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Several indicators of animal welfare were measured to determine the impact of relocation on lactating dairy cows. In experiment one, locomotion was scored on a 4-point scale where 1 = normal and 4 = lame. Cleanliness was scored on a 4-point scale where 1 = little or no manure visible and 4 = heavy plaques of manure on 3 body regions: udder, lower leg, and flank/upper leg. In experiment two, milking parlor behaviors observed were cow reactivity (REACT), latency to enter the parlor (LAT), and plasma cortisol (CORT). REACT was evaluated on a numeric scale (0 = ideal milker to 3 = steps and kicks frequently) to define behavior during udder preparation, claw fitting, and milking. LAT was the time necessary for each cow to enter the milking parlor. In these studies, the effects of treatment or breed on MY, lameness, parlor behaviors, stress, and cow cleanliness were monitored. In experiment one, cows with access to a rubber mat in front of the feed bunk had lower locomotion scores and cleaner lower legs. There were no breed effects on locomotion, but Jerseys had cleaner lower legs than Holsteins. The effect of the new facility on locomotion occurred gradually. Cows with higher locomotion scores had decreased milk production, but the results were not significant. In experiment two, relocation caused an increase in plasma cortisol and LAT. Milk yield decreased the p.m. on the day of relocation, but overall milk yield was not affected. Jerseys had lower plasma cortisol levels and latency to enter the parlor, but had a greater decline in p.m. milk yield the day of relocation. In conclusion, alternative flooring may alleviate some locomotion problems caused by relocation to a new facility. Additionally, moving to a new facility may have an effect on behavior and stress, but these effects are short-lived and effects on overall milk production minimal. / Master of Science

Is personality important for understanding the variation we see in animal welfare? In this thesis, I address that question by studying the association between personality and health, welfare, and happiness in three species of nonhuman primate: rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), brown capuchins (Sapajus apella), and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). As part of this research I test a newly designed animal welfare questionnaire. In Chapter 1 I review how animal welfare questionnaires can be designed and implemented as an addition tool for assessing animal welfare. In Chapter 2 I present a study of rhesus macaque personality, dominance, behaviour, and health. In Chapter 3 I test the reliability and validity of my animal welfare questionnaire. In Chapter 4 I extended my work on welfare questionnaires to test if they are valid for assessment of chimpanzee welfare and associated with personality. I specifically test if welfare ratings are based on observed behaviour. I conclude my quantitative work in Chapter 5 with a study testing the association between personality and health, welfare, and subjective well-being in rhesus macaques. Finally, Chapter 6 includes my conclusions and future directions for this line of research. Across all four quantitative studies some common trends were found. First, personality is associated with overall welfare and health. Second, welfare questionnaires are reliable and valid way to assess welfare in the studied species. And third, welfare and subjective well-being are measuring the same construct in these species. Overall, I conclude that personality is clearly useful for understanding animal welfare and that questionnaires are a reliable, valid, and valuable method of animal welfare assessment, in additional to traditional methods.

There is evidence that the presence of the visiting public affects the behaviour of zoo-housed mammals. Understanding the effect of visitors is important in improving animal welfare, achieving zoo conservation goals, increasing visitor education/entertainment, and facilitating interpretation of data on zoo animal biology. A series of studies and experiments focusing on the effect of zoo visitors on captive mammal behaviour is presented. The influence of visitor density on a range of primates and large carnivores is examined. Methodological concerns regarding the operational definition of visitor density in the literature are expressed and a clarification of terms which may be helpful when comparing previous research is provided. Visitor noise data, using an objective measure of the variable, and its relationship to visitor density are also presented. External and internal visual barriers between visitors and zoo animals were hypothesised to moderate the visitor effect and enrich the environment of the study groups. Camouflage nets mounted on the outside of enclosure viewing windows had little impact on primate or felid behaviour, with the exception of the Sumatran orangutan group, who showed a trend toward decreased social play in the presence of the external barrier. Polar bear behaviour showed evidence of an enriched environment, with trends toward increased levels of swimming and decreased levels of resting. An internal visual barrier, which prevented visitors from having visual contact with the golden lion tamarins when the nonhuman primates were behind it, was also tested and elicited more extensive trends toward behavioural change than did the nets. Both Sumatran orangutans and zoo visitors were provided with a similar puzzle feeder in an effort to enrich the orangutan enclosure, and improve the visitor experience. It was hypothesised that the orangutans might be stimulated by watching visitors manipulate the device, but this did not occur. Orangutan use of the puzzle feeder within their enclosure was also unaffected. Olfactory stimuli were introduced into primate and felid enclosures and visitor viewing areas to investigate the role olfaction may play in the visitor effect. Although olfactory stimuli had an extensive significant effect on the behaviour of the study groups when it was introduced into the enclosure, there was little change when visitors were associated with the olfactory stimuli which suggest there may not be an olfactory visitor effect in primates or felids. The effect of visitors on petting zoo-housed mixed-breed goats, llama, and Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs was studied and compared to their behaviour without the presence of visitors. The goats were unaffected and the llama showed only a trend toward decreased levels of sitting in the presence of visitors. The Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs were significantly affected by the presence of visitors, exhibiting decreased inactivity and social behaviour. The hypothesis that a sustained absence of visitors would result in a more intense visitor effect was tested and was not supported by the data. An additional experiment investigating the effect of visitor grooming on the petting zoo study species showed that, while visitors spent more time interacting with the animals in the grooming condition, xiv the behaviour of the study animals indicated that they did not find visitor grooming rewarding. Data on the interaction between visitor density and the various experimental techniques tested here indicate that visitor density may impact animal response to environmental enrichment, supporting previous findings in the literature. In the presence of visual barriers, foraging devices, and olfactory stimuli, the relationship between animal behaviour and visitor density changed significantly, both qualitatively and quantitatively. These results suggest that collecting visitor density data when testing environmental enrichment techniques could be helpful when assessing their effectiveness, ultimately improving the welfare of zoo-housed mammals. Based on the data presented here, in conjunction with the literature, a closing discussion outlines proposed refinements to the visitor effect research guidelines published by the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (2005).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-93). / vii, 93 leaves, bound 29 cm

