Animal Pain Identifying, Understanding and Minimising Pain in Farm Animals

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Animal Pain Identifying, Understanding and Minimising Pain in Farm Animals Animal pain Identifying, understanding and minimising pain in farm animals Expertise scientifique collective (ESCo) INRA INRA Expert scientific assessment (ESCo) Summary of the expert report October 2009 SCIENTIFIC COORDINATOR Pierre Le Neindre, Senior research scientist, INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research) EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Claire Sabbagh, Multidisciplinary Scientific Assessment Unit (Unité Expertise Scientifique Collective), INRA DOCUMENT DESIGN AND EDITORIAL COORDINATION Helen CHIAPELLO and Claire SABBAGH, with contributions by Isabelle SAVINI CONTACTS Pierre LE NEINDRE [email protected] Claire SABBAGH [email protected] The multidisciplinary scientific assessment report, on which this summary is based, was written by the scientific experts without prior condition of approval by either the commissioning body or INRA. It is available online at the INRA site. This summary has been approved by the authors of the report. The list of authors and contributors appears on the inside back cover. This document should be referenced in the following manner: Pierre Le Neindre, Raphaël Guatteo, Daniel Guémené, Jean-Luc Guichet, Karine Latouche, Christine Leterrier, Olivier Levionnois, Pierre Mormède, Armelle Prunier, Alain Serrie, Jacques Servière (editors), 2009. AnimalPain: identifying, understanding and minimising pain in farm animals. Multidisciplinary scientific assessment, Summary of the expert report, INRA (France), 98 pages This document is a summary of study 09-03 funded by the French Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, under program 215, action 22. Responsibility for the contents of the report rests solely with the authors. Expertise scientifique collective (ESCo) INRA INRA Expert scientific assessment (ESCo) Animal pain Identifying, understanding and minimising pain in farm animals Summary of the expert report Octobre 2009 Contents Foreword................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 1. The Question of animal pain: the issues for debate...................................................................................................... 7 1.1. The role of animals in traditional societies ....................................................................................................................... 7 1.2. The development of the modern view of animal pain ...................................................................................................... 8 1.3. The current debate on animal pain .................................................................................................................................. 11 1.4. Summary ......................................................................................................................................................................... 22 2. Pain: definitions, concepts and mechanisms in humans and farm animals .............................................................. 23 2.1. A growing scientific interest.............................................................................................................................................. 23 2.2. Gradual widening of the scope of studies on pain in humans.......................................................................................... 23 2.3. Pain: mechanisms and structures involved...................................................................................................................... 27 2.4. Transposing the concept of pain from humans to animals............................................................................................... 32 2.5. Summary.......................................................................................................................................................................... 40 3. How should pain in farm animals be assessed? ........................................................................................................... 42 3.1. Measures based on tissue damage................................................................................................................................. 43 3.2. Physiological responses .................................................................................................................................................. 44 3.3. Behavioural responses .................................................................................................................................................... 47 3.4. Criteria related to livestock productivity ........................................................................................................................... 49 3.5. Multi-parametric scales for assessing pain...................................................................................................................... 30 3.6. Summary.......................................................................................................................................................................... 53 4 Sources of known and/or potential pain in farm animals .............................................................................................. 54 4.1. Background to the different types of animal production and their regulation ................................................................... 54 4.2. Sources of known and potential pain associated with the practice and conduct of farming ............................................ 58 4.3. Sources of known or potential pain associated with mutilations...................................................................................... 60 4.4. Known or potential sources of pain associated with genetic selection ............................................................................ 66 4.5. Known or potential sources of pain associated with slaughtering.................................................................................... 67 4.6. Summary.......................................................................................................................................................................... 71 5. Means of reducing pain in farm animals ........................................................................................................................ 73 5.1. General approach for reducing pain on farms ................................................................................................................. 73 5.2. Alternative means for preventing or reducing pain in farm animals ................................................................................. 75 5.3. "Soothe": Pharmacological treatment of pain .................................................................................................................. 82 5.4. Summary.......................................................................................................................................................................... 86 General conclusions............................................................................................................................................................. 87 Research Priorities.................................................................................................................................................................. 89 Appendix: Methodology ...................................................................................................................................................... 91 Authors and editors of the multidisciplinary expertise 2 Expertise scientifique collective "Douleurs animales" Foreword In modern society there is a growing awareness that animals may suffer pain. Pain in animals is perceived in a wide variety of contexts ranging from animal testing and experimentation, through mistreatment of pets and performing animals, such as in the circus, to the husbandry and treatment of farm animals destined for human consumption. This awareness has given rise to a rather difficult dialogue between animal rights activists who are against any animal exploitation, those who advocate improved living conditions for animals and the economic stakeholders who highlight the financial constraints that face them in their sector of activity. There is thus a strain between the growing demand in the world for animal products and the social acceptability of the treatment of farm animals under modern farming systems. Over the second half of the 20th century, the capacity to supply markets was based largely on a concept of livestock farming which did not place animal pain at the forefront of its concerns. It was within this context that in 2008, at the initiative of the President of the French Republic, the Rencontres Animal-Société Animal-Society forum was held with the aim of providing a statement of the issues raised in the various domains of the relationship between man and animals. These meetings, which brought together members of the trade, scientists, politicians, government authorities and associations, progressively highlighted the need to come to agreement on the primary cause for debate: defining what constitutes pain and suffering in animals and what knowledge is available to clarify this issue? Hence the action plan emanating from
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