Tonic immobility as an anaesthetic for elasmobranchs during surgical implantation procedures

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
pp. 1287-1291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven T. Kessel ◽  
Nigel E. Hussey
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Tonic Immobility ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Anaesthetic Technique ◽  
Rapid Induction ◽  
Body Tissues ◽  
General Chemical ◽  
Regulatory Bodies ◽  
Acoustic Tags ◽  
Surgical Implantation

Tonic immobility is a widely used technique for the surgical implantation of acoustic tags in elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays), yet it is still not broadly recognised as an acceptable procedure by many regulatory bodies, animal care committees, and even journal ethics standards. To highlight its regular use and applicability as a field procedure, a literature search was conducted on the anaesthetic technique adopted for all existing elasmobranch-focused acoustic telemetry papers, up to 31 December 2013. A total of 57 studies were identified that contained relevant details on surgical methodological procedures. Of these, the majority of studies (43, or 75.4%) employed tonic immobility, while 10 (17.6%) used general chemical anaesthetic and 4 (7%) used local chemical anaesthetic. These studies identify that tonic immobility provides an effective anaesthetic for surgical implantation in elasmobranchs, as it offers several benefits over chemical anaesthetics, both from a practical and from an animal welfare perspective. Practically, rapid induction and recovery optimizes the surgical procedure, desirable under often complex field conditions, where general chemical anaesthetics prolong duration and administration is often unfeasible because of the size of study animals. Benefits over chemical anaesthetic for animal welfare include no risk of overdose, no uptake of chemicals to body tissues, minimal disruption to respiration, thereby reducing potential for negative sublethal impacts that influence postrelease behaviour, and immediate and full recovery. Given these benefits and its long-standing use in field studies, it is recommended that tonic immobility be recognised as an acceptable anaesthetic technique for surgical procedures on elasmobranchs.

Influence of upwelling on movement of southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) in the Great Australian Bight

2007 ◽  
Vol 58 (8) ◽  
pp. 699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Willis ◽  
Alistair J. Hobday
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Models ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Bluefin Tuna ◽  
Aerial Survey ◽  
Trophic Effects ◽  
Southern Bluefin Tuna ◽  
Acoustic Tags ◽  
Observed Behaviour ◽  
Great Australian Bight ◽  
Upwelling Event

Large pelagic predators move quickly in and out of local ecosystems that may be separated by long distances: their trophic effects are determined by their behaviour while present. To investigate movement and local residence times of one such predator we implanted 29 acoustic tags into juvenile southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) (SBT) in the Great Australian Bight. We used acoustic detectors at a reef known to attract tuna and detected fifteen SBT on 941 occasions over 62 days. SBT were tagged at the reef, 40 km, and 120 km distant. A total of 100% of local and 60% of SBT tagged 40 km away were subsequently recorded at the reef. Presence and absence was related to an upwelling event. Water temperature decreased just after SBT departure from the monitoring region. The immediate area was aerially surveyed 22 times for SBT schools during the experiment. We combined aerial survey observations with computer simulation, calibrated against field studies of SBT movement, to test the hypothesis that tuna could be well simulated by a correlated random walk throughout the area of known occurrence. The most plausible explanation for the observed behaviour was short-term (hours) fidelity to schools combined with medium-term (weeks) fidelity to bathymetric features. The present study illustrates how dynamic models aid interpretation of experiments designed to understand trophic effects of large pelagic predators.

scholarly journals The Ethics of Innovation: Ethical Decision-Making and Review for Field Studies and Projects Targeting Dogs and Cats

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3579
Author(s):  
Valerie A. Benka
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Review Process ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Ethical Review ◽  
Ethical Standards ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
Ethical Review Process ◽  
Ethical Oversight

To date, independent ethical oversight of many companion animal welfare initiatives has been limited and, in some instances, inadequate. Beyond a blurred line between “innovation” and “research,” the nature of the work conducted in animal welfare projects is often poorly aligned with established institutional ethical review structures, which are designed for research involving humans or research involving animals and are also focused on industry and academic institutions. This commentary details the struggle of one United States-based nonprofit organization to find ethical guidelines and support for conducting non-traditional field-based animal welfare studies, and subsequent experience establishing an Ethical Review Board to evaluate organizational initiatives. The commentary discusses member selection, materials and processes, and lessons and learnings from the creation and use of an Ethical Review Board. Sharing content of the ethical review process, as well as challenges and learnings from it, is intended to support other organizations and individuals seeking to ensure that innovation for animal welfare consistently meets high ethical standards.

The Animal Commons

Animal Ethos ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 195-223
Author(s):  
Lesley A. Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Moral Practice ◽  
Rescue Work ◽  
Open Source Data ◽  
Source Data ◽  
Regulatory Bodies ◽  
Research Domains

As demonstrated in chapter 4, animal caretakers may engage in rescue work of live animals and engage in memorial practices for deceased ones. In this chapter, I consider the still other responses I encountered among researchers who seek to reduce the numbers of animals culled and killed for science. Associated practices arise most often in contexts marked by scarcity (for instance, of research materials or infrastructure, funding, or animals). As demonstrated by an ethics case study that opens the chapter, the sharing of animals is widely condemned by regulatory bodies that oversee lab animal welfare. Nevertheless, I have found that animal sharing occurs in labs, and it is framed as a moral practice that takes animal worth into account. I consider such moral reasoning as offering evidence of yet another form of specialized rescue work that fosters an emergent “animal commons,” where associated practices are reminiscent of open-source data sharing in genetics and still other research domains of science.

