LV EN RU DE FR

Animal Welfare, Environment Hygiene I

Course developer

Prior knowledge

BiolB002, Animal Biology, Ecology and Ethology III

LauZ2028, Forage Production and Animal Nutrition II

LauZ3142, Animal Husbandry II

VeteB010, Physiology II

Replaced course

Vete3042 [GVET3036] Animal Welfare, Environment Hygiene I

Course abstract

Students gain knowledge and understanding of animal welfare and environmental hygiene, their explanatory and descriptive aspects and concepts from the point of view of science, ethics and legislation. Understand the impact of animal keeping and care on animal behavior and physiology as well as the impact of market on animal welfare.
Learn to assess the quality of an animal’s living environment and care of animals in the context of the “Five Freedoms”, recognizing and using animal indicators (physiological and behavior measurements) and environment/management indicators.
Learn the basic principles of classification, gradation and interpretation of animal welfare.

Learning outcomes and their assessment

Knowledge: about animal welfare and environmental hygiene, as a set of measures to ensure the physiological and ethological needs of animal and animal health.
Skills:
• understand and justify the impact of welfare and environmental hygiene on animal health and productivity;
• is able to apply theoretical professional knowledge, regulatory legal acts, scientific publications, informal educational resources for the analysis of various welfare situations/conditions, for identification and interpretation of welfare criteria and indicators.
Competence: to be able to use acquired knowledge and insights in practice in complex evaluation of animal health and welfare, identification of problematic issues and formulation of possible solutions/improvements.
Assessment: assessment of animal welfare/environmental hygiene, at the animal holding, using a pre-prepared protocol based on species specific indicators.
Conducting analysis, formulating conclusions and proposals and preparing presentations on ensuring of the Five Freedoms for animal(s).
Knowledge test on the topics learned in study course.

Course Content(Calendar)

1) Animal welfare, Environment hygiene: Introduction (1h)
■ Definitions and terminology
■ Environmental hygiene - a component of Animal welfare
■ The concept of animal needs
■ Classification of animals by the type of it’s use
■ Animal welfare from a Scientific, Ethical and Legislative point of view
Practical work (1h)
2) The role of the veterinarian in animal welfare (1h)
■ Understanding of animal welfare and ethics issues and use in practice
■ Ethical decision making in veterinary practice
Practicals (1h)
3) Introduction to animal welfare ethics (2h)
■ Ethical theories about the moral status of an animal
■ Animal sentience
■ Animal Welfare v/s Animal Rights
■ The relationship between animal welfare and human prosperity
■ Animal welfare and environmental factors
Practical work (1h)
4) Legislation on Animal welfare and Animal protection (1h)
■ Different legislative models and types of regulatory enactments
■ Conditions for the compliance with regulated requirements
■ Reasons why regulatory requirements sometimes are ineffective in practice
Practical work (2h)
5) Assessment of welfare and “Five Freedoms” (2h)
■ Introduction to scientific methodology
■ Evaluation using the "Five Freedoms"
■ Quantification of welfare
Practical work (8h)
6) Group assessment and management of welfare (1h)
■ Principles of welfare assessment at group level, methods for assessment
■ Management of health and welfare in group systems
■ Graduation of welfare
Practical work (1h)
7) Physiological measures of animal welfare (2h)
■ Physiological measures of welfare: Autonomic Nervous System Neuroendocrine
■ Physiological measures of welfare: Neuroendocrine
■ Pros and cons of methods/measurements
Practical work (1h)
8) Disease and production indicators of animal welfare (1h)
■ Relationship between welfare and disease
■ Relationship between welfare and production
■ Biosafety
Practical work (1h)
9) Behavioural measures of animal welfare (2h)
■ Behavioural indicators and measurements of animal welfare
■ Behaviour ethogram and time budget; Motivation and the choices of animal
■ Normal and abnormal behaviour: Concept of “Normal Animal”
■ Identification of abnormality and possible causes of abnormal behaviour
Practical work (1h)
10) Pet animal welfare, stray animals (2h)
■ Duties and responsibilities of animal owners
■ Multilation of animals, performance of non-medical operations, indications
■ Identification, marking and registration of animals
■ Stray animals, strategies for population control
■ Animal shelters and their functions
Practicals (2h)
11) Breeding and trade of pet animals (1h)
■ Animal breeding and trade – potential risk for animal welfare and health
■ Breeding of animals and participation in exhibitions
■ Dangerous (aggressive) dogs
Practicals (1h)
12) Euthanasia of animals (2h)
■ Euthanasia: criteria, humane methods and considerations
■ Legal aspects of euthanasia
■ Communication with clients, animal owners
■ Euthanasia in disease control programs
Practicals (2)

Requirements for awarding credit points

Identification of species specific welfare indicators and protocol development for welfare assessment.
Visiting the animal holding, evaluation of animal welfare, based on species specific welfare indicators. Preparation of presentation: analysis and interpretation of results, formulation of conclusions and proposals.
Successfully passed the semester final test. Attendance at lectures and classes cannot be less than 70% of the total number of lectures.

Description of the organization and tasks of students’ independent work

The student must independently study literature, find out and analyze the species specific welfare criteria and species specific “output” and “input” indicators. A detailed protocol for the evaluation of the welfare Five Freedoms should be developed.
After the visit to the animal holding and assessment of welfare, findings and conclusions as well as proposals for necessary welfare improvement should be made.

