Ethical considerations and animal welfare in ecological field studies

This paper addresses some of the ethical and welfare considerations implicit in the application of general techniques in common use during the course of collecting data in ecological field work. Even if they are not explicitly constructed as manipulative experiments, many field studies involve some degree of intervention during routine monitoring programmes: through disturbance caused merely by the presence of an observer or where specific sampling techniques themselves involve capture, handling and marking. Such interventive techniques may cause discomfort, distress or loss of fitness, even in the extreme may result in incidental mortality — and the ethical scientist should critically evaluate the implications of each methodology before adopting any procedure. The paper reviews by way of example the types of objective information now available for both small and larger mammals in relation to: (i) distress and mortality during capture operations; (ii) mortality or distress caused at the time by marking; (iii) longer-term consequences of handling and marking in terms of subsequent [delayed] mortality or loss of fitness, before considering a formal framework for assessment of costs and benefits of any given field programme.     

国内外高校动物福利教育发展历史与前景展望

自20世纪80年代动物福利作为一个严谨的科学分支被人们接受以来,动物福利学科得到了迅猛发展,相关概念在科学研究结果的支持下被更精确地定义,评价动物所处福利水平的体系也逐步被建立起来.伴随着动物福利科学的发展,动物福利教育也逐步被纳入高等教育的课程体系.综述了国内外高等院校特别是高校的动物医学学院近30年间的动物福利教育进程,并以英国、美国、澳大利亚等国的动物福利教育为例说明国际动物福利教育的发展现状与趋势,结合中国现状,思考中国与国际动物福利教育之间存在的差异.随着动物福利相关科学、伦理学以及法学研究的深入,社会对动物福利的关注将会日益加深,相信至少对准动物医生普及动物福利教育必将成为发展的趋势.     

我国实验动物科学带来的动物伦理及福利问题

实验动物是在一定条件下人工饲养繁殖,具有特定的生物学特性,用于科学研究的动物。实验动物是生命科学研究不可缺少的支撑条件,是为人类的健康和发展作出贡献和牺牲的生命体。实验动物科学包括实验动物和动物实验两个方面,是生命科学的重要分支。随着人类社会、经济和文化的发展,动物福利和动物伦理问题已经全面渗透到了实验动物科学乃至生命科学的各个领域之中。在我国,实验动物科学带来的伦理问题主要表现为：缺乏相应的法律法规,对虐杀实验动物的现象缺乏管理,违背实验动物伦理的技术操作现象依然存在,动物保护主义者和实验动物科学工作者之间的矛盾,等等。动物伦理学在中国出现的社会原因是：改革开放后经济的快速发展促使人们的观念转变,与国际的交往促进了东西方文化的交融,同时也是近十几年来教育的结果。近年来,我国实验动物科学领域内关于伦理问题和动物福利的研究进展迅速,实验动物纪念碑的出现和＂3R＂研究概念的传入是其主要表现。改善实验动物的生活条件,杜绝虐杀实验动物的现象,规范动物实验的技术操作,尽快制定和完善相关的法律法规,是进一步努力的目标;而落实组织措施,成立动物伦理委员会及专家组,加强与国际上的交流,推动＂3R＂研究的进展,扩大对社会的宣传,支持爱护动物的行为,注重与动物保护组织的理解及沟通等,是为达到这一目标应采取的措施。     

实验动物的环境与福利

实验动物在生物科学研究领域中的应用不断发展,其饲养环境和福利保障的问题已越来越被国际所关注。实验动物的环境与福利不仅是对动物本身的保护,更重要的是对动物试验结果的保证。本文详细论述了大环境（温度、湿度、气流等方面）及小环境（笼具、饲养密度、垫料）对实验动物福利的影响,通过总结国内外的研究概况,旨为我国改善和提高实验动物的福利提出一些思路。     

实验动物福利与人的保护

实验动物学是一门研究实验动物和动物实验的综合性学科。是生命科学研究的基础和支撑条件。随着社会经济的长足发展和生命科学研究的突飞猛进,国际交流与合作的不断加强,实验动物福利倍受人们的关注。进入21世纪后国际上又对从事实验动物饲养管理和动物实验的工作人员的防护问题提出了新的要求,这就要我们必须考虑到人与实验动物如何和谐相处,促进科学发展。既要做到加强动物福利,又要注意人的保护,找到二者之间的平衡点,加快实验动物科学的发展。     

