Rhea Sarah, Camacho Blanca E, Amoriello Carrisa W, Correa Maria, Lewbart Gregory A, Cruz Marilyn, Vélez Alberto, Castillo Paulina, Pairis-Garcia Monique
College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA.
Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 13000, Uruguay.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Feb 16;13(4):686. doi: 10.3390/ani13040686.
Globally to date, established international standards for animal welfare, a priority of sustainable agriculture, have primarily focused on large-scale producers. However, across Latin America, including in Ecuador's Galápagos Islands, smallholder farms play a critical role in food safety and security. We assessed five basic animal welfare measures (feed and water access, shelter availability and housing systems, animal health management, animal behavior, and timely euthanasia) for poultry, pigs, and cattle on Floreana Island, Galápagos. Utilizing assessment standards from multiple US sources and international standards, we developed a questionnaire and used it to conduct in-depth interviews during 4-5 July 2022 with eight participating producers, representing 75% of animal agriculture on Floreana. While we identified opportunities to enhance competencies in animal health management and timely euthanasia, farms performed well in the other assessed measures. Future work should promote knowledge transfer and in-country capacity building in farm biosecurity, access to veterinary care, antimicrobial resistance surveillance, and euthanasia methods. Efforts to positively impact smallholder farm livelihoods in Galápagos-one of the most biodiverse and protected ecosystems on the planet-will sustainably support human health through the interconnected realms of animal health and welfare, wildlife and environmental health, and food safety and security.
迄今为止，在全球范围内，作为可持续农业优先事项的既定国际动物福利标准主要侧重于大规模生产者。然而，在拉丁美洲各地，包括厄瓜多尔的加拉帕戈斯群岛，小农户农场在食品安全和保障方面发挥着关键作用。我们评估了加拉帕戈斯群岛弗洛雷纳岛上家禽、猪和牛的五项基本动物福利措施（饲料和水的获取、庇护所的可用性和饲养系统、动物健康管理、动物行为以及及时安乐死）。我们利用来自美国多个来源的评估标准和国际标准，编制了一份问卷，并于2022年7月4日至5日对八名参与的生产者进行了深入访谈，这些生产者占弗洛雷纳岛动物农业的75%。虽然我们发现了提高动物健康管理和及时安乐死能力的机会，但农场在其他评估措施方面表现良好。未来的工作应促进农场生物安全、获得兽医护理、抗菌药物耐药性监测和安乐死方法方面的知识转移和国内能力建设。在加拉帕戈斯群岛——地球上生物多样性最丰富、保护最完善的生态系统之一——努力对小农户农场生计产生积极影响，将通过动物健康与福利、野生动物与环境卫生以及食品安全与保障等相互关联的领域，可持续地支持人类健康。
