Panel Discussion Three: Addressing Animal Welfare in Emergency Response Planning Suzanne T. Millman a , Tina M. Widowski b & Elizabeth Stone c a Department of Population Medicine , University of Guelph , Ontario, Canada b Department of Animal & Poultry Science , University of Guelph , Ontario, Canada c Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph , Ontario, Canada Published online: 06 Jun 2...

Globalisation is becoming a force that is revolutionising international trade, particularly that of animals and animal products. There is increasing interest in animal welfare worldwide, and as part of its 2001-2005 Strategic Plan the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) identified the development of international standards on animal welfare as a priority. The OIE's scientific approach to...

Animal welfare is a factor which affects public acceptability of animal usage systems and hence sustainability. The concepts of welfare, need, stress, health, pain, emotion and feeling are defined and the relationships amongst these are discussed. The scientific assessment of animal welfare, including animal health, has developed rapidly in recent years and the sophistication of this will impro...

The views that food companies hold about their responsibilities for animal welfare can strongly influence the lives and welfare of farm animals. If a company's commitment is translated into action, it can be a major driver of animal welfare. The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) is an annual evaluation of farm animal welfare-related practices, reporting and performance of food c...

Animal welfare concerns are having dramatic impacts on food and livestock markets. Here we examine consumer preferences for pork products with a focus on use of gestation crates. We examine underlying consumer valuations of pork attributes while considering preference heterogeneity as well as voluntary and legislative alternatives in producing gestation crate-free pork. Our results suggest that...

As welfare is a multidimensional concept, its assessment should be a multidisciplinary process, providing a comprehensive assessment of animal welfare in any given system. The different measurable aspects of welfare may be turned into welfare indicators and assessed in a scientific manner. Assessment of welfare may combine different approaches that include the assessment of the production syste...

Recent revisions to international legislation and guidelines on the care and use of animals in research and testing emphasise the importance of minimising suffering and improving welfare. Achieving this requires effective systems for recognising, recording, analysing and assessing animal behaviour, in order to identify relevant indicators of pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm so that any...

For both scientific and animal welfare reasons, training in basic surgical concepts and techniques should be undertaken before ever seeking to perform surgery on a rodent. Students, post-doctoral scholars, and others interested in performing surgery on rodents as part of a research protocol may not have had formal surgical training as part of their required coursework. Surgery itself is a techn...

The European Commission is planning to put forward drafts for a new chemicals legislation by June 2002. In fulfillment of an Environmental Council Conclusion, Working Groups have been set up for consultation during the ongoing preparatory stage. There, members of the General Directorates Environment and Enterprise discuss relevant topics with representatives from authorities, industry, environm...

At the turn of the century, the Members of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) decided to include animal welfare in the OIE Strategic Plan for the period 2001 to 2005. This decision reflected the ever-increasing public, media, scientific and political interest in the subject over the previous 50 or so years. Global conferences on animal welfare, held in Paris (2004), Cairo (2008) and...