Subject: Emotion

Quantifying the welfare impact of air asphyxia in rainbow trout slaughter for policy and practice

C. Schuck-Paim, W.J. Alonso, P.A. Pereira, J.L. Saraiva, M. Cerqueira, C. Chiang & L.U. Sneddon

Published in 2025

Study using the Welfare Footprint Framework to quantify the effectiveness of slaughter practices used on trout, by measuring the time spent by the fish in negative affective states. The study shows that electrical or percussive stunning can significantly reduce pain, providing evidence-grounded metrics to guide regulatory decisions.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Fish

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Decoding vocal indicators of stress in laying hens: A CNN-MFCC deep learning framework

S. Neethirajan

Published in 2025

Study showing that artificial intelligence, making use of a CNN model combined with MFCC coefficients, can identify vocal responses to stress in laying hens exposed to realistic stimuli with 94% accuracy. Younger birds were found to be more vocally reactive, highlighting the importance of age as a factor in emotional reactivity.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Poultry

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Exploring the induction and measurement of positive affective state in equines through a personality-centred lens

Loftus, L., Newman, A., Leach, M., Asher, L.

Published in 2025

Article highlighting the importance of taking the individual animal's personality into account when measuring positive affect in equines.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Equines

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Attenuation of Stress Responses to Human Handling Through Habituation in Goats

Erukulla, T. T., Batchu, P., Gurrapu, P., Shaik, A., Terrill, T. H., & Kannan, G

Published in 2025

Study showing the importance of habituation in reducing the stress generated by human handling in goats.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Caprines

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Measuring minds: Understanding the mental states of dairy cattle in different management conditions

Heather W. Neave

Published in 2025

Review of a symposium on the  assessment of how the mental states of dairy cattle (positive emotions and cognitive functions in particular) are affected by management practices. It highlights the behavioral, physiological and cognitive indicators available and the potential of emerging automated on-farm monitoring technologies.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines

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Characterisation of facial expressions and behaviours of horses in response to positive and negative emotional anticipation using network analysis

Romane Phelipon, Léa Bertrand, Plotine Jardat, Fabrice Reigner, Kate Lewis, Jérôme Micheletta, Léa Lansade

Published in 2025

Study using network analysis to identify specific behaviors and facial expressions in horses based on their anticipation of a positive or negative experience. These indicators can be used to better assess the emotional state and welfare of equines.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Equines

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Fish Welfare in the Ornamental Trade: Stress Factors, Legislation, and Emerging Initiatives

Maia, C.M., Gauy, A.C.d.S., Gonçalves-de-Freitas, E.

Published in 2025

Review of the trade in ornamental fish, who are exposed to numerous stressors throughout the supply chain, from wild capture or aquaculture to their final destination. Despite the work of some groups, legislative frameworks and welfare standards are still required to improve their living conditions in a sustainable way.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Fish

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Professional emotional neutrality and the role of background emotion work in the slaughterhouse

Marcel Sebastian

Published in 2025

Article analyzing how abattoir workers develop an emotional distance from the killing of animals through intense and often unconscious emotional work. It highlights the importance of background emotions in morally sensitive occupations, making an original contribution to the sociology of work and emotions.

Document Types: Scientific paper

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

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Healthy cows, happy farmers? Exploring the dynamics of mastitis and farmer well-being

Lind Nina, Hansson Helena, Emanuelson Ulf, Lagerkvist Carl-Johan

Published in 2025

Study showing that cow health influences the psychological welfare of dairy farmers. This connection is reinforced by the farmers' perceptions of the disease (in this case mastitis) and their sense of control over it.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Bovines

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Using deep learning models to decode emotional states in horses

Phelipon, R., Lansade, L. & Razzaq, M.

Published in 2025

Study using machine learning models to predict the emotions of ridden horses on the basis of image analysis, comparing different cropping and training methods for convolutional neural network models. The results showed that cropped images of heads were sufficient to provide very good prediction levels (87% accuracy), and that the features used by the model for interpretation were similar to those used by experts.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Equines

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