Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Dog Behaviour: Pilot Study

Environmental enrichment (EE) can be used to enhance the environment of various animals. The aim of this pilot study was to determine the effects of seven EE activities (Bonding, Bubble machine, Conspecific play, Interactive toy, Playhouse, Stuffed food toy and Tug play) on dog behaviour, pre- and post-EE for dogs housed in an office environment during training as part of an assistance dog training programme. EE activities resulted in a significant increase in the frequency of relaxation behaviours (p < 0.01) and a significant reduction in alert (p < 0.01) and stress behaviours (p = 0.02). Results suggest various benefits of the different activities with Conspecific Play and Playhouse activities having the greatest overall positive behaviour change when compared to the other activities. The food-based EE activities (Interactive toy and Stuffed food toy) had the least behaviour change of all the activities provided. Findings will be of interest to pet owners, animal rescue centres, dog trainers and working dog organisations.

GROUNDS FOR ANIMAL RESCUE PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 7(3) OF THE ANIMAL PROTECTION ACT OF 21 AUGUST 1997 IN REGARD TO THE INSTITUTION OF A COLLISION OF DUTIES UNDER ARTICLE 26 § 5 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE

The article discusses the conditions for the emergency receipt of animal from the owner in accordance with Art. 7 sec. 3 of the Act of August 21, 1997 on the protection of animals and indicates the need to enrich them with the premises for excluding criminal liability under Art. 26 § 5 of the Penal Code. The main research problems of the study are the premises of the proper and legal emergency receipt of animal from the owner within the meaning of Art. 7 sec. 3 of the Act, including an indication of when such behaviour is legal and when it is illegal, and a detailed specification of the scope of responsibilities of the person who performs the collection of the animal towards the owner of the received animal. According to Art. 217 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in connection with Art. 220 of the Code of Criminal Procedure only law enforcement agencies, including the prosecutor, police officers and other bodies authorized by the law, may search the apartment / land. Authorized representatives of a social organization whose statutory purpose is to protect animals do not have this competence, therefore they are required to cooperate with police officers in the scope of searches. The article shows that in the event of the emergency receipt of animal from the owner in accordance with Art. 7 sec. 3 of the Act, in the absence of Police officers and with the opposition of the owner of the apartment / land, there is no violation of the legal interest of protection of the home if the perpetrator acts in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity and the principle of proportionality underlying Art. 26 § 5 of the Criminal Code.

Project of autonomous workstation feeding fledging birds

The article describes project of autonomous workstation capable of feeding fledging birds. During the breeding season animal rescue centers are experiencing huge overload of patients and up to 20% of patients are birds. Despite small size they demand as much care as other animals ? in case of fledging birds main need is frequent feeding which is impossible to cover by working staff. Designed workstation is meant to solve this problem and decrease mortality of sick or immature animals.

Perilaku Alami dan Tidak Alami Burung Kakatua Jambul Kuning (Cacatua sp.) di Animal Sanctuary Trust Indonesia, Jawa Barat

Cockatoo (Cacatua sp.) is one of birds that is widely distributed in Indonesia and often kept as pet, thus threatening the Cacatua population in the wild. Environmental condition may affect the behavior of Cockatoo. Some unnatural behavior may arise due to living in the captive. Different cage conditions may result in different behavior performance in Cockatoo. Research on daily behavior at animal rescue sites at ASTI Bogor has never been conducted. This study aimed to analyze natural and stereotype behavior of Cacatua sp. at animal rescue center due to foreclosure, and analyze the relationship between cage condition and environmental factors. This study used focal instantaneous sampling, using eight individuals Cacatua sp. Cacatua sp. in ASTI performed natural behavior more than unnatural behavior, therefore ASTI can be a good place for animal rescue. The dominant natural behaviors were Resting (Re), Preening (Pr), Feeding (Fe), Locomotion (Lo), and Fighting (Fg), while unnatural behaviors were play, bite, abnormal vocalization, feather picking and aggressive. There are no difference in behavior between male and female, and also behavior in the morning and afternoon (p>0.05), but cage condition had a significant effect to daily behavior of Cacatua sp. (<0.05).