Animal Hoarding in Victoria,Australia: An Exploratory Study

Animal hoarding not only presents significant welfare issues for the animals involved, but also for the hoarders and people in the surrounding community. Existing studies on the issue have primarily been undertaken in the USA and little is known about animal hoarding in other countries, including Australia. It has been estimated that the per-capita prevalence of animal hoarding in Victoria, Australia, is similar to that in the USA, but in order to design effective intervention strategies, the extent of the issue and its characteristics need to be identified. This study analyzes data from 22 recent cases of animal hoarding from a number of agencies in Victoria. The demographics and living conditions of animal hoarders in Victoria and the USA were found to be similar. In contrast, the animals involved in hoarding cases in Victoria were in a better condition than the animals in the USA, with behavioral issues being the leading animal welfare concern in Australia. Behavioral problems resulted in euthanasia of the animals in 45% of the cases studied. All of the agencies included in this study call for a greater involvement or support from human mental health services to fully address the root of the problem. The information from this study can be used to help identify groups at risk to develop effective and appropriate means of prevention of, and intervention in, animal hoarding cases.     

Animal reuse: balancing scientific integrity and animal welfare

Research scientists and IACUC members are faced with the difficult task of balancing the necessity of using animals for experimental research and their mandate to protect the welfare of those animals used in that research. One way to reduce the number of research animals would be to reuse them, but the regulations do not specifically address this topic. To learn more about the reuse of research animals, the authors conducted an online survey of animal facilities involved in preclinical studies. Their results suggest that animal reuse is a common practice in the field.     

动物福利在研究生实验动物学教学中的应用初探

在医学研究中,实验动物具有不可替代的地位和作用,越来越多的人开始关心动物福利。各医学院校是培养未来科研工作者的机构,实验动物在医学院校的使用量非常大,因此,在课堂教学中,培养医学生树立保护动物福利的观念具有重要意义。本文从课堂教育、实验动物处理、3R原则的实施等方面探讨了如何在教学过程中开展动物福利教育。     

Pond Use by Captive African Penguins (Spheniscus demersus) in an Immersive Exhibit Adjacent to Human Bathers

Nonhuman animals in zoos are exposed to a continuous human presence, which affects their behaviors and welfare. However, little is known about what role the “visitor effect” has on penguins in captivity. The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is an endangered species commonly housed in zoos worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the abundance of human bathers could reduce the average time spent in the water of a colony of African penguins housed in an exhibit where their pond habitat was adjacent to a swimming pool. Observations were carried out on 7 penguins in the summer of 2009. Data were collected during 3 time periods (Time 1 [T1] = opening of the swimming season, Time 2 [T2] = core of the season, Time 3 [T3] = late season) of 14 days each. The human disturbance caused by bathers strongly reduced the pond use by penguins at T1 and T2, especially when there were large numbers of visitors. However, at T3, we observed that the overall use of the pond by penguins increased, and the average duration of their diving was no longer dependent on the number of visitors.     

Sensitivity to reward loss as an indicator of animal emotion and welfare

The scientific study of animal emotion is an important emerging discipline in subjects ranging from neuroscience to animal welfare research. In the absence of direct measures of conscious emotion, indirect behavioural and physiological measures are used. However, these may have significant limitations (e.g. indicating emotional arousal but not valence (positivity versus negativity)). A new approach, taking its impetus from human studies, proposes that biases in information processing, and underlying mechanisms relating to the evaluation of reward gains and losses, may reliably reflect emotional valence in animals. In general, people are more sensitive to reward losses than gains, but people in a negative affective state (e.g. depression) are particularly sensitive to losses. This may underlie broader findings such as an enhanced attention to, and memory of, negative events in depressed individuals. Here we show that rats in unenriched housing, who typically exhibit indicators of poorer welfare and a more negative affective state than those in enriched housing, display a prolonged response to a decrease in anticipated food reward, indicating enhanced sensitivity to reward loss. Sensitivity to reward reduction may thus be a valuable new indicator of animal emotion and welfare.     

Using Role Play to Debate Animal Testing

The use of animals in biomedical research is a socio-scientific issue in which decision-making is complicated. In this article, we describe an experience involving a role play activity performed during school visits to the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) to debate animal testing. Role playing games require students to defend different positions and permit participants to debate and reflect on their personal opinions. A total of 262 students from 15- to 30-years-old participated in the activity. The article presents an analysis of the students’ opinions on this topic before and after performing the activity. Our results show that students actively took part in debate and made use of the new information provided by the game, especially the legal aspects. In conclusion, the role play activity helped participants to create a more informed opinion, stimulated critical thinking and argumentation skills. We encourage science teachers to use role playing games to discuss socio-scientific issues.     

药物安全性评价中的实验动物福利

开展实验动物福利工作不论对于实验动物自身,还是科学研究都具有重要意义。本文对实践中如何开展实验动物福利工作,以及其中存在的问题进行了初步探讨。