Criteria for Evaluating Learning Outcomes

Student skills are assessed in accordance with the procedures specified in the tasks of the practical work.
Study course tests are evaluated in accordance with the criteria of the 10-point system scale indicated in the LBTU Study Regulations.
To get the final grade of the study course "passed", the test must be successfully passed.

Compulsory reading

1. Anon (1992). Farm Animal Welfare Council updates the Five Freedoms. Vet Record 131: 357
2. Broom D.M, Johnson K.G. (2019) Stress and Animal Welfare: key issues in the biology of humans and other animals. Second edition. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. 230 p.
3. Broom D.M. (1991) Animal welfare: concepts and measurement. Journal of Animal Science, Volume 69, Issue 10, Pages 4167–4175.
4. Broom D.M.,Fraser A.F. (2015.) ”Domestic animal behaviour and welfare” 5th Edition, ePDF: eISBN : 978-1-78064-564-3, 462 p.
5. Gregory N.G. (2004). Physiology and Behaviour of Animal Suffering. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004, p.12-21.
6. Fraser D, Weary D M, Pajor E A and Milligan B N 1997 A scientific conception of animal welfare that reflects ethical concerns Animal Welfare 6: 187-205.
7. Hemsworth P.H. (2003) Human-animal interactions in livestock production. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 81, 185-198.
8. David Mellor, Emily Patterson-Kane & Kevin J Stafford (2009) The Sciences of Animal Welfare, 224 p., ISBN 9781405134958.
9. Duncan I.J.D. (1993) Welfare is to do with what animals feel. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. Special Suppl. No. 2,Management and Welfare of Farm Animals: The UFAW Farm Handbook, 6th Edition, Edited ISBN: 978-1-119-53248-4 June 2022 by John Webster and Jean Margerison
10. Mendl M 2001 Animal husbandry: Assessing the welfare state Nature 410: 31-32.
11. Stereotypic Animal Behaviour. G.Mason, J. Rushen (Eds). 2nd edition: Fundamentals and Applications to Welfare, Wallingford, UK: CABI, 2006.
12. Rollin B. Animal welfare, science and value. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. Special Suppl. No. 2, p. 8-14
13. Webster J. Animal Welfare: A Cool Eye towards Eden. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 1995.
14. Veterinary & Animal ethics. Wathes C. M., Corr S. A., May S. A., McCulloch S. P., Whiting M. C. Wiley-Blckwell, 2013. 315 p.
15. World Organization of Animal Health 2008 Introduction to the recommendations for animal welfare, Article 7.1.1. Pages 235-236 in Terrestrial Animal Health Code 2008. World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), Paris, Francia.
16. Companion Animal Care and Welfare: The UFAW Companion Animal Handbook
James Yeates. IISBN: 978-1-118-68879-3
Jan 2019, Wiley-Blackwell, 504 p.

Further reading

1. Herlin A.H. Comparison of lying area surfaces for dairy cows by preference, hygiene, and lying down behaviour. Swedish Journal of Agricultural Research, No. 27, 1997, p. 189-196.
2. Konarska M., Stewart R. E., McCarthy R. Habituation of sympathetic-adrenal medullary responses following exposure to chronic intermittent stress. Physiology and Behavior, No. 45, 1989, p. 255-261.
3. Korte S.M., Olivier B., Koolhaas J.M. A new animal welfare concept based on allostasis. Physiology & Behavior, No. 92(3), 2007, p. 422-228
4. Mendl M, Zanella A.I., Broom D.M. Physiological and reproductive correlates of behavioural strategies in female domestic pigs. Animal Behaviour, No. 44, 1992, p. 1107-1121.
5. Mouttotou N., Hatchell F.M., Green L.E. Adventitious bursitis of the hock in finishing pigs: prevalence, distribution and association with floor type and foot lesions. Veterinary Record, No. 142, 1998, p. 109-114
6. Lawrence A.B., Petherick J.C. et al The effect of environment on behaviour, plasma cortisol and prolactin in parturient sows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, No. 39, 1994, p. 313-330.
7. Lane J. Can non-invasive glucocorticoid measures be used as reliable indicators of stress in animals? Animal Welfare, No. 15, 2006, p. 331-342.
8. Ley S.J., Waterman A.E., Livingston A. A field study of the effect of lameness on mechanical nociceptive thresholds in sheep. Veterinary Record, No. 137, 1995, p. 85-87.
9. Tucker C.B., Weary D.M. Stall design: enhancing cow comfort. Advances in Dairy Technology, No. 13, 2001, p. 154-167. Available from:
https://wcds.ualberta.ca/wcds/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/wcds_archive/Archive/2001/Manuscripts/Chapter%2013%20Weary.pdf
10. Zanella A.J., Broom D.M., Hunter J.C., Mendl M.T. Brain opioid receptors in relation to stereotypies, inactivity, and housing in sows. Physiology & Behavior, No.59, 1996, p. 769-775.

Periodicals and other sources

1. https://likumi.lv/
2. https://www.zm.gov.lv/veterinarija/#jump
3. https://www.pvd.gov.lv/en/partikas-un-veterinarais-dienests/statiskas-lapas/startpage?nid=2913#jump
4. http://www.oie.int/
5. http://www.efsa.europa.eu/
6. https://www.ufaw.org.uk/

Notes

Compulsory course of second cycle professional higher education study programme Veterinary medicine.