Using behaviour to assess animal welfare
Using behaviour to assess animal welfare
复制标题
利用行为评估动物福利
作者：
M. Dawkins
我认为，对动物福利的评估应该针对回答两个关键问题，而不是构建许多不同的福利指标清单，并给予每一个指标相同的权重：一）动物健康吗？2)他们得到他们想要的了吗？行为在回答这两个问题上起着重要作用。目前，行为通过用于疼痛、损伤和疾病的临床和临床前评估来帮助回答第一个问题，并且可能发挥更大的作用，特别是如果与新技术结合使用。行为在衡量动物需要什么方面也至关重要，最明显的是使用选择和偏好测试，但也通过其他特别适合农场福利评估的方法。这些包括对动物空间分布的定量观察和对动物想要什么的行为“指标”的定量观察，例如发声。
Rather than construct lists of many different welfare indicators and give each of them the same weight, I argue that the assessment of animal welfare should be directed at answering two key questions: I) Are the animals healthy? 2) Do they have what they want? Behaviour has a major role in answering both. Behaviour is currently used to help answer the first question through its use in the clinical and pre-clinical assessment of pain, injury and disease, and potentially could have an even greater role, particularly if used in conjunction with new technology. Behaviour is also of crucial importance in gauging what animals want, most obviously in the use of choice and preference tests, but also through other methods that are particularly suitable for on-farm welfare assessment. These include quantitative observations of the spatial distribution of animals and of behavioural ‘indicators’ of what animals want, such as vocalisations.