Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T23:41:14.480Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Extending the ‘Five Domains’ model for animal welfare assessment to incorporate positive welfare states

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2023

DJ Mellor*
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre, Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University PN452, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
NJ Beausoleil
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre, Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University PN452, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: D.J.Mellor@massey.ac.nz
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Contemporary animal welfare thinking is increasingly emphasising the promotion of positive states. There is a need for existing assessment frameworks to accommodate this shift in emphasis. This paper describes extensions to the Five Domains model, originally devised to assess welfare compromise, that facilitate consideration of positive experiences that may enhance welfare. As originally configured, the model provided a systematic method for identifying compromise in four physical/functional domains (nutrition, environment, health, behaviour) and in one mental domain that reflects the animal's overall welfare state understood in terms of its affective experiences. The specific modifications described here now facilitate additional identification in each domain of experiences animals have which may be accompanied by positive affects that would enhance welfare. It is explained why the grading scale and indices for evaluating welfare compromise necessarily differ from those for assessing welfare enhancement. Also, it is shown that the compromise and enhancement grades can be combined to provide a single informative symbol, the scaled use of which covers the range from severe welfare compromise and no enhancement to no compromise and high-level enhancement. Adapted thus, the Five Domains model facilitates systematic and structured assessment of positive as well as negative welfare-related affects, the circumstances that give rise to them and potential interactions between both types of affect, all of which extend the utility of the model. Moreover, clarification of the extended conceptual framework of the model itself contributes to the growing contextual shift in animal welfare science towards the promotion of positive states whilst continuing to minimise negative states.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2015 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Aitken, ID 2007 Diseases of Sheep, Fourth Edition. Blackwell Science: Oxford, UK. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470753316CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balcombe, JP 2009 Animal pleasure and its moral significance. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 118: 208216. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2009.02.012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumans, V and Van Loo, PLP 2013 How to improve housing conditions of laboratory animals: The possibilities of environmen-tal refinement. The Veterinary Journal 195: 2432. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2012.09.023CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beausoleil, NJ, Blache, D, Stafford, KJ, Mellor, DJ and Noble, ADL 2008 Exploring the basis of divergent selection for ‘tem-perament’ in domestic sheep. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 109:261274. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2007.03.013CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beausoleil, NJ, Fisher, P, Mellor, DJ and Warburton, B 2012 Ranking the negative impacts of wildlife control methods may help advance the Three Rs. Alternatives to Animal Experimentation Proceedings 1 (WC8): 481-485Google Scholar
Beausoleil, NJ and Mellor, DJ 2015a Advantages and limitations of the Five Domains model for assessing animal welfare impacts asso-ciated with vertebrate pest control. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 63: 3743. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2014.956832CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beausoleil, NJ and Mellor, DJ 2015b Introducing breathlessness as an animal welfare issue. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 63: 4451. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2014.940410CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beaver, BV 2009 Canine Behavior: Insights and Answers, Second Edition. Saunders Elsevier: St Louis, USACrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berridge, KC 1996 Food reward: brain substrates of wanting and liking. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 20: 125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0149-7634(95)00033-BCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blache, D, Terlouw, C and Maloney, SK 2011 Physiology. In: Appleby, MC, Mench, JA, Olsson, IAS and Hughes, BO (eds) Animal Welfare, Second Edition pp 155182. CAB International: Wallingford, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boissy, A and Lee, C 2014 How assessing relationships between emotions and cognition can improve farm animal welfare. Scientific and Technical Review, Office International des Epizooties 33(1): 103110CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boissy, A, Manteuffel, G, Jensen, MB, Moe, RO, Spruijt, B, Keeling, LJ, Winckler, C, Forkman, B, Dimitrov, I, Langbein, J, Bakken, M, Veissier, I and Arnaud, A 2007 Assessment of positive emotions in animals to improve their welfare. Physiology and Behavior 92: 375397. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phys-beh.2007.02.