Lieve Meers

Effect of manual imitation of grooming on riding horses' heart rate in different environmental situations.

S. Normando1*, A. Haverbeke2,4, L. Meers2, F.O. Ödberg2, M. Ibáñez Talegón3 and G. Bono1 1Dipartimento di Scienze Sperimentali Veterinarie, Università di Padova, V iale dell’Università 16, Agripolis, I-35020 L egnaro PD, Italy; 2Department of Animal Nutrition, Genetics, Production and Ethology, Universiteit Gent, Heidestraat 19, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium; 3Departamento de Producción Animal, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, E-28040 Madrid, España; 4Present address: FUNDP, Department of Veterinary Medicine, rue Muzet, 4 B-5000 Namur, Belgium *Correspondence: Dipartimento di Scienze Sperimentali Veterinarie, Università di Padova, Strada Romea 16, Agripolis, I-35020 L egnaro PD, Italy E-mail: simona.normando@unipd.it

Paradoxical rate-dependent effect of fluoxetine on captivity-induced stereotypies in bank voles

Treatment of stereotypies in human and animal clinics is still empirical due to our incomplete understanding of underlying mechanisms. As a consequence, experimental studies in controlled laboratory conditions are necessary. Bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus), housed in barren laboratory cages, often develop stereotyped up-and-down jumping even before the age of 1 month. The aim of this study was to investigate how captivity-induced stereotypies respond to fluoxetine (Prozac), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. During a control period of 10 days saline was administered daily s.c. to 6-month-old bank voles (n=24). In the subsequent 30 days, 16 animals received a dose of 10-mg/kg s.c. daily while 8 other animals were injected a dose of 20-mg/kg fluoxetine. Stereotypies, general activity, food intake and body weight were measured. Dose-related and paradoxical rate-dependent effects were found on stereotypies. After 10 days of treatment, the stereotypy levels of the animals with high pre-drug stereotypy rates decreased in contrast with those of low stereotypers which increased. No effect was found on general activity and food intake. Weekly weighing revealed an increase of weight during the total drug period and a return to pre-drug levels during the week thereafter.

IMPROVING UPPER ELEMENTARY STUDENTS' HUMANE ATTITUDES AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIORS THROUGH AN IN-CLASS HUMANE EDUCATION PROGRAM

ABSTRACT Humane education is a long-standing field of education that endeavors to nurture kindness, compassion, and concern for nonhuman animals, people, and the environment. Despite its long history, however, few randomized control studies have evaluated its effectiveness to promote the development of relevant outcomes. The current study sought to address this dearth by investigating the effects of a humane education program on not only participating students’ attitudes, but also their behaviors. Classes of under-served, fourth-grade students in two major US cities were randomly assigned to participate in either a school-based humane education program or a chess club (the control group); all students participated in their respective activity during the same period once a week for 11 weeks. Data were collected on the attitudes (n = 236) and behaviors (n = 167) of participating students exactly one week before and exactly one week after these programs were conducted. Students self-reported their attitudes about the treatment of animals and the environment via the Intermediate Attitude Scale. Teachers rated each students’ prosocial and disruptive behaviors through sub-scales of the Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation– Checklist. Nested multilevel models of change found that the development of prosocial behaviors and self-reported attitudes significantly interacted with group assignment: Students who participated in the humane education program showed stronger growth in both of these outcomes compared with students in the control group. Changes in disruptive behaviors, how-ever, were not found to differ between groups. The results support the effectiveness of a humane education program to teach a relatively large and diverse group of upper elementary students to learn about animal welfare issues and to improve their prosocial behaviors. Effects appeared strongest on attitudes; behavioral effects were found to be largely limited to behaviors directly addressed by the humane education program.