scholarly journals Assessment of cleanness of environmental surfaces in cattle barns and piggeries

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 268-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
H-R. KYMÄLÄINEN ◽  
R. KUISMA ◽  
J. MÄÄTTÄ
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Optical Methods ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Visual Methods ◽  
Material Development ◽  
Environmental Surfaces ◽  
Surface Materials ◽  
Material Studies

Hygienic issues are important in environmental surfaces of animal houses because of food quality and animal welfare. The aim of this study was to review methods in cleanability research of cattle barns and piggeries. Surface materials, animal welfare and hygiene are also discussed. Concerning different detection methods of cleanness, visual methods have dominated in field studies, but some successful attempts to use optical methods are also presented. A wider selection of different kinds of instrumental, microbiological and visual methods and their combinations have been used in laboratory studies. Radiochemical methods have been demonstrated to be suitable as quantitative laboratory methods. In the case of material studies, laboratory experiments are important prior to field experiments in order to screen potential materials, whereas the field studies provide practical information about the behaviour of the surface materials. The importance of cleanness of environmental surfaces in cattle barns and piggeries is also discussed in the context of material development.

scholarly journals Methods to study degradation of ruminant feeds

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruba Mohamed ◽  
Abdul Shakoor Chaudhry
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Rumen Fluid ◽  
Rumen Degradation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Body Tissues ◽  
Dietary Nutrients ◽  
Ruminant Animals ◽  
Potential Use ◽  
In Sacco

Ruman degradation is crucial in the supply of dietary nutrients to meet the nutrient demands of the anaerobic microbes and body tissues of ruminant animals. Therefore, it is essential to study the dynamics of rumen degradation of various feeds before their potential use to formulate nutritious diets for ruminant animals. Amongst many methods that have been used in the past, thein saccomethod has been the most effective method to study rumen degradation. However, this method is undesirable due to its implications for animal welfare and costs. While manyin vitromethods have been tested as possible alternatives to thein saccomethod to study rumen degradation of feeds, they were unable to remove the need to use fistulated animals to obtain rumen fluid. Although solubility, enzyme- and faeces-basedin vitromethods do not require rumen fluid, they still need data from either thein saccomethod or the rumen fluid-basedin vitromethods for comparison and validation. Therefore, there is a need to developin vitromethods that do not require the need to surgically modify ruminants to obtain rumen fluid to study rumen degradation. We review the potentials and problems associated with the existing methods to study rumen degradation and their implications for the animal industry in different situations.

scholarly journals Transgenerational marking of cephalopods with an enriched barium isotope: a promising tool for empirically estimating post-hatching movement and population connectivity

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (7) ◽  
pp. 1372-1380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretta T. Pecl ◽  
Zoë A. Doubleday ◽  
Leonid Danyushevsky ◽  
Sarah Gilbert ◽  
Natalie A. Moltschaniwskyj
Keyword(s):  
Inductively Coupled Plasma ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Mass Scale ◽  
Population Connectivity ◽  
Isotopic Ratios ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Body Tissues ◽  
Hard Structures ◽  
Gravid Females ◽  
Barium Isotope

Abstract Pecl, G. T., Doubleday, Z. A., Danyushevsky, L., Gilbert, S., and Moltschaniwskyj, N. A. 2010. Transgenerational marking of cephalopods with an enriched barium isotope: a promising tool for empirically estimating post-hatching movement and population connectivity. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 1372–1380. Quantifying the movement of very small and young individuals, determining sources of recruitment, and identifying the contribution of populations from different regions and periods to fished stocks is a major ecological challenge. Transgenerational isotope labelling (TRAIL), a technique which enables offspring to be marked on a mass scale, is applied for the first time to cephalopods, facilitating field studies quantifying population connectivity. Four species were used: Sepioteuthis australis, Euprymna tasmanica, Octopus pallidus, and Octopus maorum. Gravid females were injected with the enriched stable isotope 137Ba in different body tissues at several different doses. Isotopic ratios 138Ba:137Ba were then quantified using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry on the hard structures (statoliths and stylets) of offspring produced by the injected females. Day-old hatchlings from both squid species had statoliths with isotopic ratios significantly different from natural ratios and control animals, but variability in the ratios in hatchlings produced by different females was independent of dose or injection location. No differences were observed in the statoliths and stylets removed from hatchlings and juveniles, respectively, from the two octopus species, although isotopic shifts were evident in the hard structures of the adults injected. The use of TRAIL is a technique that offers considerable potential to advance the understanding of post-hatching dispersal and population connectivity in cephalopod populations.

On visions and promises — ethical aspects of in vitro meat

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 753-758
Author(s):  
Silvia Woll
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Meat Production ◽  
Ethical Aspects ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
In Vitro Meat ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Production Conditions

Innovators of in vitro meat (IVM) are convinced that this approach is the solution for problems related to current meat production and consumption, especially regarding animal welfare and environmental issues. However, the production conditions have yet to be fully clarified and there is still a lack of ethical discourses and critical debates on IVM. In consequence, discussion about the ethical justifiability and desirability of IVM remains hypothetical and we have to question those promises. This paper addresses the complex ethical aspects associated with IVM and the questions of whether, and under what conditions, the production of IVM represents an ethically justifiable solution for existing problems, especially in view of animal welfare, the environment, and society. There are particular hopes regarding the benefits that IVM could bring to animal welfare and the environment, but there are also strong doubts about their ethical benefits.

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