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broom, DM 2010 Cognitive ability and awareness in domestic animals and decisions about obligations to animals. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 126: 111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applan-im.2010.05.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckland, EL, Corr, SA, Abeyesinghe, SM and Wathes, CM 2014 Prioritisation of companion dog welfare issues using expert consensus. Animal Welfare 23: 3946. http://dx.doi.org/10.7120/09627286.23.1.039CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgdorf, J and Panksepp, J 2006 The neurobiology of positive emotions. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 30: 173187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.06.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cabanac, M 2005 The experience of pleasure in animals. In: McMillan FD (ed), Mental Health and Well-being in Animals pp 2946. Blackwell: Iowa, USA. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470384947.ch3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, CS and Keverne, EB 2002 The neurobiology of social affiliation and pair bonding. Hormones, Brain and Behavior 1: 299337CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, GJ and Hemsworth, PH 2014 Training to improve stockperson beliefs and behaviour towards livestock enhances welfare and productivity. Scientific and Technical Review, Office International des Epizooties 33(1): 131137CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cronin, GM, Rault, J-L and Glatz, PC 2014 Lessons learned from past experience with intensive livestock management sys-tems. Scientific and Technical Review, Office International des Epizooties 33(1): 139151CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawkins, MS 2006 Through the eyes of animals: what behaviour tells us. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 100: 410. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2006.04.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawkins, MS, Cook, PA, Whittingham, MJ, Mansell, KA and Harper, AE 2003 What makes free-range broiler chickens range? In situ measurement of habitat preference. Animal Behaviour 66:151160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2003.2172CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deag, JM 1996 Behavioural ecology and the welfare of extensive-ly farmed animals. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 49: 922. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0168-1591(95)00663-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, DA, McKinley, MJ, Farrell, M and Egan, GF 2009 The role of primordial emotions in the evolutionary origin of con-sciousness. Consciousness and Cognition 18: 500514. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2008.06.009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan, IJH 2005 Science-based assessment of animal welfare: farm animals. Scientific and Technical Review, Office International des Epizooties 24: 483492CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edgar, JL, Mullan, SM, Pritchard, JC, McFarlane, UJC and Main, DCJ 2013 Towards a ‘good life’ for farm animals: Development of a resource tier framework to achieve positive welfare for laying hens. Animals 3: 584605. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani3030584CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farm Animal Welfare Council 2009 Farm Animal Welfare in Great Britain: Past, Present and Future. Farm Animal Welfare Council: London, UKGoogle Scholar
Federation of Animal Science Societies 2010 Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching, Third Edition. Federation of Animal Science Societies: Champaigne, Il, USAGoogle Scholar
Fisher, HE, Aron, A and Brown, LL 2006 Romantic love: a mammalian brain system for mate choice. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B361: 2173-2186. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.1938CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fraser, D 2003 Assessing animal welfare at the farm and group level: the interplay of science and values. Animal Welfare 12: 433443Google Scholar
Fraser, D 2008 Understanding Animal Welfare: The Science in its Cultural Context. Wiley-Blackwell: Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
Fraser, D and Duncan, IJH 1998 ‘Pleasures’, ‘pains’ and animal wel-fare; towards a natural history of affect. Animal Welfare 7: 383396Google Scholar
Fraser, D and Nicol, CJ 2011 Preference and motivation research. In: Appleby, MC, Mench, JA, Olsson, IAS and Hughes, BO (eds) Animal Welfare, Second Edition pp 183199. CAB International: Wallingford, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, TC and Mellor, DJ 2011 Extending ideas about animal welfare assessment to include ‘quality of life’ and related concepts. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 59: 263271. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2011.610283CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gregory, NG 1998 Physiological mechanisms causing sickness behaviour and suffering in diseased animals. Animal Welfare7: 293-305Google Scholar
Gregory, NG 2004 Physiology and Behaviour of Animal Suffering. Blackwell Science: Oxford, UK. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470752494CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Held, SDE and Spinka, M 2011 Animal play and animal welfare. Animal Behaviour 81: 891899. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbe-hav.2011.01.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemsworth, PG and Coleman, GJ 2011 Human-Livestock Interactions: The Stockperson and The Production and Welfare of Intensively-Farmed Animals, Second Edition. CABI: Oxford, UK. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/9781845936730.0000Google Scholar
