focal chicks once a week for lameness (gait) using a scoring scale from 0 to 5 and for the duration of tonic immobility measured in seconds. Each trial terminated with the chicks' being humanely killed and examined for the expression of tibial dyschondroplasia, using a score from 0 to 3. For all series apart from 13 and 25 chicks per m2, the average increase in the duration of tonic immobility per day was significantly (p<0.05) higher for chicks kept at higher stocking densities. Tonic immobility durations also increased in chicks suffering from tibial dyschondroplasia, especially at 39 days of age (p<0.01). The incidence of lameness was higher for high stocking densities among the series compared (p<0.05 - p<0.001). For most compared series, the growth rate also increased with a unit increase (p<0.001). The incidence of tibial dyschondroplasia was significantly (p<0.01) higher at stocking densities of 29, 25, 21, 30, and 28 birds per m2 compared to those at 9, 13, 17, 18, and 20 birds per m2, respectively. A total of 59.6 % and 19.2%, respectively, of birds had tibial dyschondroplasia. The results show that high stocking densities adversely affect the welfare of broilers.
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The Effect of Enclosure Size and Complexity on the Behaviors of Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Mary Lee A. Jensvold
Chimpanzee & Human Communication Institute
Central Washington University

Crickette. M. Sanz
Washington University

Roger S. Fouts and Deborah H. Fouts
Chimpanzee & Human Communication Institute
Central Washington University

Reports describing the implementation of innovative facility designs are important to both the primate care-giving community and policymakers reviewing current United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations. This study documented the changes in behavior of five adult chimpanzees that coincided with transfer from the Psychology Building Facility (PBF) to the large and complex chimpanzee enclosure within the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI). In 1993, the chimpanzees were relocated from a small facility with a 27.87 m2 indoor suite of enclosures to a new 587 m2 indoor and outdoor facility. The first study compared the activity budgets of the chimpanzees before and after the transfer. The second study compared patterns of locomotion at the two facilities. The third study examined the chimpanzees' patterns of use of the features at the new facility. The chimpanzees traveled more and exhibited more species typical behaviors at CHCI, including climbing and leaping. The pattern of locomotion and postures at CHCI was similar to the pattern of locomotion and postures observed in free-ranging chimpanzee populations. The chimpanzees used all structures and all areas in the facility, especially elevated structures and the outdoor enclosure.

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