Do Animals Suffer Like Us
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Why Fish Do Not Feel Pain
Key, Brian (2016) Why fish do not eelf pain. Animal Sentience 3(1) DOI: 10.51291/2377-7478.1011 This article has appeared in the journal Animal Sentience, a peer-reviewed journal on animal cognition and feeling. It has been made open access, free for all, by WellBeing International and deposited in the WBI Studies Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Call for Commentary: Animal Sentience publishes Open Peer Commentary on all accepted target articles. Target articles are peer-reviewed. Commentaries are editorially reviewed. There are submitted commentaries as well as invited commentaries. Commentaries appear as soon as they have been revised and accepted. Target article authors may respond to their commentaries individually or in a joint response to multiple commentaries. Instructions: http://animalstudiesrepository.org/animsent/guidelines.html Why fish do not feel pain Brian Key Biomedical Sciences University of Queensland Australia Abstract: Only humans can report feeling pain. In contrast, pain in animals is typically inferred on the basis of nonverbal behaviour. Unfortunately, these behavioural data can be problematic when the reliability and validity of the behavioural tests are questionable. The thesis proposed here is based on the bioengineering principle that structure determines function. Basic functional homologies can be mapped to structural homologies across a broad spectrum of vertebrate species. For example, olfaction depends on olfactory glomeruli in the olfactory bulbs of the forebrain, visual orientation responses depend on the laminated optic tectum in the midbrain, and locomotion depends on pattern generators in the spinal cord throughout vertebrate phylogeny, from fish to humans. Here I delineate the region of the human brain that is directly responsible for feeling painful stimuli. -
Comparative Evolutionary Approach to Pain Perception in Fishes
Brown, Culum (2016) Comparative evolutionary approach to pain perception in fishes. Animal Sentience 3(5) DOI: 10.51291/2377-7478.1029 This article has appeared in the journal Animal Sentience, a peer-reviewed journal on animal cognition and feeling. It has been made open access, free for all, by WellBeing International and deposited in the WBI Studies Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Animal Sentience 2016.011: Brown Commentary on Key on Fish Pain Comparative evolutionary approach to pain perception in fishes Commentary on Key on Fish Pain Culum Brown Biological Sciences Macquarie University Abstract: Arguments against the fact that fish feel pain repeatedly appear even in the face of growing evidence that they do. The standards used to judge pain perception keep moving as the hurdles are repeatedly cleared by novel research findings. There is undoubtedly a vested commercial interest in proving that fish do not feel pain, so the topic has a half-life well past its due date. Key (2016) reiterates previous perspectives on this topic characterised by a black-or-white view that is based on the proposed role of the human cortex in pain perception. I argue that this is incongruent with our understanding of evolutionary processes. Keywords: pain, fishes, behaviour, physiology, nociception Culum Brown [email protected] studies the behavioural ecology of fishes with a special interest in learning and memory. He is Associate Professor of vertebrate evolution at Macquarie University, Co-Editor of the volume Fish Cognition and Behavior, and Editor for Animal Behaviour of the Journal of Fish Biology. -
Do “Prey Species” Hide Their Pain? Implications for Ethical Care and Use of Laboratory Animals
Journal of Applied Animal Ethics Research 2 (2020) 216–236 brill.com/jaae Do “Prey Species” Hide Their Pain? Implications for Ethical Care and Use of Laboratory Animals Larry Carbone Independent scholar; 351 Buena Vista Ave #703E, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA [email protected] Abstract Accurate pain evaluation is essential for ethical review of laboratory animal use. Warnings that “prey species hide their pain,” encourage careful accurate pain assess- ment. In this article, I review relevant literature on prey species’ pain manifestation through the lens of the applied ethics of animal welfare oversight. If dogs are the spe- cies whose pain is most reliably diagnosed, I argue that it is not their diet as predator or prey but rather because dogs and humans can develop trusting relationships and because people invest time and effort in canine pain diagnosis. Pain diagnosis for all animals may improve when humans foster a trusting relationship with animals and invest time into multimodal pain evaluations. Where this is not practical, as with large cohorts of laboratory mice, committees must regard with skepticism assurances that animals “appear” pain-free on experiments, requiring thorough literature searches and sophisticated pain assessments during pilot work. Keywords laboratory animal ‒ pain ‒ animal welfare ‒ ethics ‒ animal behavior 1 Introduction As a veterinarian with an interest in laboratory animal pain management, I have read articles and reviewed manuscripts on how to diagnose a mouse in pain. The challenge, some authors warn, is that mice and other “prey species” © LARRY CARBONE, 2020 | doi:10.1163/25889567-bja10001 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0Downloaded license. -
An Assessment of Recent Trade Law Developments from an Animal Law Perspective: Trade Law As the Sheep in Wolf's Clothing?
