Abstract
Welfare assessments have been largely successful in improving management and quality of life for animals in human care. This has prompted an increased interest in their use for free-ranging wild animals to assess health, environment, and human-induced impacts that influence policy decisions. The North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW, Eubalaena glacialis) is one of the most endangered whale species. NARWs constantly face serious injuries and mortalities due to human activities, which poses both a species conservation and an individual welfare concern. Establishing a standardized welfare assessment for the NARW is a holistic way to understand the cumulative effects of anthropogenic activities at both the individual and population levels. To investigate the potential use of welfare assessments in NARWs, we performed a brief literature review to explore the history and utility of animal welfare assessments. Following the review, we developed a welfare assessment tool specific to the NARW. The goal is for biologists to apply this tool to understand NARW welfare in conjunction with research in the field. Ultimately, the information gained from this review can aid in public dissemination of the results of human impacts on NARW welfare and may help influence future conservation policies.
Highlights
Introduction of the North Atlantic RightWhale Welfare Assessment ToolWith the increasing threats to NARWs, welfare assessments should be included as a tool to better understand the overall condition and stressors affecting individuals
To incorporate animal welfare into conservation science, here we explore the use of animal welfare assessments for animals under human care and for free-ranging animals
The two options we evaluated for free-ranging wild cetaceans were the Five Domains Model (FDM) [28], which is the basis for many welfare assessment tools; and the Welfare
Summary
The North Atlantic right whale (NARW, Eubalaena glacialis) is one of the most endangered large whale species and is listed as Critically Endangered by the International. For the 43 individuals that were known to have died between 2003 and 2018, and for which the cause of death was identified, 88.4% were attributed to human activities (entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes) [5] Are these unintentional NARW deaths a substantial conservation concern for this declining population, but how entangled animals die is a significant animal welfare concern [6]. The term “extreme conservation” has been defined as “efforts targeted to deliberately increase positive human influences, including the detection and veterinary treatment of potentially life-threatening conditions and close surveillance of individual animals” [33] This practice of extreme conservation has been applied to the NARW through the efforts of several organizations that monitor individuals, document their behavior and health status, respond to health emergencies such as fishing gear entanglements, and collect data to analyze population status [1,33]. To incorporate animal welfare into conservation science, here we explore the use of animal welfare assessments for animals under human care and for free-ranging animals
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