Assessment of positive emotions in animals to improve their welfare.

The Study of Instinct

https://www.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/2008_syllabus/2008_readings/1_MorganTromborg2008.pdf

Sources of stress in captivity

Heart rate variability as a measure of autonomic regulation of cardiac activity for assessing stress and welfare in farm animals -- a review.

https://www.esf.edu/EFB/faculty/documents/Forkmanetal2007reviewoffeartestsinanimals_000.pdf

A critical review of fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry and horses

Heart rate and behavioural responses of dogs in the Ainsworth's Strange Situation: A pilot study

This study carried out a survey in an Italian shelter to analyze adoptions resulting in the rejection of the newly adopted dog. The results of this study show that the number of dogs adopted and returned was stable during the study, that more females than males were adopted, and that males were more likely to be returned. Almost all the dogs were returned because of behavioral problems, and most were more than 6 months of age. Some dogs were returned more than once, with 20% of the people who adopted the same dog at different times reporting the same behavioral problem. Having a house with a yard, a garden, or a terrace appeared to be important for better management of the dog and influenced the length of adoption. Half of the adopters had previous experience as caregiver for a dog; compared to adopters who had no previous experience, however, they returned their companion animal after a shorter period and because of behavioral reasons. Understanding why adopters return their dogs to shelters is an important step toward attempting to minimize relinquishments and, thus, optimize adoptions.

The Bond That Never Developed: Adoption and Relinquishment of Dogs in a Rescue Shelter

The aim of this paper is to present a review of the current scientific viewpoints about the concept and definition of animal welfare. The need of interaction among different disciplines is stressed, as well as the need to scientifically assess welfare, using validated indicators. The role of applied ethology in animal welfare science is stressed. The paper provides a brief overview of the historical steps in the development of the concept and presents scientific viewpoints, briefly explaining their theoretical foundation. The possibility of defining welfare on a scientific basis is explained, identifying the main problems according to the scientific, cultural and social background. Another aspect considered is the relationship between welfare and ethics, evidencing the meaning of such an interaction and its possible evolution.

/pdf/animal-welfare-review-of-the-scientific-concept-and-3b6r1xnv4j.pdf

Animal welfare: review of the scientific concept and definition

Effects of husbandry and management systems on physiology and behaviour of farmed and laboratory rabbits

Competition between male fallow deer (Dama dama), during the breeding season was studied to determine if conflict strategies were consistent with the reduction of risk. Agonistic interactions between males were analysed in relation to age, dominance rank and availability of mating opportunities. The breeding season was divided into two main periods: the pre-rut began when all males had cleaned the velvet from their antlers and ended on the last day before matings were first observed, while the rut refers to the period between the first and last matings. Overall, socially mature males (≥4yr old) were involved in more interactions than immature (≤3yr old) males. Males established dominance rank largely by non-contact agonistic interactions during the pre-rut and there was substantial carry-over of rank to the rut, when it was correlated with mating success. The mating success of males was skewed; mature males achieved 99.4% of the matings and immature males accounted for 0.6%. A mature male was 13 times more likely to fight than an immature male; the mature males that fought most often did so between 0.4 and 0.5 times per hour. During the rut, the number of fights was positively correlated across days with the number of matings. The majority of agonistic interactions (79%) comprising dyads of immature males, involved antler contact. In contrast, mature males engaged antlers in only 42% of their interactions. Fights between mature males lasted more than twice as long as those between immature males and were more likely to occur between opponents with similar dominance ranks. However, towards the end of the rut formerly mismatched opponents were more likely to fight. Thus males operated conditional competitive strategies to decide when to interact and fight. The persistence of rank order from the pre-rut period to the rut and the tendency for mature males to resolve disputes without antler contact, served to reduce the frequency of fights and therefore the risk of serious injury.

Marina Verga

Papers

Heart rate and behavioural responses of dogs in the Ainsworth's Strange Situation: A pilot study

The Bond That Never Developed: Adoption and Relinquishment of Dogs in a Rescue Shelter

Animal welfare: review of the scientific concept and definition

Effects of husbandry and management systems on physiology and behaviour of farmed and laboratory rabbits

Fighting Tactics of Fallow Bucks (Dama dama, Cervidae): Reducing the Risks of Serious Conflict