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The use and treatment of animals in the provision of our food, clothing and other raw materials, as well as in the areas of medical research, sport and entertainment, polarises public opinion and provokes extreme views. Research by Professor Robert Garner on the ethics and politics of animal protection has provided a springboard for political debate and decision making both in the UK and internationally. In particular, Garner's work has impacted upon the debate within the animal protection movement, and has helped to shape aspects of government policy on animal welfare issues in general, most notably on the UK Government's approach to the issue of whaling, and DEFRA's approach to the ethics of using wild animals in circuses.
Impact: Policy / animal welfare / economic. European Directives on Animal Welfare have been changed to improve animal comfort during transport. Our research has provided a basis for establishing comfort/discomfort at an objective, physiological level through response modelling and the quantitative assessment of the effects of thermal conditions. The definition of optimum transport environments has underpinned improved transport vehicle design and operation and formed the basis of the development of regulations for improved animal welfare.
Significance: ~60 billion animals are transported world-wide each year.
Beneficiaries: EU policy makers (leading to revised Directives), UK Government departments (especially Defra), and animals during transport.
Attribution: Prof. Mitchell (SRUC).
Reach: All EU Member States, Canada, and the US.
Thousands of animals are housed in captive conditions worldwide, often to the detriment of their mental well-being. Scientists at Queen's Animal Behaviour Centre have spent the last 20 years developing new ways of improving the psychological welfare of animals housed in captivity. Their research has shown that classical music and scents such as lavender in dog shelters calms the animals, and that shielding zoo-housed gorillas from visitors with camouflage netting over the viewing windows, prevents great apes from becoming agitated. The impact of this research extends to guidelines and regulations set by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Australian Government's National Health and Medical Research Council. Commercial impact includes CDs of music composed specifically for dogs, now widely available to buy on the open market, and being utilised in 1700+ rescue shelters and by over 150,000 pet owners around the globe.
Research undertaken at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) studied habitat enrichment in captive coyotes (with the National Wildlife Research Center in Utah), and herd composition of donkeys, horses and mules (with the Donkey Sanctuary). These studies observed social and environmental interactions, addressing important welfare indicators in gregarious species. The work identified welfare issues in both sites and provided the necessary evidence to allow improvements to be made.
Specifically, this research has:
1) led to changes in the husbandry practice and policy in both partner institutions that have improved animal welfare;
2) improved how the Donkey Sanctuary trains international partners and undertakes welfare education.
Professor Hutchinson's team has pursued research into movement of large land animals, and how they have evolved under biomechanical constraints, such as gravity, which dominate their lifestyles. Their findings relating to elephants and to dinosaurs, applying physics, maths and computer science to study the natural world, have captured the public's imagination through a variety of engagement activities. The work has contributed to several major documentaries and interactive museum exhibits, (with Professor Hutchinson consulting), as well as featuring in a substantial number of print and online news stories. The research has had practical applications in foot health and welfare of elephants in captivity and, through examining constraints of growth on anatomy, has also led to applications in health of broiler chickens.
This case study details the impact of Marvin's ethnographic anthropological research into human-animal relations, which places animals in cultural and historical context. This work has been foundational for the establishment of the new field of human-animal studies and has led to impact in three distinct areas. Through publications and direct public engagement, this work has had an impact on public understanding of the wolf, and on a body working for its conservation. The process of research and subsequent dissemination of publications on foxhunting has provoked debate and influenced the understanding of foxhunting groups. Finally, through a collaborative approach, research on the public exhibition of animals by taxidermists and in zoos has enhanced the preservation and creative presentation of cultural heritage.
A device that can be carried by animals for remote sensing was conceived by Professor Wilson at Swansea University in 2005, to enable the tracking of animal movements, energy expenditure and behaviour, and the physical characteristics of their environment. This device has been key to a marked impact on public interest and engagement with a particular area of science; the great migrations of animals. This has been achieved by wide dissemination of findings obtained using the tag, through a range of media platforms; in particular, a seven-part television series enabled by Professor Wilson's device that was accessible to 330 million people in 166 countries. The television series has received much attention from both the press and public, and has influenced the creation of educational online resources and books, and an enhancement of curriculum materials in schools. Furthermore, there have been extensive sales of products associated with the television series, and sales of the remote-sensing tag itself.
Research carried out by Professor Donald Broom at the Centre for Animal Welfare and Anthrozoology at the University of Cambridge has had a significant impact on the policy and practice surrounding farm animal welfare in the UK and beyond. Work on sow housing, calf housing, laying-hen housing, farm animal transport and other scientific work on animal welfare has led to legislation, binding codes of practice and changes in animal production and management methods in the United Kingdom and other European Union countries and many other countries around the world. In the EU, each year this affects 16 million sows, 6.5 million calves, 320 million hens and 6 billion animals that are being transported.
The UK fishing industry for Nephrops norvegius (Norway lobster or Scottish langoustine) is estimated to be worth £100 million annually. Caught animals are either maintained for live transport to Europe or frozen for use in food products; however, survival rates and meat quality were poor, respectively. University of Glasgow research has provided key insights into the basic biology and survival of Nephrops after capture and driven pioneering reform of the codes of practice of two major UK seafood companies. This reform has directly resulted in improved yields and quality, and led to a Scottish fishery being the first in the UK to be granted an internationally recognised sustainability accreditation.
In 2009 Tim Bussey and Lisa Saksida commercialised novel apparatus and control software for computer-automated behavioural testing of rats and mice, reducing the time and user-hours required to generate data; and yielding improved performance levels and opportunities for translation whilst also reducing variability. The apparatus is sold with a battery of purpose-designed cognitive tests that parallel those used to assess cognition in patients (e.g., CANTAB). This has had impact as follows: (1) sales: over 400 units; (2) preclinical research: because of its potential for translation of the tasks, the apparatus is influencing how pharmaceutical companies conduct CNS research; (3) spinoff industry: contract research organisations now include touchscreen-based cognitive assays in their services.