Wild Animal Welfare Research Articles

Estrogenic contamination by manure fertilizer in organic farming: a case study with the lizard Podarcis sicula.

In the last years, worldwide organic farming has grown exponentially; as a consequence, the use of animal manure as a soil fertility source has become the principal agricultural choice. However, the use of manure as fertilizer can increase the amount of steroid hormone metabolites in the soil. In southern Italy, lacertidae lizards are the most abundant vertebrate group in agroecosystems and have been identified as potential model species for ecotoxicological studies. The aim of this study was to understand if the manure applied in organic farming has estrogen-like effects in the lizard Podarcis sicula. Adult male lizards were captured in two organic agricultural fields (manure-treated sites) and in an uncultivated field (control site). Lizards from the two organic farms displayed hepatic biosynthetic alterations typical of an estrogenic contamination; hepatocytes contained both vitellogenin and estrogen receptor alpha transcripts and proteins, detected by in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry. The same cells did not show cadmium, lead and metallothionein accumulation, indicative of the lack of inorganic contamination. These findings suggest that exogenous estrogens, arising from the use of manure, could affect the welfare of wild animals and animal breeding, leading to bioaccumulation of estrogens in food chain, with possible risk for human consumers. For this reason, organic farming should implement the use of sustainable practices such as crop rotation to preserve the soil biological activity, rather than organic manure as fertilizer.

Clouded in mystery: the global trade in clouded leopards

In the first global review focused specifically on clouded leopard trade, we assess its impact on the basis of information gathered from annual CITES reports, literature and expert opinion. Although international and domestic trade regulations are in place, in ‘exceptional circumstances’ trade in Asian big cats is legally permitted. More generally, and irrespective of its legal status, trade also has potential to compromise wild animal welfare. We report an apparent shift toward commercial trade in captive bred clouded leopards, trade irregularities that point toward possible laundering of wild caught animals, and document the presence of individuals on ‘tiger farms’ in south-east Asia and a ‘lion park’ in South Africa. We found CITES records contradictory and incomplete, with data on source country particularly lacking. This study highlights ‘legal loopholes’ that apply to all Asian big cat species. As a precautionary measure, we support calls to extend existing bans on Asian big cat trade so that they include commercial trade in captive bred individuals. Illegal trade in derivatives can openly be observed online and at wildlife markets in range countries where enforcement is weak. However, an energetic search has revealed that specific information regarding clouded leopards is lacking. We argue that this is not grounds for complacency, but rather suggests a need for research into trade dynamics, cooperation between national enforcement agencies, improved compliance with trade data management systems, the destruction of private held stockpiles and the revision of existing legal frameworks to prevent illegal trade in these and other threatened wild felids.

Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus), Pig-Tailed Macaque (Macaca nemestrina) and Tiger (Panthera tigris) Populations at Tourism Venues in Thailand and Aspects of Their Welfare.

This study focused on determining the size and welfare aspects of Asian elephant, pig-tailed macaque and tiger populations at facilities open to tourists in Thailand. Data were gathered from 118 venues through direct observations and interviews with staff. A score sheet-based welfare assessment was used to calculate scores between 1 and 10, indicating each venue’s welfare situation. Factors such as freedom of movement for the animals, access to veterinary care, environmental noise quality, hygiene standards and work intensity were included in the score sheet. 1688 elephants, 371 macaques and 621 tigers were found at the venues. 89 venues exclusively kept elephants, 9 designated ‘Monkey schools’ offered macaque shows, 4 venues kept primarily tigers, mostly for petting and photo opportunities, and the remaining venues kept a mix of these animals. A strong imbalance in female to male gender ratios was recorded with about 4:1 for adult elephants and 1:4 for adult macaques. Severely inadequate welfare conditions were common, with 75% of macaques and 99% of tigers being kept at venues with scores less than 5. 86% of elephants were kept in inadequate conditions at venues with scores between 3 and 5, but a significant number of venues with scores above 5 were found. 4.6% of elephants were provided commendable conditions, reaching assessment scores of 8 and above. 71% of venues did not offer any sort of education about animals to visitors. This study is the first to assess welfare aspects of captive wild animals at tourism venues across Thailand. It concludes that significant concerns exist about the welfare of wild animals in the tourism sector of Thailand. Urgent attention needs to be given to address these concerns and prevent further suffering. But also to ensure the demand for wild animals doesn’t have a negative impact on wild populations.

