New research survey has been launched exploring attitudes towards animal welfare in the UK and Japan

JMICAWE has launched an international survey to explore attitudes towards animal welfare of veterinarians and researchers in the UK and Japan. The work is led by a visiting Post Doctoral researcher, Dr Yuki Otani, supported by our Director, Cathy Dwyer, as a collaborative study between the University of Edinburgh and Hokkaido University in Japan.

The UK and Japan are both island, industrial and developed nations, where people live with animals for various purposes – in particular, pet ownership is an important part of both cultures. In the UK, the principles of animal welfare and animal welfare needs are included in legislation (The Animal Welfare Act, 2006). In Japan, on the other hand, people are likely to interact with animals based on a different Japanese concept rather than animal welfare. Instead of welfare, a word ‘Aigo’, which is composed of 2 characters (愛 and 護) meaning "love" and "protection”, has been widely and historically spread in Japanese society. This word is used in the relevant and the most responsible law for animal management. In this law ‘living being’ is used to represent all animals, whereas animal welfare is relevant to ‘sentient beings’ in the UK.

‘Aigo culture is very beautiful – people love and express empathy with animals. I think, however, this concept is human-based so it could cause conflicts about what is most important to animals among people depending on their own subjectivity. To solve the issue as a society, permeating the animal welfare concept is necessary’ says Yuki, from Hokkaido University.

We are now exploring the fundamental attitude of veterinarians, veterinary researchers, and behaviour/welfare researchers in the UK or Japan via an online survey. We would like to understand the strengths of welfare and Aigo concepts by this survey and develop effective strategies for improving animal welfare in both countries. More information about the survey can be found here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/jeanne-marchig-centre/activities/attitudes

Take Part

If you are a veterinarian, veterinary researcher, and behaviour/welfare researcher in the UK or Japan and wish to take part you can do so by following this link:

(English) https://forms.gle/9BrdKZovHMbt2WtKA

(Japanese) https://forms.gle/RaamqBZqkV5TE8hv9

 

Bird-brains or Chicken Einsteins? The truth about poultry cognitive abilities

Bird-Brains: Celebrating Poultry Day

Chickens are often overlooked and misunderstood. The term “bird-brain” is often used as an insult amongst us humans! However, a chicken’s brain (like all bird brains), is highly  complex with impressive cognitive abilities. They might be the most consumed terrestrial meat on the planet, with nearly 70 billion chickens processed for human consumption every year, but most people will never get the opportunity to get to know a chicken and spend time with them. Chickens have been shown to be emotional and intelligent, with some similar cognitive capacities to pigs, dogs and primates.

Chickens are emotional beings and science has shown us they are able to express depression after an injury and aspects of maternal empathy when their chicks become distressed. They can also do basic maths from a young age, performing addition and subtraction of coloured objects. Furthermore, they can demonstrate self-control and will choose to wait for longer periods in order to get the best rewards. Anyone who has spent time with chickens know they are chatty birds and science has documented over twenty different vocalisations they use to communicate. Even more impressive is that each of their vocals (e.g., calls, whistles, peeps, etc.) actually convey information, which references specific cues in their environment. For example, they have different alarm calls for different predators! Chickens can also deceive each other in order to gain the upper hand in social contexts - for example males will fake food calls in order to attract females, but females have also learnt to ignore males which food call too often!

It’s fair to say there is much more to chickens than the simplified “bird-brain” image. Students who have been given the opportunity to spend time with chickens and train them with positive clicker-training methods are reported to be surprised in how bright chickens can be. Knowing all that we do about the cognitive and emotional capabilities of chickens it might be time to re-think the term “bird-brain”!

If this has stimulated your interest to learn more about chickens, you can also take our MOOC in chicken behaviour and welfare here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/chickens

Blog Post by Dr Jessica Martin

Horse welfare research at JMICAWE

The welfare of horses is sometimes overlooked as they do not fall easily into the category of ‘livestock’ or ‘companion’ animals, and have some unique welfare challenges not faced by other species, such as being ridden and worked. At JMICAWE, we have been concerned with understanding the welfare of horses from a range of different approaches.

We have just published a paper that describes our research to determine what are the more important welfare issues for horses in the UK (funded by the Animal Welfare Foundation of the British Veterinary Association). In this study, we used a ‘Delphi’ technique to gather the opinion of a wide range of experts on what were the biggest issues they perceived for horse welfare. The study found that, in the opinion of experts, horses were at risk of poor welfare from a range of issues including poor biosecurity, lack of owner knowledge of behaviour and welfare issues for horses, a reluctance to euthanise horses when they were suffering, and an inability of owners to recognise pain behaviour in their horses.

These may lead to specific welfare outcomes, the most important of these were considered to be health related, such as obesity, and large worm burdens, and emotional including pain, fear and stress from use and training, and management in ways that did not suit evolved behavioural responses. This paper is freely available to those who might want to learn more about the work here: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/4/647

In addition, we currently have three PhD students studying horse welfare. In particular, these studies are tackling issues that our research has shown to be important welfare issues: developing methods to recognise pain and stress in horses, and investigating the knowledge and understanding of different horse-owning communities to horse welfare issues and behaviour. These studies will feed into our educational work to help owners understand horse behaviour and welfare needs, and improve the welfare of this group of animals.

Dogs and Society Workshop in Santiago, Chile - May 2015

Last week saw the JMICAWE’s Director Prof Nat Waran and Veterinary Outreach Manager Heather Bacon in Chile, for the start of a joint initiative between Edinburgh University's Jeanne Marchig International Animal Welfare Centre and the Sustainability Research Centre at Universidad Andres Bello.

 

 

 

The purpose of the one day workshop was to bring together key Researchers, Academics, Policy Makers and NGOs to discuss the issues relating to interactions between people and dogs in Chile. The objective was to develop a joint understanding of the human- dog relationship and to explore how, through research and policy, it may be possible to use evidence-based humane approaches to managing health and welfare concerns relating to increasing dog ownership. These concerns can include pet behaviour problems, pet neglect and abandonment and associated high numbers of dogs in shelters, as well as public health and animal welfare issues associated with increasing number of stray and street dogs within Chile.

Dogs present an international dilemma. In most countries they are considered to be ‘man’s best friend’, and pet numbers are increasing along with veterinary treatment possibilities and a strong pet food and product industry. Yet they are also considered as pests, being seen in some parts of the world as a public health problem due to dog bites and associated injuries, as well as the risk of disease or parasite transmission, such as rabies.

The number of dogs in Chile is estimated to be over 3 million, with a median human per dog ratio of 4.8. As with other parts of the world, the presence of an uncontrolled canine population poses risks not just to the health and welfare of the public, but also environmental health risks and concerns for the welfare of the dogs themselves.

Dogs are attracted to places where humans live and often this will bring them into conflict resulting in damage to property and injury to humans and dogs. Because stray dogs are so clearly visible in the streets, they attract the attention of the public and tourists, with rising numbers of dog bites sometimes leading to life-threatening consequences. In various parts of the world, management of the expanding dog population has involved the implementation of animal breeding control programmes along with vaccinations campaigns to tackle zoonotic disease risks, alongside education programmes for children to help with safety awareness.

We will keep you up-to-date with our work in Chile, but in the mean time if you are interested in learning more about Street dogs, why not watch our short film dedicated to them on YouTube?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-UEb9KOgpE