AN ASSESSMENT OF RECENT TRADE LAW DEVELOPMENTS FROM AN ANIMAL LAW PERSPECTIVE: TRADE LAW AS THE SHEEP IN WOLF’S CLOTHING? By Charlotte Blattner* Further development within the field of animal law seems to be at an impasse, lost among the potential paths presented by its traditional influ- ences: international treaty law, domestic animal welfare regulations, and trade law. First, classical elements of global animal treaty law are limited to preservationist aspirations, insusceptible to the questions of how animals are treated or how they cope with their environment. Second, animal welfare regulation is understood as a matter confined to national territories. In cross-border dialogue, animal matters have been reduced to allegations of imperialism, which is not conducive to furthering animal interests. Third, animals are regarded as commodities in international trade law, rendering their regulation an undesirable barrier to trade. These present deficiencies deprive global animal law of its significance as a dynamic instrument re- sponsive to global challenges, be they ethical, environmental, economic, technological, or social in nature. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate future ways out of this impasse. Recent developments in trade law, as demonstrated by four exam- ples found within the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ‘case law,’ mark an important development for animal law. State objectives expressed through trade law are slowly moving away from anthropocentric considera- tions (i.e., geared to preserve a fraction of animals for human interests) to- wards sentiocentric animal welfare (i.e., aimed at minimizing animal suffering and focusing on animal interests). Thereby, the quality of animal law that developed on the international scene through trade law exceeded the status quo of global animal treaty law. -
Pain Issues in Poultry
Applied Animal Behaviour Science 135 (2011) 252–258 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Applied Animal Behaviour Science journa l homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/applanim Pain issues in poultry ∗ Michael J. Gentle Littlelaw Cottage, Woodcote Mains, Fala, Pathhead, Midlothian, Scotland EH37 5TQ, United Kingdom a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: This review highlights the possible pain experienced by layer and broiler poultry in modern Available online 17 November 2011 husbandry conditions. Receptors which respond to noxous stimulation (nociceptors) have been identified and physiologically characterised in many different part of the body of the Keywords: chicken including the beak, mouth, nose, joint capsule and scaly skin. Stimulation of these Chicken nociceptors produces cardiovascular and behavioural changes consistent with those seen in Pain mammals and are indicative of pain perception. Physiological and behavioural experiments Nociceptors have identified the problem of acute pain following beak trimming in chicks, shackling, and Beak trimming feather pecking and environmental pollution. Chronic pain is a much greater welfare prob- Skeletal disorders Shackling lem because it can last for long periods of time from weeks to months. Evidence for possible Feather removal chronic pain is presented from a variety of different conditions including beak trimming in Environmental pollution older birds, orthopaedic disease in broiler and bone breakage in laying hens. Experiments Lameness on pain in the chicken have not only identified acute and chronically painful conditions but also have provided information on qualitative differences in the pain experienced as well as identifying a cognitive component providing evidence of conscious pain perception. -
“But It's Just a Fish”: Understanding the Challenges of Applying the 3Rs
animals Article “But It’s Just a Fish”: Understanding the Challenges of Applying the 3Rs in Laboratory Aquariums in the UK Reuben Message * and Beth Greenhough School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JD, UK; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 29 October 2019; Accepted: 28 November 2019; Published: 3 December 2019 Simple Summary: Fish are widely used in research and some species have become important model organisms in the biosciences. Despite their importance, their welfare has usually been less of a focus of public interest or regulatory attention than the welfare of more familiar terrestrial and mammalian laboratory animals; indeed, the use of fish in experiments has often been viewed as ethically preferable or even neutral. Adopting a social science perspective and qualitative methodology to address stakeholder understandings of the problem of laboratory fish welfare, this paper examines the underlying social factors and drivers that influence thinking, priorities and implementation of fish welfare initiatives and the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) for fish. Illustrating the case with original stakeholder interviews and experience of participant observation in zebrafish facilities, this paper explores some key social factors influencing the take up of the 3Rs in this context. Our findings suggest the relevance of factors including ambient cultural perceptions of fish, disagreements about the evidence on fish pain and suffering, the language of regulators, and the experiences of scientists and technologists who develop and put the 3Rs into practice. The discussion is focused on the UK context, although the main themes will be pertinent around the world. -