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Even though animal welfare inspectors are the ones who practice the animal welfare legislation, their opinions about the legislation have hardly been studied, neither in Sweden nor any other country. The purpose of this report was to study what animal welfare inspectors think about the Swedish animal welfare legislation and whether they feel they have any possibility to influence the legislation. The animal welfare inspectors were given the opportunity to respond to an online survey in the spring of 2021. The survey included both closed questions, from which descriptive data were presented, and open questions, which were examined semi-qualitatively by first categorizing them based on animal species and then presenting descriptive data. The results showed that the inspectors did not find it easy to interpret the legislation and that there were rules that were perceived as complicated, especially regarding horses and dogs, and flexible rules. About 50% of the animal welfare inspectors thought there were rules that did not benefit the animals, especially regarding cattle and generally the welfare standard of the rules was too low. Only a few felt that they could influence the legislation, and this was mainly through referrals. The conclusion was that the answers of the animal welfare inspectors were so scattered that a specific problem area could not be identified, but it could be stated that the inspectors found the legislation difficult to interpret, to contain rules that do not benefit the animals and that they cannot influence it.

<p>Much of the demand for purebred dogs in the USA is met by commercial breeding kennels (CBKs). In CBKs, adult dogs have been reported to exhibit signs of fear towards strangers. Social fear is a particular welfare concern as it may lead to acute and chronic stress in the kennel, and later, after dogs are retired and rehomed. Studies on pet and shelter dogs have shown that the type of attachment style dogs have with their caretakers is associated with their social behavior towards strangers. Thus, the aims of this study were to characterize the attachment styles of dogs from CBKs to their caretakers, and investigate relationships between the types of attachment styles observed and social fear behaviors in this population of dogs. Forty-eight adult dogs were tested from three CBKs in Indiana, USA. Each dog was subjected to a standard battery of tests, including a Secure Base test to classify attachment styles, a Stranger Arena test to measure the duration and frequency of key social behaviors toward a stranger, and a Paired-Effect test to measure the duration and frequency of social behaviors towards a stranger in the presence of a caretaker. Twenty (41.67%) dogs were classified as secure, 16 (33.33%) as insecure ambivalent, 9 (18.75%) as insecure avoidant, and 3 (6.25%) as insecure disorganized. ANOVA tests showed that secure and ambivalent dogs approached the stranger more frequently (F2,45 = 11.865, <em>p </em>< 0.001), spent more time in close proximity (F2,45 = 15.968, <em>p </em>< 0.001), and solicited contact more frequently (F2,45 = 4.58, <em>p </em>= 0.023) from them than did avoidant dogs. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tests showed that secure, ambivalent, and avoidant dogs all initially approached the stranger more quickly in the paired-effect test than in the stranger arena test (<em>p </em>< 0.05). Secure and ambivalent dogs also spent more time in proximity to (<em>p </em>< 0.001) and solicited more contact from (<em>p </em>< 0.01) the stranger in the paired-effect test than in the stranger arena test. These results suggest that there is an association between type of attachment style and fear behaviors towards a stranger in this sample of dogs. Understanding connections between attachment style and social fear, and their implications for stress and welfare in dogs from CBKs may help inform breeders’ selection criteria and breeding decisions. It may also inform breeders’ socialization, social interactions, and related management practices, which in turn may help to reduce dogs’ social fear and enhance their long- term welfare outcomes in the kennel. This understanding may also aid rehoming efforts. With this increased understanding, breeders could inform new owners about behaviors they can expect from their dogs which may help avoid a potential mismatch in expectations. This in turn may help keep dogs in their homes and improve their welfare in the long-term. </p>