The impact of COVID-19 on rescue shelters

Just as the rest of the world has had to adjust to the pressures and challenges of COVID-19, so have animal rescue centres. This article discusses the immediate effect of COVID-19 on rescue shelters in the UK.

Fires in nature: a review of the challenges for wild animals

Animals living in the wild are exposed to numerous challenges, such as fires, that can lead to suffering. The impacts of fire have been studied in different branches of ecology, but studies of its effects on the welfare of individual animals remain scarce. The current review aims to synthesize a sample of relevant aspects regarding fire’s negative effects on wild animals. We mainly focus on the immediate impacts of fire on individuals. How animals respond to fire depends on many factors including their life history, evolutionary adaptations to fire, and individual stress coping styles, in addition to the characteristics of the fire. The fundamentals of carrying out future work for animal rescue and prevention of animal harms in fires were also explored. Fires may increase the risk of injury, disease, stress, and mortality for animals living in the wild, resulting in physiological and psychological harm, experiences of suffering, discomfort and pain, and long-term detrimental consequences. Wild animals can benefit from effective rescue, rehabilitation, and release during fires, and post-release monitoring must accurately evaluate their outcome success. The resulting information can be used to educate veterinarians, rehabilitators, and the public in the prevention of the suffering and deaths of as many animals as possible in future fire events, which ultimately benefits animal welfare. This review provides a better understanding of how fire compromises animal welfare, providing an example of how to use the knowledge gathered in animal ecology to examine the welfare of wild animals. It can help raise concern for the situation of wild animals as individuals, and to develop the field of welfare biology, by identifying promising future lines of research.

A Retrospective Analysis of Typologies of Animal Abuse Recorded by the SPCA, Hong Kong

We conducted a retrospective study of 254 suspected cruelty offences recorded by the Hong Kong Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) between January 2013 and December 2019. Cases were categorised into four types of abuse: active maltreatment, passive neglect, commercial exploitation and hoarding. Attributes of defendants, relationship with the owner of the animal (where the owner was not the defendant) and the circumstances of the abuse (species of animal, number of animals involved, type of harm, need for medical care, number of animals seized) were recorded for each case. The majority of prosecuted cases involved traumatic physical injury to dogs, with 30% causing the death of animals. The second most common type of harm prosecuted was neglect, with 27% of cases causing death. The majority of neglect cases involved dogs abandoned inside private premises without food/water. The median number of animals hoarded was 47, with dogs the most common species. The majority of hoarders had collected their animals from strays. The largest hoarding cases (>100 animals) were operating as animal rescue shelters. Strategies to address cruelty to animals in Hong Kong can be informed by an understanding of which species are at greater risk of harm and in what circumstances this harm might occur.

Early maternal separation is not associated with changes in telomere length in domestic kittens (Felis catus)

Objective Studies of multiple species have found that adverse early life experiences, including childhood trauma and maternal separation, can result in accelerated telomere shortening. The objective of this study was to determine if premature separation from the mother affected telomere length in domestic kittens (Felis catus). Subjects were 42 orphaned kittens and 10 mother-reared kittens from local animal rescue groups and shelters. DNA was extracted from whole blood collected from kittens at approximately 1 week and 2 months of age. Telomere length was assessed by qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) from a total of 86 samples and expressed as a ratio of telomere PCR relative to a single copy gene PCR (T/S). Results A generalized linear mixed model found there were no detectable differences in telomere length based on survival (F1, 76.2 = 3.35, p = 0.07), orphan status (F1, 56.5 = 0.44, p = 0.51), time point (F1, 43.5 = 0.19, p = 0.67), or the interaction between orphan status and time (F1, 43.5 = 0.86, p = 0.36). Although in other species telomere shortening is commonly associated with aging, even early in life, we did not find evidence for telomere shortening by two months of age. Our results suggest that the experience of early maternal separation in domestic cats who are subsequently hand-reared by humans does not accelerate telomere shortening compared to mother-reared kittens, at least in the first few months of life.