Stress and Animal Welfare (eBook)

Animal Welfare Series Preface 6
Preface to Second Edition 9
Acknowledgements 12
Contents 13
Chapter 1: One Welfare, One Health, One Stress: Humans and Other Animals 18
1.1 The Terms Animal, Welfare, Health and Stress 18
1.2 Animal Welfare and Social Change 22
1.3 The Debate About Animal Usage 24
1.4 Genetics, Epigenetics and What the Environment Can Change 26
1.5 The Challenge Ahead 27
References 28
Chapter 2: Adaptation, Regulation, Sentience and Brain Control 31
2.1 Adaptation 31
2.2 Homeostatic Control 32
2.3 Sentience and the Role of the Brain in Coping 34
2.4 Habituation and Sensitisation 35
2.5 Motivational State 36
2.6 Outputs from Decision Centres 39
2.6.1 Neural and Muscular Outputs 39
2.6.2 Hormonal and Neurohormonal Outputs 40
2.7 Control Systems and Needs 42
2.7.1 Simple Models of Control 42
2.7.2 Motivational State as the Determinant of Action 45
2.7.3 Other Concepts that Have Been Used to Explain Motivation 46
2.7.4 The Concepts of Needs and Freedoms 47
2.7.5 Motivational Dilemmas and the `Trade-off´ Concept 49
2.8 Types of Control 50
2.8.1 Rates of Neural and Hormonal Response 51
2.8.2 Feedback and Feedforward Controls 51
2.8.3 Predictability of Stimulation 53
2.9 Pain 55
2.10 Other Feelings and Emotions: Positive and Negative 56
2.11 Development of Regulatory Systems 57
2.11.1 Early Abilities, Preferences and Experiences 57
2.11.2 Learning and Memory 58
2.11.3 Lifetime and Evolutionary Changes 59
References 60
Chapter 3: Limits to Adaptation 65
3.1 Limitations of Timing and Temporal Aspects of Stimulus Modality 65
3.1.1 Changes in Frequency 65
3.1.2 Changes in Duration 68
3.1.3 The Impact of Novelty 70
3.1.4 The Value of Forewarning 70
3.2 Limitations of Intensity as an Information Basis for Adaptation 71
3.2.1 Changes in Intensity 71
3.2.2 Hazard Avoidance and Lethal Limits 71
3.3 Variation in Adaptation Has Consequences for Responses to Stimulation 73
3.4 Integrating Time, Intensity and Mode of Stimulation 74
3.5 The Concepts of Tolerance and Coping 76
3.6 Variations in Patterns of Adaptation 78
3.6.1 Differing Rates and Methods of Adaptation 78
3.6.2 Hypersensitivity 79
3.6.3 Hyposensitivity and Stress-Induced Analgesia 79
3.7 Other Factors Affecting Adaptation and Coping 80
3.7.1 Lack of Stimulation 80
3.7.2 Unpredictable Stimulation 81
3.7.3 Frustration of Behavioural Output 82
3.8 Effects of Human Selection of Animals on Their Ability to Adapt 83
References 84
Chapter 4: Stress and Welfare: History and Usage of Concepts 87
4.1 Stress 87
4.2 Welfare 97
4.3 Welfare Assessment 103
4.4 Welfare in Relation to Stress 107
4.5 Welfare in Relation to Naturalness 108
4.6 Welfare and Well-Being 109
4.7 Welfare and Quality of Life 109
4.8 Welfare and a Life Worth Living 109
4.9 Welfare in Other Languages 110
4.10 Welfare and Sentience 110
References 111
Chapter 5: Assessing Welfare: Short-Term Responses 114
5.1 Behavioural Measures of Welfare 116
5.1.1 Orientation and Startle Responses 116
5.1.2 Individual Differences in Behavioural Responses 118
5.1.3 Measures for Assessing Pain 118
5.2 Physiological Measures of Welfare 121
5.2.1 Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability 121
5.2.2 Rate of Breathing, Breathlessness and Body Temperature 124
5.2.3 The Adrenal Axes 125
5.2.4 Other Hormones 131
5.2.5 Enzymes, Other Proteins and Metabolic Products 132
5.2.6 Blood, Muscle and Other Carcass Characteristics 133
