Piseddu Andrea, van Zeeland Yvonne Ra, Rault Jean-Loup
Centre for Animal Nutrition and Welfare, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
Division of Zoological Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 108, 3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Anim Welf. 2024 Dec 5;33:e57. doi: 10.1017/awf.2024.61. eCollection 2024.
Parrots are popular companion animals but show prevalent and at times severe welfare issues. Nonetheless, there are no scientific tools available to assess parrot welfare. The aim of this systematic review was to identify valid and feasible outcome measures that could be used as welfare indicators for companion parrots. From 1,848 peer-reviewed studies retrieved, 98 met our inclusion and exclusion criteria (e.g. experimental studies, captive parrots). For each outcome collected, validity was assessed based on the statistical significance reported by the authors, as other validity parameters were rarely provided for evaluation. Feasibility was assigned by considering the need for specific instruments, veterinary-level expertise or handling the parrot. A total of 1,512 outcomes were evaluated, of which 572 had a significant -value and were considered feasible. These included changes in behaviour (e.g. activity level, social interactions, exploration), body measurements (e.g. body weight, plumage condition) and abnormal behaviours, amongst others. Many physical and physiological parameters were identified that either require experimental validation, or veterinary-level skills and expertise, limiting their potential use by parrot owners themselves. Moreover, a high risk of bias undermined the internal validity of these outcomes, while a strong taxonomic bias, a predominance of studies on parrots in laboratories, and an underrepresentation of companion parrots jeopardised their external validity. These results provide a promising starting point for validating a set of welfare indicators in parrots.
鹦鹉是受欢迎的伴侣动物，但存在普遍且有时严重的福利问题。然而，目前尚无科学工具可用于评估鹦鹉福利。本系统评价的目的是确定可作为伴侣鹦鹉福利指标的有效且可行的结果指标。从检索到的1848项同行评审研究中，98项符合我们的纳入和排除标准（如实验研究、圈养鹦鹉）。对于收集到的每个结果，根据作者报告的统计学显著性评估其有效性，因为很少提供其他有效性参数用于评估。通过考虑对特定仪器、兽医水平的专业知识或处理鹦鹉的需求来确定可行性。总共评估了1512个结果，其中572个具有显著的p值且被认为可行。这些包括行为变化（如活动水平、社交互动、探索）、身体测量（如体重、羽毛状况）和异常行为等。许多生理和生理参数要么需要实验验证，要么需要兽医水平的技能和专业知识，这限制了鹦鹉主人自身对它们的潜在使用。此外，高偏倚风险削弱了这些结果的内部有效性，而强烈的分类学偏倚、实验室中鹦鹉研究的主导地位以及伴侣鹦鹉代表性不足危及了它们的外部有效性。这些结果为验证一组鹦鹉福利指标提供了一个有希望的起点。