Hemsworth, PH, Coleman, GJ, Barnett, JL, Borg, S and Dowling, S 2002 The effects of cognitive behavioral intervention on the attitude and behavior of stockpersons and the behavior and productivity of commercial dairy cows. Journal of Animal Science 80(1): 6878CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirkden, RD and Pajor, EA 2006 Using preference, motivation and aversion tests to ask scientific questions about animals’ feelings. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 100: 2947. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2006.04.009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knierim, U, Carter, CS, Fraser, D, Gartner, K, Lutgendorf, KS, Mineka, S, Panksepp, J and Sachser, N 2001 Good welfare: improving quality of life. In: Broom, DM (ed) Coping with Challenge: Welfare in Animals including Humans pp 79100. Dahlem Workshop Report 87, Dahlem University Press: Berlin, GermanyGoogle Scholar
Lim, MM and Young, LJ 2006 Neuropeptidergic regulation of affil-iative behavior and social bonding in animals. Hormones and Behavior 50: 506517. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2006.06.028CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Littin, K, Fisher, P, Beausoleil, NJ and Sharp, T 2014 Welfare aspects of vertebrate pest control and culling: ranking control techniques for humaneness. Scientific and Technical Review, Office International des Epizooties 33(1): 281289CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manson, JH, Perry, S and Parish, AR 1997 Nonconceptive sexual behavior in Bonobos and Capuchins. International Journal of Primatology 18: 767786. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1026395829818CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marples, NM, Quinlan, M, Thomas, RJ and Kelly, DJ 2007 Deactivation of dietary wariness through experience of novel food. Behavioural Ecology 18: 803810. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arm053CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, G and Rushen, J 2006 Stereotypic Animal Behaviour: Fundamentals and Implications for Animal Welfare, Second Edition. CAB International: Wallingford, UK. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/9780851990040.0000Google Scholar
McMillan, FD 2003 Maximizing quality of life in ill animals. Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association 39: 227235. http://dx.doi.org/10.5326/0390227CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellor, DJ 2012a Affective states and the assessment of labora-tory-induced animal welfare impacts. Alternatives to Animal Experimentation Proceedings 1 (WC8): 445-449Google Scholar
Mellor, DJ 2012b Animal emotions, behaviour and the promotion of positive welfare states. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 60: 18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2011.619047CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellor, DJ 2015a Enhancing animal welfare by creating opportu-nities for ‘positive affective engagement’. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 63: 38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2014.926799CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellor, DJ 2015b Positive animal welfare states and encouraging environment-focused and animal-to-animal interactive behaviours. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 63: 916. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2014.926800CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellor, DJ 2015c Positive animal welfare states and reference standards for welfare assessment. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 63: 1723. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2014.926802CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellor, DJ, Cook, CJ and Stafford, KJ 2000 Quantifying some responses to pain as a stressor. In: Moberg, GP and Mench, JA (eds) The Biology of Animal Stress: Basic Principles and Implications for Welfare pp 171198. CAB International: Wallingford, Oxon, UK. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/9780851993591.0171CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellor, DJ, Patterson-Kane, E and Stafford, KJ 2009 The Sciences of Animal Welfare. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
Mellor, DJ and Reid, CSW 1994 Concepts of animal well-being and pre-dicting the impact of procedures on experimental animals. In: Baker, R, Jenkin, G and Mellor, DJ (eds) Improving the Well-being of Animals in the Research Environment pp 318. Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching: Glen Osmond, SA, AustraliaGoogle Scholar
Mellor, DJ, Thornber, PM, Bayvel, ACDB and Kahn, S 2008 The scientific assessment and management of animal pain. Technical Series, Office International des Epizooties 10: 1210Google Scholar
Morton, DB and Griffiths, PH 1985 Guidelines on the recognition of pain, distress and discomfort in experimental animals and an hypothesis for assessment. Veterinary Record 116: 431436. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/vr.116.16.431CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, E and Panksepp, J 1998 Brain substrates of infant–mother attachment: contributions of opioids, oxytocin, and norepinepherine. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 22: 437452. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0149-7634(97)00052-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Packer, RMA, Hendricks, A and Burn, CC 2012 Do dog own-ers perceive the clinical signs related to conformation inherited disorders as ‘normal’ for the breed? A potential constraint to improving canine welfare. Animal Welfare 21: 8193. http://dx.doi.org/10.7120/096272812X13345905673809CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panksepp, J 2005 Affective consciousness: core emotional feelings in animals and humans. Consciousness and Cognition 14: 3080. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2004.10.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Panksepp, J 2006 Emotional endophenotypes in evolutionary psy-chiatry. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 30: 774784. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2006.01.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panksepp, J and Zellner, MR 2004 Towards a neurologically based unified theory of aggression. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale/International Review of Social Psychology 17: 3761Google Scholar
