Keller Martha
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southwestern Native Aquatic Resources and Recovery Center, Dexter, New Mexico.
Zoo Biol. 2017 Sep;36(5):316-322. doi: 10.1002/zoo.21378. Epub 2017 Sep 13.
Invertebrates constitute more than 90% of all species on earth, however, as a rule, humans do not regard invertebrates as creatures that can suffer and they are generally seen as creatures that should be eliminated. As a result, the importance of their welfare may be grossly unappreciated. For instance, the feeding of live food is often viewed as a good method of enrichment and invertebrates are commonly used as live prey in many zoological facilities. As a result, zoos may send mixed messages to their patrons in that welfare is considered only for the invertebrates that are part of their zoological collection and not necessarily for the invertebrates used as feed. Research indicates that many invertebrates possess nociceptors, opioid receptors, and demonstrate behavioral responses indicative of pain sensation. In addition, in some taxa, there may be evidence of higher cognitive functions such as emotions and learning, although studies in this area of research are preliminary and sparse. Therefore, the possibility for suffering exists in many invertebrate species and as such, zoological facilities have an ethical responsibility to take their welfare into consideration. This paper discusses the current research regarding invertebrates' capacity for suffering and discusses methods facilities can use to improve the welfare of their invertebrate live prey.
无脊椎动物占地球上所有物种的90%以上，然而，通常情况下，人类并不认为无脊椎动物是会受苦的生物，它们一般被视为应该被消灭的生物。因此，它们福利的重要性可能被严重忽视。例如，投喂活食通常被视为一种很好的丰容方法，在许多动物园设施中，无脊椎动物通常被用作活的猎物。结果，动物园可能会向其游客传递相互矛盾的信息，因为只考虑了其动物园收藏中的无脊椎动物的福利，而不一定考虑用作饲料的无脊椎动物的福利。研究表明，许多无脊椎动物拥有伤害感受器、阿片受体，并表现出表明疼痛感觉的行为反应。此外，在一些分类群中，可能有证据表明存在诸如情感和学习等更高的认知功能，尽管这一研究领域的研究还处于初步阶段且较为稀少。因此，许多无脊椎动物物种都有可能遭受痛苦，因此，动物园设施有道德责任考虑它们的福利。本文讨论了当前关于无脊椎动物受苦能力的研究，并讨论了设施可以用来改善其无脊椎动物活猎物福利的方法。
