Rioja-Lang Fiona C, Connor Melanie, Bacon Heather, Dwyer Cathy M
Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK.
Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Department of Animal and Veterainry Sciences, Central Faculty, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Edinburgh EH9 3JG, UK.
Animals (Basel). 2020 Apr 9;10(4):647. doi: 10.3390/ani10040647.
Equine welfare issues are receiving increasing attention in the UK, but welfare problems can arise from a wide range of causes. In order to identify the most important welfare concerns for horses, we used a Delphi method with 19 equine welfare experts. An initial list of 84 equine welfare issues was generated using an online discussion board and NVivo thematic analysis. Subsequently, experts ranked these welfare issues for perceived prevalence, severity and duration of suffering associated with each issue on a 6-point Likert scale. All issues with a mean score of 3 or above ( = 37) were included in subsequent rounds. Finally, a subset of experts attended a two-day workshop to determine the final priority list of welfare issues. The welfare issues perceived to be most prevalent were lack of biosecurity, delayed euthanasia, lack of owner knowledge of equine welfare needs, fear and stress from use, and obesity. The issues considered to cause greatest suffering for individual horses were delayed euthanasia, lack of recognition by owners of pain behaviour, large worm burdens, obesity and being fed unsuitable diets for equine feeding behaviour. These outcomes can help to focus research and education interventions on the most pressing welfare issues for horses.
在英国，马的福利问题正受到越来越多的关注，但福利问题可能由多种原因引起。为了确定马最重要的福利问题，我们对19位马福利专家采用了德尔菲法。通过在线讨论板和NVivo主题分析生成了一份包含84个马福利问题的初始清单。随后，专家们根据每个问题的感知患病率、严重程度以及与之相关的痛苦持续时间，在6点李克特量表上对这些福利问题进行排序。平均得分3分及以上的所有问题（共37个）被纳入后续轮次。最后，一部分专家参加了为期两天的研讨会，以确定福利问题的最终优先清单。被认为最普遍的福利问题是生物安全措施不足、安乐死延迟、马主对马的福利需求缺乏了解、使用过程中的恐惧和压力以及肥胖。被认为给个体马匹带来最大痛苦的问题是安乐死延迟、马主对疼痛行为缺乏认知、寄生虫负担重、肥胖以及所喂饲料不符合马的进食行为习惯。这些结果有助于将研究和教育干预重点放在马最紧迫的福利问题上。
