Keywords: Consciousness

Aquaculture Certification Schemes Benchmark: Aquatic Animal Welfare - Edition 2

Aquatic Life Institute

Published in 2023

Second edition of a reference tool for welfare-based certification of aquaculture facilities. It analyzes current welfare requirements as part of the basic farming standards of seven international seafood certification programs.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories: Fish

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Consciousness, Enrichment, Housing, Living environment, Pain, Welfare indicators, Stress

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Review: Towards an integrated concept of animal welfare

I. Reimert, L.E. Webb, M.A. van Marwijk, J.E. Bolhuis

Published in 2023

Scientific review setting out the history of the scientific study of animal welfare, and proposing that scientists in this field should specify the definition of animal welfare on which they base their work, the level at which their  assessment is carried out, the assumptions they rely on to measure welfare, and the period on which they focus, in order to enable comparison between studies.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: All animals

Keywords:Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Welfare indicators, Human-animal relationships

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Choice, control, and animal welfare: definitions and essential inquiries to advance animal welfare science

Maisy D. Englund, Katherine A. Cronin

Published in 2023

Scientific review of animal psychology, including the importance of giving animals choice and control over their environment to improve their welfare.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: All animals

Keywords:Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Consciousness, Societal issues, Enrichment, Living environment, Cognitive processes, Human-animal relationships

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Does Animal Personality Research Actually Help Animals?

Björn Ólafsson

Published in 2023

Article defining animal personality, reviewing scientific knowledge on the subject, and setting out the pros and cons  of taking personality into account in livestock farming, for both farmers and animals.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: All animals

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Consciousness, Societal issues, Personality, Human-animal relationships, Livestock farming system

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Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare

Andrew Knight, Clive Phillips, Paula Sparks

Published in 2022

Book offering a comprehensive review of animal welfare and the law. It explores the biological basis for the consideration of animals within a moral framework and traces changes in how we conceptualize animal welfare. It takes a detailed look at the welfare issues associated with many different uses of animals. It includes recent issues such as climate change, pandemics and antimicrobial resistance.

Document Types: Scientific work

Animal categories:Cattle, Goats, All animals

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Animal-based measurements, Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Enrichment, Environment, Euthanasia, Brain integration, Living environment, Human-animal relationships, Stress, Livestock farming system, Transport

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Animal Welfare during Transport and Slaughter of Cattle: A Systematic Review of Studies in the European Legal Framework

Svea Nicolaisen, Nina Langkabel, Christa Thoene-Reineke, Mechthild Wiegard

Published in 2023

Scientific review of transport and slaughter procedures in Europe since the European regulations on animal transport and welfare came into force in 2009. It identifies the factors affecting animal welfare during these two phases of a farmed animal's life.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Anxiety, Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Welfare indicators, Human-animal relationships, Stress, Transport

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Stunning and Slaughter: good practices for Animal Welfare in Aquaculture

Aquatic Life Institute

Published in 2023

Fact sheet describing commercially-available "welfare-friendly" stunning and slaughtering equipment for some of the most common farmed species in aquaculture, explaining how the equipment works, emphasizing the importance of proper calibration, and of its context of use. 

Document Types: Good practice guide

Animal categories: Fish

Keywords:Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Stress

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Inspection post mortem en abattoir d’animaux de boucherie

Bureau des Etablissements d'Abattage et de Découpe

Published in 2023

Technical instruction from the French Bureau des Etablissements d'Abattage et de Découpe (Slaughtering and Cutting Establishments Office) listing the regulatory provisions relating to post-mortem inspection in abattoirs for slaughter animals, providing a reference list of reasons for official intervention and providing harmonization tools for inspections.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Ovines, Porcines, Poultry

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Carcass quality, Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Stress

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The Feasibility of Animal-Based Indicators of Consciousness and Unconsciousness for Stunning in Sheep: A Systematic Review

Marta Comin, Sara Barbieri, Michela Minero, Emanuela Dalla Costa

Published in 2023

Systematic review of the scientific literature on the feasibility constraints on animal-based indicators commonly used in abattoirs to assess the correct stunning of sheep.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Ovines

Keywords:Consciousness, Pain, Stress

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Welfare of ducks, geese and quail on farm

EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare (AHAW Panel), Søren Saxmose Nielsen, Julio Alvarez, Dominique Joseph Bicout, Paolo Calistri, Elisabetta Canali, Julian Ashley Drewe, Bruno Garin-Bastuji, Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas, Christian Gortázar Schmidt, Mette Herskin, Virginie Michel, Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca, Barbara Padalino, Paolo Pasquali, Helen Clare Roberts, Hans Spoolder, Karl Stahl, Antonio Velarde, Arvo Viltrop and Christoph Winckler

Published in 2023

Scientific opinion identifying the most common farming systems in the European Union for each species and category of animal. It describes and assesses the welfare consequences for each species of the following factors: restriction of movement, injury, group stress, inability to adopt comfort behavior, inability to adopt exploratory or foraging behavior and inability to express maternal behavior. It provides recommendations on how to predict negative welfare consequences using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Document types: Technical Paper

Animal categories: Poultry

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Animal-based measurements,Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Consciousness, Pain, Risk management, Welfare indicators, Housing, Living environment, Mutilation, Human-animal relationships, Stress, Livestock farming system

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