Role of non-governmental organizations in combating illegal wildlife–pet trade in Peru

Illegal trade in wild animals for pets is a global conservation and animal-welfare concern. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with different philosophical perspectives toward wildlife work to decrease illegal trade at international and national levels. Our objective was to examine the efforts of conservation and animal-welfare NGOs working to decrease illegal wildlife–pet trade for domestic markets in Peru. We identified 28 NGOs potentially engaged in reducing the trade, and conducted semi-structured interviews with ≥1 representative from each (N=33 interviews). Only five NGOs, each with a strong dual-perspective toward wildlife that prioritized both wildlife populations and individual wild animals, demonstrated high effort to decrease illegal wildlife–pet trade. These dual-perspective NGOs incorporated anti-trade efforts in all four work categories we identified (i.e., outreach, advocacy, development, and husbandry). Using thematic analysis of interview transcripts, we determined that dual-perspective interviewees were motivated to combat the trade by concern for individual animals and populations—in essence, their moral pluralism. Overall, interviewees considered the government lax with enforcement of wildlife legislation. Interview data suggest that the dual-perspective NGOs’ persistent efforts have decreased illegal wildlife–pet trade in two regions of Peru. We recommend that stakeholders and governments searching for collaborators to help curb illegal trade consider approaching NGOs with programs involving conservation of wildlife populations and individual wild animal welfare. We urge the scientific community to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies under different ecological and socio-economic conditions to assist on-the-ground efforts to decrease illegal wildlife–pet trade.

Wild Animal Welfare in International Law: The Present Position and the Scope for Development

AbstractWild animal welfare is a global subject and yet international regulation and policy dealing with welfare is sparse and in places idiosyncratic. Nevertheless, there is potential to develop a comprehensive and coherent international wild animal welfare regime in law and policy derived from the propositions in the World Charter for Nature that life has intrinsic value and deserves ‘respect’. Beyond that, the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species establishes a principle – in the context of international trade but with potential for wider application – that welfare protection should be extended to wild animals under human control. However, further development is more problematic. Although the International Whaling Commission to a minor extent regulates the welfare of hunted whales, there is no universal approach to extending welfare to freely living animals in international law and policy. This article analyses this background and goes on to recommend a way in which international policy may overcome the challenges of polarised debate and the gulf between moral relativism and moral universalism to develop the foundations of a comprehensive welfare regime at the international level.

Netherlands Council on Animal Affairs considers responsibilities for the welfare of free-living wild animals

Netherlands Council on Animal Affairs considers responsibilities for the welfare of free-living wild animals

Human-wildlife interactions: the importance and benefits of effective training

Studies and projects undertaken under the auspices of conservation of wildlife are often treated as being synonymous with working to promote individual animal welfare. However, human interventions, with respect to wild animals, carry with them multiple risks for the animal subjects. Unfortunately, these risks and problems are sometimes given little consideration by practitioners, often because they are judged relative to natural processes or are incurred for the good of the species or population. Obviously, animals are subjected to a variety of natural factors likely to cause stress and poor welfare in the wild, and conservation and management of differing species to differing extents will probably always be necessary. However, in all these interventions, the welfare of the individual animal always needs to be upheld. One way of addressing this issue is by the provision of robust training. The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) have recently developed a training course (winner of the UFAW Wild Animal Welfare Award 2010) which centres around promoting and educating best practice in wildlife, particularly with respect to improved methods of capture, handling, marking and release. As well as standard training techniques, the course includes the use of practical scenarios and discussion platforms, tackling varying issues pertinent to working with wild species with the overall aim of ensuring high standards of welfare.

What the Wild Things Are: A Critique on Clare Palmer’s “What (If Anything) Do We Owe Wild Animals?”

In this critique of “Clare Palmer’s “What (if anything) do we owe wild animals?”, I develop three points. First, I consider the case study which opens her essay and argue that that there are good empirical reasons to think that we should assist domesticated horses and not wild deer. Then, I critique Palmer’s claim that “wildness is not a capacity”, arguing that wildness connotes certain capacities which wild animals generally have and which domesticated animals generally lack. Lastly, I develop what I call the “supererogation problem” against Palmer’s preferred contextualist view, claiming that while the contextualist view doesn’t obligate us to eliminate predators and otherwise redesign nature in the name of wild animal welfare, it may nonetheless allow such interventions. This suggests that the problem with both utilitarian and contextualist views arises from their shared theory of value and not their theory of obligation.

