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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.
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.
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.
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.
The mouse is the most important laboratory animal used worldwide in biomedical research and for regulatory testing of products. Research at the University of Liverpool by Prof Hurst has led to a change in the methods universally recommended for routine handling of mice to minimize a well- recognized problem that handling can create high anxiety, stress and a risk of animals biting the handler. This has impacts for animal welfare, for practitioners, and for reliability in a broad range of research and testing using mice (e.g. in the pharmaceuticals industry) where responses can be confounded by uncontrolled anxiety responses. Mouse handling guidelines have been changed and are being implemented in animal research facilities.
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.
Impact: Policy, Animal Health and Welfare: Improved sow and piglet welfare and recommendations and codes of practice for farrowing and lactation systems that better meet sow and piglet needs.
Significance: Farrowing crates restrict sow movements interfering with natural sow behaviour and increasing psychological distress. Used predominantly to protect piglets, SRUC research demonstrated that piglet survival improved in loose-housed environments, undermining crate use.
Beneficiaries: Farmers, sows and piglets, the general public
Attribution: Drs Baxter and Jarvis, Professors Lawrence and Roehe (SRUC). Research collaboration was with Prof Sandra Edwards, University of Newcastle.
Reach: International legislative bans on farrowing crates; voluntary industry uptake of non-crate systems; EU recommendations/legislation on housing at farrowing, guidelines for keeping pigs (e.g. RSPCA Freedom Food).
Veterinarians have long recognised health problems associated with in-breeding and extreme conformation in various pedigree dogs. However, the `Pedigree Dogs Exposed' documentary in 2008, which particularly featured the plight of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCS), and resultant independent inquiry reports, to which RVC contributed, brought the extent and severity of the issue into the public eye. RVC's ongoing programme of research linked to interaction with stakeholders has contributed to the changes in breed standards instituted by the Kennel Club (KC); understanding of underlying principles governing the relationship between structure and function and affecting desired traits; developing tools to address conformation-related health problems; and driving changes in breeding practice leading to healthier dogs.
Professor Marian Dawkins' research at the University of Oxford has established rigorous metrics of welfare for commercially-reared chickens and ducks, that have had a major impact on policy and practice. Her findings in relation to stocking densities for broiler chickens influenced the 2007 EU Broiler Directive; this was adopted by the UK in 2010, and has had a major impact on the industry. For ducks, research examined the provision of water, for which there were contradictory indications with respect to welfare and bacterial infections, and identified solutions for both. Since 2010 this has been incorporated into duck welfare programmes in which both Defra and industry participate.