Joanne Edgar

Knowledge and attitudes of 52 UK pet rabbit owners at the point of sale

The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitudes of pet rabbit owners at the time of buying their rabbit(s) and to investigate factors influencing the planned husbandry and housing of their rabbit(s). A questionnaire was used to assess the impact of demographics, knowledge and attitudes on the likelihood that respondents would neuter their rabbit(s), feed them an appropriate diet, house them in appropriately sized housing and provide them with an appropriate companion. Knowledge and attitudes were significant factors in whether respondents planned to neuter their rabbit(s) and provide them with an appropriate companion. The attribution of secondary emotions to rabbits was associated with plans to feed a mix-type diet. The majority of owners had carried out prior research into pet rabbits, but owners had a limited knowledge of the needs of rabbits, particularly with respect to their diet and social needs. Respondents who had decided to purchase a rabbit on the day were less likely to intend to get their rabbit neutered than those who had taken more time to decide to buy a rabbit.

Towards a 'Good Life' for Farm Animals: Development of a Resource Tier Framework to Achieve Positive Welfare for Laying Hens

Simple Summary Farm animals can be said to have a ‘good life’ if their quality of life is substantially higher than the current legal minimum and includes positive experiences such as pleasure. In commercial farms, animals can be provided with different resources such as bedding, exercise areas and enrichment objects. We used scientific evidence and expert opinion to determine which resources laying hens need to contribute to a ‘good life’. These resources were organised into three tiers, of increasing welfare, leading towards a ‘good life’. We describe how we developed the resource tiers and suggest how the overall framework might be used to promote a ‘good life’ for farm animals. Abstract The concept of a ‘good life’ recognises the distinction that an animal’s quality of life is beyond that of a ‘life worth living’, representing a standard of welfare substantially higher than the legal minimum (FAWC, 2009). We propose that the opportunities required for a ‘good life’ could be used to structure resource tiers that lead to positive welfare and are compatible with higher welfare farm assurance schemes. Published evidence and expert opinion was used to define three tiers of resource provision (Welfare +, Welfare ++ and Welfare +++) above those stipulated in UK legislation and codes of practice, which should lead to positive welfare outcomes. In this paper we describe the principles underpinning the framework and the process of developing the resource tiers for laying hens. In doing so, we summarise expert opinion on resources required to achieve a ‘good life’ in laying hens and discuss the philosophical and practical challenges of developing the framework. We present the results of a pilot study to establish the validity, reliability and feasibility of the draft laying hen tiers on laying hen production systems. Finally, we propose a generic welfare assessment framework for farm animals and suggest directions for implementation, alongside outcome parameters, that can help define and promote a future ‘good life’ for farm animals.

Consistency, transitivity and inter-relationships between measures of choice in environmental preference tests with chickens

Choice experiments are a widespread method of assessing the welfare requirements of domestic animals but prior predictions about what animals should choose to maximise their welfare are not possible. It is therefore important to analyse the data from sets of choice tests to establish whether intra-set and inter-set consistency in choice occurs. Strong inter-set consistency (transitivity) would provide support for the assumption that animals are maximising a complex utility (welfare) that may map onto their subjective state. We housed 56 hens Gallus gallus sequentially in three environments, experienced as three sets (A vs B; B vs C; A vs C), over a 40-week period. At the end of each set, each chicken made six choices between the items in that set, using T-maze testing procedures. The chickens showed significantly greater within-set consistency than expected by chance (p<0.001 for all sets). Although different chickens exhibited different environmental preferences, we also found that a high within-set consistency was associated with faster decision-making (p<0.001). When the three sets of choice trials for each hen were compared there was some evidence that the birds made more transitive choices (indicating consistent choices between sets) than expected by chance.

