WelFur – foxes: do feeding test, temperament test and a measure of stereotypic behaviour differentiate between farms?

Abstract

In the present study we evaluate the suitability of the feeding test, temperament test and assessment of stereotypic behaviour for an on-farm welfare assessment protocol. Ten fox farms in Finland and five fox farms in Norway were visited in January or February. On each farm, a representative sample of foxes was chosen for each measure. The percentage of foxes eating in the feeding test, touching a stick in the temperament test and behaving stereotypically varied between 24-73%, 16-60% and 0-13% on the farms, respectively. On farm-level, the percentage of foxes touching the stick in the temperament test correlated positively with the percentage of foxes eating in the feeding test (rs=0.609, P=0.016), and the percentage of foxes attacking the stick aggressively correlated positively with the percentage of stereotyping foxes (rs=0.604, P=0.017). Accordingly, all three measures can be used to differentiate farms. Furthermore, the correlations between the results from different measures indicate that the temperament test measures partially the same behavioural features of the stock of the animals on the farm as the feeding test and the measure of stereotypic behaviour.