Abstract
In Italy, Law no. 189/2004 (enforced by law n. 201/2010) on safeguarding animal welfare establishes penalties for anyone keeping animals in conditions that are incompatible with their physiological or ethological needs. Thus, in order to recognize the condition of poor welfare or mistreatment, the training of a veterinarian needs to adopt a new approach to animal well being —that is somewhat different from the health ideas that have been prevalent so far. In this research we carry out an evaluation of the competence of veterinary students after a theoric 20-hour course in ethology and after three weeks of practical horses handling class. For two years 24 students were selected to took part in a program of horse management, in order to reach a high level of practical competence, from the ability to recognize non-verbal signals from horses, to cleaning and grooming, and to a more specific and refined ability—the establishment of a relationship with horse. While the skill level at the beginning was generally low, being the students’ backgrounds mainly urban, at the end of the practical course nearly 90% of them succeeded in the area of horse-human relationship, reaching evaluations in a range of good-excellent scores (p < 0.01). By combining over the years the applied ethology knowledge with the more profession-oriented health-related subjects, veterinary education will give students the resources that can better assist them in facing the challenges they will meet in their working lives. The fact that too many unlawful horses’ estab-lishments are often found all over the countries point indeed to a need for new experienced, well-trained professional people.
Highlights
All over the world, there is so far an unfortunate tendency to underestimate the importance of animal health in relation to animal welfare [1], considering the prevention and the control of animal diseases a major contribution to animal welfare [2]
Statistical evidence suggests that students enrolled in Italian Veterinary School are more and more female (67.1%), belonging to every class, mainly from senior high school specializing in science education; in our University, which is in central Italy, they come mainly from urban environment, too often unaware of animals’ communication signals, their declared “feelings” towards animals
The horses that a student can observe in the clinic environment are often just patients, maybe in emergency, not the energetic, free horses we propose to students during the lessons of Ethology
Summary
There is so far an unfortunate tendency to underestimate the importance of animal health in relation to animal welfare [1], considering the prevention and the control of animal diseases a major contribution to animal welfare [2]. Veterinary schools, mostly devoted to animal health and productivity, have neglected the topic of animal welfare for years in Italy as well. Maybe for these reason the veterinary class, well qualified in the field of health care, is sometimes less fighting in relation to the last (fourth and fifth) freedoms of the Brambell report (http://www.fawc.org.uk/freedoms.htm). This is a nonsense, considering that Italy has excellent laws protecting animals—in particular, law no. For an effective welfare control, this law impliedly suggests the necessity of new prepared professional people in the veterinary class, in order to prevent, advice, and punish every facility where animals’ mistreatment conditions and poor welfare subsist
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