Wolfensohn Sarah, Shotton Justine, Bowley Hannah, Davies Siân, Thompson Sarah, Justice William S M
School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7AL, UK.
Marwell Wildlife, Colden Common, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 1JH, UK.
Animals (Basel). 2018 Jul 4;8(7):110. doi: 10.3390/ani8070110.
Zoos are required to maintain a high standard of animal welfare, and this can be assessed using a combination of resource-based and animal-based indices usually divided into behavioural indicators, physiological indicators and clinical/pathological signs. Modern animal welfare assessments should aim to encompass positive affective states and the indicators that are useful in assessing these are discussed. When developing factors to be scored for each species, there is huge variability in the available information about the natural biology for some zoo species and even less information concerning those animals in captivity. Wild baselines are not always the most accurate indicator of what is right for an animal in captivity, which makes the identification of factors to include within species-specific welfare assessment even more challenging. When planning a welfare strategy for any species, it is important that the full range of their biological requirements and needs are considered, but this can be challenging for some zoo species and it is not possible to define a “one size fits all” welfare strategy. The different approaches for welfare assessment are reviewed, including the development of the Animal Welfare Assessment Grid which offers an evidence-based tool for continual welfare assessment, using technology where appropriate, to facilitate decision making and lead to improvements in the animals’ quality of life.
动物园需要维持高标准的动物福利，这可以通过结合基于资源和基于动物的指标来评估，这些指标通常分为行为指标、生理指标以及临床/病理体征。现代动物福利评估应旨在涵盖积极的情感状态，并讨论了用于评估这些状态的指标。在为每个物种制定评分因素时，对于一些动物园物种，有关其自然生物学的可用信息存在巨大差异，而对于圈养动物的信息则更少。野生基线并不总是圈养动物适宜状况的最准确指标，这使得确定特定物种福利评估中应包含的因素变得更具挑战性。在为任何物种规划福利策略时，考虑其所有生物需求很重要，但这对一些动物园物种来说可能具有挑战性，而且不可能定义一种“一刀切”的福利策略。本文回顾了福利评估的不同方法，包括动物福利评估网格的开发，该网格提供了一种基于证据的工具，用于持续的福利评估，在适当情况下使用技术，以促进决策制定并改善动物的生活质量。