Climate Change, Conservation and the Place for Wild Animal Welfare in International Law

There is an epistemological gulf between animal welfare and nature conservation that has, for the most part, frustrated a practical working relationship. Welfare components are scarce in international wildlife management law and are typically subordinate to conservation objectives. However, predictions concerning the combined effect of climate change and biodiversity decline describe a shrinking of the ‘wild’ and a reduction of natural habitats. The necessary conservation responses to this may force more species into controlled conditions and increase the need for conservation interventions that have an impact on the welfare of animals. In these circumstances the need to inject compassion into conservation law and policy becomes much greater. This article explores the trajectory of conservation and welfare legislation in the context of predicted climate changes and in so doing foresees the need for a more comprehensive and sophisticated international regulatory regime setting out animal welfare standards to support future conservation strategies.

Knowledge of domestic animal welfare is helpful in understanding the welfare of wild animals and vice versa

Knowledge of domestic animal welfare is helpful in understanding the welfare of wild animals and <i>vice versa</i>

Wild animal conservation and welfare in agricultural systems

AbstractAt least one-third of the land on earth is used for agricultural production and conflicts with the interests of wildlife are inevitable. These conflicts are likely to escalate as the human population expands and as the scale and intensity of agricultural production increases. This paper argues that the same underlying causes frequently affect both wild animal welfare and conservation. Three key threats are discussed: disease transmission from domestic animals and the interventions used to manage wildlife reservoirs of zoonotic diseases; physical operations such as harvesting and the conversion of wildlife habitat to farmland; and the use of agrochemicals, particularly for pest control. While direct effects, such as accidental poisoning, tend to attract the most public attention, it is argued that indirect effects, such as the reduction in food supplies or the disruption of social structures, are likely to be of greater importance. The suffering of pest animals has traditionally been undervalued. There is a need for broader adoption of integrated, ecologically based strategies which minimise suffering and also minimise the numbers of animals involved by preventing population resurgence. New research is urgently required to compare the effects of alternative, economically viable farming strategies on both wildlife conservation and welfare, possibly within the framework of ecosystem services assessments.

Wild Animal Welfare in the Practice for School Education

Wild Animal Welfare in the Practice for School Education

GAPs in the study of zoo and wild animal welfare

To investigate the science of animal welfare for zoo and wild animals in the period from 1966 to 2007, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of abstracts downloaded from The Web of Science((c)) database using the keyword combination "Animal welfare, Zoo* and wild" in the topic field. In total we downloaded 1,125 abstracts, which were classified into the following categories: year of publication; environment of the study (e.g., zoo) or theoretical; area of knowledge (e.g., conservation in situ); number of experimental animals used; species; addresses of authors; taxonomic classification; publication language; journal name; number of citations received. Since 1990, there has been a rapid increase in the number of articles published in this area of animal welfare. One worrying result was that published articles were predominately of a theoretical nature (58.65%, N=563). Most of the articles were published by authors either in Europe (47.43%, N=480) or North America (37.65%, N=381) and written in English (87.71%, N=971). The majority of experimental studies were conducted with mammals (75.92%, N=391), and had small sample sizes (N=7 for zoo-based studies). In terms of impact factor (IF), the journals in this study had a median factor equivalent to that for the area of biological sciences (median IF=1.013). Little knowledge cross-over from farm animal welfare was found (only four articles) in this study. In conclusion, zoo and wild animal welfare as a science may benefit from a greater interaction with farm animal welfare.

The welfare of animals: the silent majority

The welfare of animals is a subject that challenges every one of us. We use animals for food, companionship, sport and clothing and even the welfare of wild animals is affected by human activities. We are increasingly questioning whether this is necessary, desirable and humane. This book provides a framework to make those difficult decisions. Aspects of welfare that are important to animals are considered, as well as their rights to different welfare standards.Provision for animal welfare depends as much on culture, gender and other societal influences as any scientific advances in management systems. The influence of intensification of animal use, especially in food production, on welfare is considerable and the international scale of welfare issues with different types of animals is discussed. The author describes his experiences investigating animal welfare in a vast range of different situations, from the Bedouins slaughtering sheep in the desert to livestock being transported overseas from Australia to the Middle East. This book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the welfare of animals, but especially veterinarians, animal owners and animal scientists.