Pfaff, DW 1999 Drive: Neurobiological and Molecular Mechanisms of Sexual Behavior. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USACrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portas, T 2013 Achieving positive animal welfare outcomes in zoos and aquariums. Proceedings of the RSPCA 2013 Australia Scientific Seminar entitled, When coping is not enough: promoting positive welfare states in animals pp 4650. 26 February 2013, Canberra, Australia. http://www.rspca.org.au/sites/default/files/website/The-facts/Science/Scientific-Seminar/2013/SciSem_2013_Proceedings.pdfGoogle Scholar
Roedler, FS, Pohl, S and Oechtering, GU 2013 How does severe brachycephaly affect dogs’ lives? Results of a structured preoperative owner questionnaire. The Veterinary Journal 198:606610. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2013.09.009CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rolls, ET 2007 Emotion Explained. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
Rushen, J and de Passillé, AM 2014 Alone or together: a risk assessment approach to group housing. In: Appleby, MC, Weary, DM and Sandøe, P (eds) Dilemmas in Animal Welfare pp 169187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/9781780642161.0169Google Scholar
Sharp, T and Saunders, G 2008 A model for assessing the relative humaneness of pest animal control methods. Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaGoogle Scholar
Spinka, M, Newberry, RC and Bekoff, M 2001 Mammalian play: training for the unexpected. Quarterly Review of Biology 76: 141168. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/393866CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spinka, M and Wemelsfelder, F 2011 Environmental challenge and animal agency. In: Appleby, MC, Mench, JA, Olsson, IAS and Hughes, BO (eds) Animal Welfare, Second Edition pp 2743. CAB International: Wallingford, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spooner, JM, Schuppli, CA and Fraser, D 2014 Attitudes of Canadian pig producers toward animal welfare. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 27(4): 569589. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10806-013-9477-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spruijt, BM, van den Bos, R and Pijlman, FTA 2001 A concept of welfare based on reward evaluating mechanisms in the brain: anticipatory behaviour as an indicator for the state of reward systems. Applied Animal Behavioural Science 72: 145171. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1591(00)00204-5CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stafford, KJ 2007 The Welfare of Dogs. Springer: Dordrecht, The NetherlandsGoogle Scholar
Vanderschuren, L, Niesnik, R and Van Ree, J 1997 The neu-robiology of social play behavior in rats. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 3: 309326. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0149-7634(96)00020-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voelkl, B, Schrauf, C and Huber, L 2006 Social contact influ-ences the response of infant marmosets towards novel food. Animal Behaviour 72: 365372. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbe-hav.2005.10.013CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wathes, C 2010 Lives worth living? Veterinary Record 166: 468469. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/vr.c849CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webster, J 1994 Animal Welfare: A Cool Eye Towards Eden. Blackwell Science: Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
Webster, J 2011 Zoomorphism and anthropomorphism: fruitful fallacies? Animal Welfare 20: 2936CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, JR, Schütz, KE, Sutherland, MA, Stewart, M and Mellor, DJ 2015 Consideration of key areas of potential animal welfare concern in pastoral dairy systems. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 63: 3136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2014.958117CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wemelsfelder, F 1997 The scientific validity of subjective con-cepts in models of animal welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 53: 7588. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1591(96)01152-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wemelsfelder, F 2007 How animals communicate quality of life: the qualitative assessment of behaviour. Animal Welfare 16: 2531Google Scholar
Williams, VM, Mellor, DJ and Marbrook, J 2006 Revision of a scale for assessing the severity of live animal manipulations. ALTEX 23: 163169Google Scholar
Yeates, JW and Main, DCJ 2008 Assessment of positive wel-fare: A review. The Veterinary Journal 175: 293300. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2007.05.009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, RJ 2003 Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals. Blackwell Science Ltd: Oxford, UK. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470751046CrossRefGoogle Scholar