Interacting with Animals : Understanding their Behaviour and Welfare (eBook)

Pierre Le Neindre (Author) Pierre Le Neindre is a retired scientist from INRA, France. He worked in the field on sheep and cattle in many environments ranging from very intensive such as veal calves in cages, to extensive such as beef cattle in the hills of France. He worked widely with sheep in France and Australia, mostly under in extensive conditions. He also worked on experiments into the onset of maternal behaviour and on the importance of endocrinology. He led a team studying ethics of animal husbandry and the biology of pain, suffering and consciousness. His team worked on basic academic studies as well as contract research for both the European and French ministries.Bertrand Deputte (Author) Bertrand Deputte's main research is on the social behaviour of captive primates, their visual and vocal communication, development of social behaviour and social perception. Formerly he was Honorary Director of Research at the CNRS / Honorary Professor of Ethology at French National Veterinary Schools at Alfort (ENVA), where he also taught ethology and directed research on perception and social behaviours in cattle and dogs.

This book presents many ideas and much useful information. In the Introduction, the authors point out that books and papers about animal behaviour and welfare often ignore early writers and focus on publications in the last ten years. The authors choose to cite the first statements of an idea when explaining relationships between humans and non-humans.

They also emphasise that the term animal refers to diverse organisms, from sponges to chimpanzees and humans, and argue that it is not helpful to consider some animals as inferior and some as superior when all are specialised in different ways. They conflict with many recent writers about sentience when they say that animals have an ability to feel.

The authors conclude that the use of scientific information, including that following detailed behaviour observation, is vital for assessing welfare.