Large-scale ELISA testing of Spanish red deer for paratuberculosis

A role of wildlife species as paratuberculosis reservoirs is strongly suspected based on field and molecular epidemiologic evidence. This paper presents the first large-scale data on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) against Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) antibodies in red deer from Spain, and tests the effect of host and environmental risk factors on antibody levels. A total of 257 out of 852 serum samples tested positive, yielding a total seroprevalence of 30.16% (95% CI 27.08–33.24). Sampling locality, presence of cattle and increasing age explained the variation in the individual ELISA optical density (OD) results. Data presented in this study strongly suggest that Spanish red deer are exposed to MAP. While contact with cattle was statistically significant, some wild populations showed the highest positivity to the ELISA. The results support the need of a careful study of MAP prevalence based on culture and molecular tools in order to clarify if deer play a significant role as paratuberculosis reservoirs for livestock, and if deer paratuberculosis is affecting hunting harvest, trophy quality, or wild animal welfare in Spain.

Welfare, husbandry and veterinary care of wild animals in captivity: changes in attitudes, progress in knowledge and techniques

Since the first zoos were founded, attitudes to keeping wild animals in captivity have changed considerably. A much firmer conviction that animals have the capacity for consciousness and thus suffering, has been one factor in the growth in concern for welfare in recent decades. The pursuit of conservation goals and higher welfare standards has driven remarkable advances in the husbandry, veterinary science and care of wild animals.

Status of wildlife health monitoring in the United Kingdom

There is a clear need to monitor the health of wildlife in the UK, to help to understand the population dynamics of endangered species and to detect any harm to...

The international regulation of animal welfare and conservation issues through standards dealing with the trapping of wild mammals

The development of laws at both national and international level dealing with the welfare of wild animals has been slow. In 1994 the European Community agreed a Regulations banning the use of leg-hold traps but import bans were postponed following the threat of legal challenge by the US and Canada under GATT and WTO. The subsequent legal and policy history reveals important insights into the developments of international environmental standards where difficult ethical issues arise. The International Standards Organisation's attempts to devise agreed standards for humane trapping were frustrated by a consensus based approach and fundamental disagreement between interested parties. Their work was eventually confined to standards concerning trap testing methodology, thus avoiding difficult moral judgements and uncertainties. Eventually, negotiations between the European Community, Canada, the US, and the Russian Federation led in 1998 to two international agreements. These are the first such agreements to deal expressly with the welfare of wild animals, but can still be criticised as being over-concerned with the facilitation of trade.

Animal Welfare Special Issue on Genetics and Animal Welfare

The November 1999 issue of Animal Welfare will be published as a Special Issue, devoted to the topical subject of Genetics and Animal Welfare. The journal has established itself as the objective, international forum for quarterly publication of peer-reviewed papers on all aspects of farm, laboratory, zoo, wild and companion animal welfare science - from practical husbandry to ethical debates. In 1998, it ranked in the top 25 per cent of all veterinary/zoological journals covered by the Science Citation Index® - attesting to the quality and impact of its contents.

Conservation regulation: a backward step for biodiversity?

An analysis, particularly from the UK and European Community perspectives, of the way in which the law dealing with the conservation of species and habitats has the potential effect, in some cases, of frustrating the comprehensive preservation of biological diversity. It is proposed that this state of affairs may have come about through the emphasis of one species to the detriment of others or through the failure to address comprehensive inter-species and habitat relationships. One of the propositions is that the application of protection to specific species, through conservation and wild animal welfare provisions, has been implemented in an arbitrary manner in the context of biodiversity preservation or in terms of an animal's level of sentiency or position on the phylogenetic scale. Another proposition is that the law has failed to protect and preserve the 'commonplace' in biodiversity and thus risks losing key components of ecosystems. Finally, the analysis examines the way in which traditional practices such as hunting with hounds may contribute to or frustrate biodiversity preservation.