UFAW Conference 2016
Recent advances in animal welfare science V UFAW Animal Welfare Conference 23rd June 2016 The Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, Fossgate, York, UK #UFAWYork16 Recent advances in animal welfare science V UFAW Animal Welfare Conference York Merchant Adventurers’ Hall UK, 23rd June 2016 Welcome to the UFAW Conference The science of animal welfare is a cross-disciplinary field of research that aims to provide a sound basis on which to build guidance and find solutions to the challenges raised by our caring for and interactions with both kept and wild animals. As part of its on-going commitment to improving animal welfare through increased scientific understanding, UFAW is holding this, the fifth of our on-going series of one day conferences, to consider ‘Recent advances in animal welfare science’. These conferences are intended to provide both a platform at which both established animal welfare scientists and others and those beginning their careers can discuss their work and a forum at which the broader community of scientists, veterinarians and others concerned with animal welfare can come together to share knowledge and practice, discuss advances and exchange ideas and views. We hope that it achieves these aims and fosters links between individuals and within the community Stephen Wickens, Robert Hubrecht and Huw Golledge Organisers, UFAW 2 The International Animal Welfare Science Society Registered Charity No 207996 (Registered in England) and Company Limited by Guarantee No 579991 Recent advances in animal welfare science V UFAW Animal Welfare -
Animal Law & Policy Program
HARVARD ANIMAL LAW & POLICY PROGRAM HARVARD LAW SCHOOL Annual Report Fiscal Year 2017 July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Part One: Report of Activities 2 A. Summary of the Academic Year 2016–2017 2 1. Executive Summary 2 2. Research, Scholarship, and Activities 3 a. Program Mission and Areas of Inquiry 3 b. Research, Scholarship, and Project Activities 3 i. Professor Kristen Stilt 3 ii. Academic Fellow, Delcianna Winders 4 iii. Policy Fellow, Alice DiConcetto 5 iv. Farmed Animal Law & Policy Fellow, Peter Brandt 5 v. Graduate Scholar, Jessica Eisen 6 c. Conferences 7 i. The Animal Welfare Act at Fifty Conference 7 ii. The Ivy League Vegan Conference at Harvard University 8 d. Academic Workshops 9 i. The Animal Welfare Act at Fifty Workshop 9 ii. Animal Agriculture from the Middle East to Asia Workshop 9 e. Other Events 11 3. Contributions to HLS Teaching Program 12 4. Participation of HLS Students in Program Activities 14 a. ALPP Student Travel Grants 14 b. Mentoring and Guidance 14 c. ALPP Student Writing Prize 16 5. Faculty Participation 17 6. Other Contributions to the HLS Community 17 a. Faculty Director, Kristen Stilt 18 b. Executive Director, Chris Green 18 7. Law Reform and Advocacy 19 a. Faculty Director, Kristen Stilt 19 b. Executive Director, Chris Green 21 c. Academic Fellow, Delcianna Winders 23 8. Connections to the Profession & Public Outreach 25 a. Faculty Director, Kristen Stilt 26 b. Executive Director, Chris Green 27 9. Collaboration with Other Schools and Departments at HLS & Harvard University 30 a. -
Research Tools for the Measurement of Pain and Nociception
animals Review Research Tools for the Measurement of Pain and Nociception Craig Johnson Animal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre, Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North 4474, New Zealand; [email protected]; Tel.: +64-6-356-9099 Academic Editor: Clive J. C. Phillips Received: 28 September 2016; Accepted: 5 November 2016; Published: 11 November 2016 Simple Summary: Pain is an integral aspect of many diseases and it is important to be able to measure it in the clinic so that the progression of disease and the animal’s response to treatment can be monitored. When research into pain is undertaken, it is also important to be able to measure the pain, but this time the aim is to provide meaningful results that will further our understanding of the mechanisms of pain or how it can be better treated. This change in emphasis between clinical and research measurement of pain means that the advantages and disadvantages of the many ways in which pain can be measured influence the choice of the most suitable technique and the way in which it is used. It is important to carefully select the most appropriate methodologies so that the data generated are relevant to the hypotheses being tested. Abstract: There are many ways in which pain in animals can be measured and these are based on a variety of phenomena that are related to either the perception of pain or alterations in physical or behavioural features of the animal that are caused by that pain. The features of pain that are most useful for assessment in clinical environments are not always the best to use in a research environment. -