5.3 Using Indicators to Evaluate Welfare 135
5.4 Short-Term Welfare Problems and Concepts of Stress 136
References 138
Chapter 6: Assessing Welfare: Long-Term Responses 146
6.1 Direct Measures of Good Welfare 147
6.2 Cognitive Bias and Other Indirect Measures of Good Welfare 148
6.3 Qualitative Behavioural Assessment 149
6.4 Reduced Reproductive Success 151
6.5 Reduced Life Expectancy 152
6.6 Weight, Growth and Body Condition 154
6.7 Cardiovascular and Blood Measures 155
6.8 Adrenal Axes 156
6.8.1 Sympathetic Nervous System and Adrenal Medulla 156
6.8.2 Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Cortex 156
6.9 Measures of Immune System Function 157
6.9.1 Measuring White Cell Numbers 158
6.9.2 Antibody Production 158
6.9.3 T-Lymphocyte Function 159
6.9.4 Other Body Defences 161
6.10 Bone Strength, Muscle Strength and Injury 162
6.11 Disease Incidence Measures 163
6.12 Brain Measures 164
6.13 Behavioural Measures 165
6.13.1 Problems with Movement 166
6.13.2 Behaviour Associated with Lack of a Resource 168
6.13.3 Behaviour Associated with Lack of Social or Sexual Partners 169
6.13.4 Consequences of Inability to Perform a Behaviour 170
6.13.5 Sickness Behaviour and Physiology 171
6.14 Other Consequences of Frustration and Lack of Control 172
6.14.1 Aggression 172
6.14.2 Stereotypies 172
6.14.3 Depression, Apathy and Unresponsiveness 175
6.15 Lack of Stimulation and Overstimulation 177
6.15.1 Lack of Stimulation 177
6.15.2 Overstimulation 177
6.15.3 Problems Caused by Specific Localised Stimulation 179
6.16 Interrelationships Among Measures and Welfare Outcome Measures 179
References 180
Chapter 7: Preference Studies and Welfare 188
7.1 Time and Energy Allocation in a Rich Environment 189
7.2 Experimental Studies of Animal Preferences 191
7.2.1 Assessing the Importance of Preferences 191
7.2.2 Operant Techniques in the Assessment of Preferences 193
7.3 Environmental Enrichment 200
7.4 Do Preference Studies Tell us What Is Important for Animals? 202
References 203
Chapter 8: Ethics: Considering World Issues 207
8.1 World Problems 207
8.2 Value Systems 208
8.3 Anti-Microbial Resistance 210
8.4 Climate Change 211
8.5 Sustainability 211
8.5.1 Adverse Effects on Human Welfare, Including Human Health 212
8.5.2 Poor Welfare of Animals 212
8.5.3 Unacceptable Genetic Modification 213
8.5.4 Harmful Environmental Effects 213
8.5.5 Inefficient Usage of World Food Resources 213
8.5.6 Not ``Fair Trade´´: Producers in Poor Countries Do Not Receive a Fair Reward 214
8.5.7 Not Preserving Rural Communities 214
8.6 How Humans Impose on Other Animals: And Vice Versa 215
8.6.1 The most Successful Animals 215
8.6.2 Numbers of Animals Kept by Humans in Relation to Welfare Problems 215
8.6.3 Ethics of Killing and Welfare 217
8.7 Setting Ethical Limits to Assessed Welfare 218
8.7.1 Animals in a Natural Environment 218
8.7.2 Humans under the Same Strain 219
8.7.3 The Informed and Compassionate Arbiter 219
8.8 Food Production Systems for the Future 220
8.8.1 Sustainable Animal and Forage Plant Systems 222
8.9 Stress and Welfare in the General Ethical Framework 222
References 222
Chapter 9: Stress and Welfare in the World 225
9.1 Studying Stress and Welfare 225
9.2 Using the Term Stress Scientifically 226
9.2.1 Avoidance of Stress 227
9.2.2 Reduction of Stress and Improvement of Welfare 228
9.2.3 Monitoring Welfare 228
9.3 Welfare in the Moral World 229
Glossary 231
Index 238