¶ … Welfare in Captive Wild Animals
The Holy Bible gets the relationship between humankind and wild animals out of the way early on in Genesis 1:26 when God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Humanity clearly took this divine gift seriously, and the relationship between humankind and wild animals has been largely one-sided since people climbed to the top of the food chain. Since the second half of the 20th century, though, there have been growing calls for improving the manner in which humans treat animals in general and wild animals maintained in captivity in particular. The recent closure of Ringling and Barnum and Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth" due to protests over the mistreatment of their elephants and the discontinuance of the use of killer whales in performances at Sea World are two recent high-profile examples of these trends. Nevertheless, captive breeding and species survival programs represent the last best chance for many endangered species today. Moreover, scientists continue to rely on knockout mice and rats and other species to evaluate the efficacy of new drugs, so it is clear that wild animals will continue to be kept in captivity for the foreseeable future. This outcome calls into question how best to assess the welfare of captive wild animals across various animal industries such as farming and laboratory settings, and an evaluation of the relevance of using these assessment methods for the welfare of wild animals maintained in zoological and pet contexts. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning the assessment of welfare in captive wild animals are provided in the conclusion.
Review and Analysis
Current available animal welfare assessment methods used across various animal industries
While it is not possible to fully comprehend how animals feel, they do engage in certain behaviors that can help assess their welfare (Sejian and Laktritz 2011). In this context, animal welfare is defined by the scientific community as "the ability of an animal to cope physiologically, behaviorally, cognitively and emotionally with its physiochemical and social life environment" (Seijan and Laktriz 2001, p. 301). Ethical considerations aside, given the economic importance of animals to human society, it is not surprising that there has been growing interest in identify optimal approaches to assessing their welfare.
Although there is no universally accepted method for assessing animal welfare using these behavioral and other clues, there are three general approaches that are used today as follows: 1) naturalistic; 2) functional; and 3) subjective (Sejian and Lakritz 2011). In addition, there are four indicators that reflect the welfare status of farm animals: 1) behavioral; 2) physical; 3) physiological; and 4) production oriented (Sejian and Lakritz 2011). At present, these three general approaches and four indicators are used in various ways by different producers (Sejian and Lakritz 2011).
Notwithstanding the lack of a universally accepted method, assessing the welfare of farm animals has become far more standardized in recent years and the so-called "five freedoms" are used to evaluate whether farm animals live in a stress-free environment as follows:
1. Freedom from hunger, thirst or malnutrition;
2. Freedom from thermal or physical distress;
By using animals in research, and through animal research science learns how certain chemicals "interact with living systems"; this knowledge can be "translated into protection of humans, animals, and the environment from toxic levels of natural -- as well as man-made -- exposures (SOT, 6). Legal and professional accountability In Canada there are Research Ethics Boards (REBs) that have the power to authorize or reject funding for experiments with animals; when
The well-being of an animal, preservation of species and biological diversity is always given first priority when it comes to deciding upon the appropriateness of research to be undertaken (Lin, 2013). It reaches a point in time when some animals have to be released to the wild from the zoos. This is normally conducted in accordance with IUCN/SSC/Reintroduction Specialist group guidelines. Before the animals are released to the wild, they
Animal Testing Negatives of Animal Testing Outweigh Its Positives and Therefore Should Not be Allowed Many cures and treatments have been developed in the last three hundred years due to advances in medical technology. These developments are sometimes attributed partly to the fact that scientists and researchers have been able to use animals as "guinea pigs" for testing new medications or treatment methods before passing them to human volunteers. There is strong
Animal Welfare Assurance Organizations Animal welfare: Assurance organizations Organization 1: Manes and Tails Mission (Hoboken, NJ) Manes and Tails Mission, located in Hoboken, NJ is a locally-based organization that oversees a variety of efforts to reduce cruelty against horses. Given the faltering economy, many horses have been abandoned and/or abused, as fewer and fewer people have the ability to care for their animals properly. Horses from the racetrack or who have been used
Based on these facts, the scientific community and animal welfare groups support animal experiments in medical research where it is found to be absolutely necessary. To counter the main argument in favor of animal experiments, animal rights groups contend that all sentient creatures are capable of feeling pain and, therefore, conducting experiments on animals is the moral equivalent to using brain damaged humans or infants before the age of reasoning
Animals in captivity, for example, have often been genetically, behaviorally or anatomically manipulated in order to enhance acclimation to the new environment. Similarly, animals have been neutered, declawed or defanged to be more compatible with their human keepers. Those who are in support of captivity of animals need to revisit such earlier condoned behavior and ensure that animals receive necessary care, nutrition and exercise and live in proper caging
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