<p dir="ltr">In the US, dogs are considered members of the family by many people. Dogs may be obtained from multiple sources, but many in the US originate from commercial breeding kennels (CBKs). Prioritizing adult dogs’ welfare while they are housed in these kennels is essential for their well-being not only while residing there, but throughout the rest of their lives in new environments for those who are rehomed after their breeding careers end. However, the research conducted in this population is scarce. Therefore, evaluating dogs’ overall welfare states and factors that may affect them in this population is crucial.</p><p dir="ltr">Maternal factors are one of many that may affect puppies’ welfare states. This topic has never been directly explored in US CBKs and has been understudied in all domestic dogs. Therefore, this dissertation sought to explore associations between maternal factors and puppy welfare indicators, and related topics.</p><p dir="ltr">Chapter 2 aimed to explore changes in indicators of dams’ welfare states (<i>n</i>= 74), such as behavioral responses to a mild stressor and stress-related physiology, throughout the peri-parturient period in 8 CBKs. The changes observed were most likely due to natural biological changes associated with the peri-parturient period, and no worrisome indicators of welfare were detected. Additionally, Chapter 3 sought to investigate the relationship between dams’ levels of fear and stress (<i>n</i>= 90), as indicated by behavior and stress-related physiology, and metrics indicative of their puppies’ welfare states (<i>n</i>= 390), such as behavior, stress-related physiology, and physical health, in 12 CBKs. Findings suggest some associations between dams’ fear and stress and their puppies’ behavioral responses to isolation, physiology, and physical health. To further explore these associations, Chapter 4 examined the relationships between dams’ (<i>n</i>= 79) and puppies’ (<i>n</i>= 291) behavioral responses to novel social and non-social stimuli in 11 CBKs. No significant associations between dams’ and puppies’ responses were discovered, and possible reasons such as kennel management practices, puppies’ mobility and hazard avoidance, and differences between dams’ and puppies’ early life experiences were discussed. Finally, as the type and level of maternal care dams provide may be indicative of their welfare and may also be related to puppy welfare, Chapter 5 aimed to characterize maternal behaviors in a CBK (<i>n</i>= 12) and working dog population focused on detection work (<i>n</i>= 8). This study uncovered common maternal behaviors in each population, such as nursing and licking puppies. It also revealed that the behaviors observed were consistent with those reported for other dog populations, and found that factors such as day, time of day, litter size, and whelping type may influence their expression.</p><p dir="ltr">Overall, results from these studies suggest that there were no worrisome changes in dams’ welfare states throughout the peri-parturient period. Additionally, dams’ levels of fear and stress may affect potential indicators of their puppies’ welfare states, such as stress-related physiology, behavioral responses to stressors, and physical health. Findings highlight the importance of closely monitoring dams throughout the peri-parturient period for consistent displays of fear and stress, and abnormal behaviors. Doing so may not only affect dams’ welfare but that of their puppies as well. Further, the characterization and exploration of factors that may affect maternal care in various populations provides the basis for future work to explore maternal care as a mechanism behind the significant associations between dam and puppy welfare. The results also provide a foundation for breeders and caretakers to monitor maternal care, and make breeding selection and management interventions as needed to best support dam and puppy welfare. Altogether, findings from this research may have salient implications for dam’s welfare states throughout the peri-parturient period, and puppies’ welfare states while housed with their dams and into adulthood.</p>

This Minor Field Study, sponsored by SIDA, undertaken as a Bachelor´s Thesis investigates equestrian tourism in Trinidad, Cuba. Tourism has become a vital tool for development of the destination. Since the legalization of equestrian excursion, horses have become a link between less developed areas and the profit from tourism. The income from equestrian excursions is vital for people's livelihood. A rapid increase of excursions due to low entry barriers have led to varying quality. Equestrian excursions in Trinidad face challenges concerning horses’ welfare and safety. When the equestrian tourism is growing, it is crucial that the development is sustainable to ensure this vital income in the future. A number of critical factors were identified and solutions presented involve planning for carrying capacity, industry coordination, raising producer awareness and integrating animal welfare in the community.