Brunt Michael W, Haley Derek B, LeBlanc Stephen J, Kelton David F
Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
Front Vet Sci. 2023 Dec 18;10:1325087. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1325087. eCollection 2023.
Improving the lives of animals in agricultural systems has primarily focused on minimizing negative experiences. Research is needed on the promotion of positive experiences (pleasure, enjoyment, play, choice, happiness) for animals and the role of veterinarians in their promotion. Our aims were to describe how Canadian bovine veterinarians and veterinary students perceive the role of a veterinarian in positive vs. negative experiences for dairy cows and to analyze the rationale provided to explain their answers. Canadian veterinary practitioners ( = 78) and veterinary students ( = 148) responded to an online cross-sectional survey and were asked, on a 7-point scale, how important the role of a veterinarian is to promote practices that influence the experience of dairy cows. We used qualitative description to analyse participants' open-ended text responses. Practices to minimize negative experiences were most important (mean ± SE; 6.8 ± 0.03), a balance of positive and negative experiences was less important (6.4 ± 0.05), and encouragement of positive experiences scored lowest (6.0 ± 0.06), although all scored highly. Four themes were identified to explain participants' reasoning regarding their perceived role of a veterinarian in the promotion of dairy cattle welfare, centered on: the animal, the producer, the veterinarian, and society. Participants indicated that promoting positive experiences was less important than decreasing negative experiences (5.9 ± 0.09). There were four themes identified to explain participants' reasoning regarding the relative importance of promotion of positive experiences versus decreasing negative experiences which centered on: frameworks to compare positive and negative experiences, impacts on the animal, the participant's view of their role, and the practicality of implementation. These results indicate modest differences in valuing avoidance of negative vs. promotion of positive welfare. There were no differences in the quantitative analyses between veterinarians and veterinary students. We conclude that veterinarians are favorably disposed to positive aspects of welfare for dairy cows but may be more focussed on avoidance of negative aspects of welfare.
改善农业系统中动物的生活主要集中在尽量减少负面经历。需要开展研究，以促进动物的积极体验（愉悦、享受、玩耍、选择、幸福）以及兽医在促进这些体验方面的作用。我们的目的是描述加拿大牛兽医和兽医学生如何看待兽医在奶牛正面与负面体验中的作用，并分析他们给出答案的理由。加拿大兽医从业者（n = 78）和兽医学生（n = 148）对一项在线横断面调查做出了回应，并被要求在7分制量表上评价兽医在促进影响奶牛体验的实践方面的重要性。我们采用定性描述方法分析参与者的开放式文本回答。尽量减少负面体验的实践最为重要（均值±标准误；6.8±0.03），平衡正面和负面体验的重要性次之（6.4±0.05），鼓励正面体验的得分最低（6.0±0.06），不过所有得分都很高。确定了四个主题来解释参与者关于他们所认为的兽医在促进奶牛福利方面作用的推理，这些主题围绕：动物、生产者、兽医和社会。参与者表示，促进正面体验不如减少负面体验重要（5.9±0.09）。确定了四个主题来解释参与者关于促进正面体验与减少负面体验相对重要性的推理，这些主题围绕：比较正面和负面体验的框架、对动物的影响、参与者对自身角色的看法以及实施的可行性。这些结果表明，在重视避免负面福利与促进正面福利方面存在适度差异。兽医和兽医学生在定量分析中没有差异。我们得出结论，兽医倾向于奶牛福利的积极方面，但可能更侧重于避免福利的负面方面。