Humane Slaughter of Edible Decapod Crustaceans
animals Review Humane Slaughter of Edible Decapod Crustaceans Francesca Conte 1 , Eva Voslarova 2,* , Vladimir Vecerek 2, Robert William Elwood 3 , Paolo Coluccio 4, Michela Pugliese 1 and Annamaria Passantino 1 1 Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Polo Universitario Annunziata, 981 68 Messina, Italy; [email protected] (F.C.); [email protected] (M.P.); [email protected] (A.P.) 2 Department of Animal Protection and Welfare and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic; [email protected] 3 School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University, Belfast BT9 5DL, UK; [email protected] 4 Department of Neurosciences, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence-Viale Pieraccini, 6-50139 Firenze, Italy; paolo.coluccio@unifi.it * Correspondence: [email protected] Simple Summary: Decapods respond to noxious stimuli in ways that are consistent with the experi- ence of pain; thus, we accept the need to provide a legal framework for their protection when they are used for human food. We review the main methods used to slaughter the major decapod crustaceans, highlighting problems posed by each method for animal welfare. The aim is to identify methods that are the least likely to cause suffering. These methods can then be recommended, whereas other methods that are more likely to cause suffering may be banned. We thus request changes in the legal status of this group of animals, to protect them from slaughter techniques that are not viewed as being acceptable. Abstract: Vast numbers of crustaceans are produced by aquaculture and caught in fisheries to Citation: Conte, F.; Voslarova, E.; meet the increasing demand for seafood and freshwater crustaceans. -
Broom Fish Brains Pain
Pre-publication copy Broom, D.M. 2016. Fish brains and behaviour indicate capacity for feeling pain. Animal Sentience, 2016.010 (5 pages). Fish brains, as well as fish behaviour, indicate capacity for awareness and feeling pain Donald M. Broom Centre for Anthrozoology and Animal Welfare Department of Veterinary Medicine University of Cambridge Madingley Road Cambridge CB3 0ES U.K. [email protected] http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/directory/profile.php?dmb16 Keywords pain sentience welfare fish feelings emotions brain behaviour Abstract Studies of behaviour are of major importance in understanding human pain and pain in other animals such as fish. Almost all of the characteristics of the mammalian pain system are also described for fish. Emotions, feelings and learning from these are controlled in the fish brain in areas anatomically different but functionally very similar to those in mammals. The evidence of pain and fear system function in fish is so similar to that in humans and other mammals that it is logical to conclude that fish feel fear and pain. Fish are sentient beings. Key (2015) is scornful about evidence from studies of fish behaviour indicating that fish are aware and feel pain but presents a thorough explanation of the pain system in the human brain and concludes that fish could not feel pain, or have any other feelings, as they do not have the brain structures that allow pain and other feelings in humans. Section 2 of his paper emphasises “the cortical origins of human pain” and states that “structure determines function”, eXplaining the functions of the five layers of the human cortex. -
Aquatic Animals, Cognitive Ethology, and Ethics: Questions About Sentience and Other Troubling Issues That Lurk in Turbid Water
DISEASES OF AQUATIC ORGANISMS Vol. 75: 87–98, 2007 Published May 4 Dis Aquat Org OPEN ACCESS Aquatic animals, cognitive ethology, and ethics: questions about sentience and other troubling issues that lurk in turbid water Marc Bekoff* Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0334, USA ABSTRACT: In this general, strongly pro-animal, and somewhat utopian and personal essay, I argue that we owe aquatic animals respect and moral consideration just as we owe respect and moral con- sideration to all other animal beings, regardless of the taxonomic group to which they belong. In many ways it is more difficult to convince some people of our ethical obligations to numerous aquatic animals because we do not identify or empathize with them as we do with animals with whom we are more familiar or to whom we are more closely related, including those species (usually terrestrial) to whom we refer as charismatic megafauna. Many of my examples come from animals that are more well studied but they can be used as models for aquatic animals. I follow Darwinian notions of evolu- tionary continuity to argue that if we feel pain, then so too do many other animals, including those that live in aquatic environs. Recent scientific data (‘science sense’) show clearly that many aquatic organisms, much to some people’s surprise, likely suffer at our hands and feel their own sorts of pain. Throughout I discuss how cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds) is the unifying science for understanding the subjective, emotional, empathic, and moral lives of animals because it is essential to know what animals do, think, and feel as they go about their daily routines.