Towards humane end points: behavioural changes precede clinical signs of disease in a Huntington's disease model

The number of animals used in science is increasing, bringing a concomitant obligation to minimize suffering. For animals with progressive conditions, euthanasia at a ‘humane end point’ is advised if the end point is scientifically valid, predictive and accurate. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that behavioural changes would reliably precede clinical signs of disease in a progressive neurological model, using retrospective analysis. We observed 100 pair-housed female R6/1 transgenic Huntingtons disease (HD) mice and 28 pair-housed female wild-type (WT) mice in standard- or resource-enriched cages. Disease progression was monitored until one member of each HD pair reached a pre-defined end point based on pathological symptoms (HD end). This mouse was then euthanized together with its cage mate (HD other) and any matched WT pairs. At euthanasia, HD mice had significantly greater absolute and relative organ weights, and significantly higher α1 acid glycoprotein concentrations than WT mice, indicating reduced welfare. HD mice initially showed significantly greater use of cage resources than WT mice but this declined progressively. Steeper declines, and earlier cessation, in the use of some climbing and exploration resources occurred in the HD end mice compared with the HD other mice. Behavioural change can be an early indicator of disease onset.

Influences of Maternal Care on Chicken Welfare

Simple Summary For a domestic chick, the mother hen is an important role model; chicks learn a great deal from their mother about what to peck, when to rest and how to behave when there is a threat. However, in large farms, natural brooding is not commercially viable and so chicks are hatched in large incubators and reared artificially. Chicks reared without a mother in this way are more fearful and more likely to develop behavioural problems, such as feather pecking. We discuss the important features of maternal care in chickens, the behavioural consequences of deprivation, and the welfare implications on commercial farms. We finish by suggesting ways to simulate natural maternal care to improve commercial chick rearing practice. Abstract In domestic chickens, the provision of maternal care strongly influences the behavioural development of chicks. Mother hens play an important role in directing their chicks’ behaviour and are able to buffer their chicks’ response to stressors. Chicks imprint upon their mother, who is key in directing the chicks’ behaviour and in allowing them to develop food preferences. Chicks reared by a mother hen are less fearful and show higher levels of behavioural synchronisation than chicks reared artificially. In a commercial setting, more fearful chicks with unsynchronised behaviour are more likely to develop behavioural problems, such as feather pecking. As well as being an inherent welfare problem, fear can also lead to panic responses, smothering, and fractured bones. Despite the beneficial effects of brooding, it is not commercially viable to allow natural brooding on farms and so chicks are hatched in large incubators and reared artificially, without a mother hen. In this review we cover the literature demonstrating the important features of maternal care in domestic chickens, the behavioural consequences of deprivation and the welfare implications on commercial farms. We finish by suggesting ways to use research in natural maternal care to improve commercial chick rearing practice.

Behavioural and physiological responses of laying hens to automated monitoring equipment

Highlights • Monitoring devices affected adult hen behaviour on the day of fitting.• Hens prioritized (re)moving newly fitted devices over exploration.• Devices did not increase aggressive behaviour towards equipped hens.• From two days after fitting on, only a very minor effect on behaviour was observed.• Peripheral eye temperature seemed related to preening behaviour rather than stress.

Socially-mediated arousal and contagion within domestic chick broods

Emotional contagion – an underpinning valenced feature of empathy – is made up of simpler, potentially dissociable social processes which can include socially-mediated arousal and behavioural/physiological contagion. Previous studies of emotional contagion have often conflated these processes rather than examining their independent contribution to empathic response. We measured socially-mediated arousal and contagion in 9-week old domestic chicks (n = 19 broods), who were unrelated but raised together from hatching. Pairs of observer chicks were exposed to two conditions in a counterbalanced order: air puff to conspecifics (AP) (during which an air puff was applied to three conspecifics at 30 s intervals) and control with noise of air puff (C) (during which the air puff was directed away from the apparatus at 30 s intervals). Behaviour and surface eye temperature of subjects and observers were measured throughout a 10-min pre-treatment and 10-min treatment period. Subjects and observers responded to AP with increased freezing, and reduced preening and ground pecking. Subjects and observers also showed reduced surface eye temperature - indicative of stress-induced hyperthermia. Subject-Observer behaviour was highly correlated within broods during both C and AP conditions, but with higher overall synchrony during AP. We demonstrate the co-occurrence of socially-mediated behavioural and physiological arousal and contagion; component features of emotional contagion.

Examining affective structure in chickens: valence, intensity, persistence and generalization measured using a Conditioned Place Preference Test

Highlights • Conditioned Place Preference tests were used to study affective responses in hens.• Both air puff and water spray stimuli produced conditioned place aversions.• A robotic snake, and the sound of conspecific alarm calls, did not.• Negative affective responses can differ in their persistence and generalization.