Liermann Frederike, Baumgartner Katrin, Simon Ralph, Will Hermann, von Fersen Lorenzo, Merle Roswitha, Thöne-Reineke Christa
Animal Behaviour and Laboratory Animal Science, Institute of Animal Welfare, Freie Universität Berlin, Königsweg 67, D-14163 Berlin, Germany.
Zoo Nuremberg, Am Tiergarten 30, D-90480 Nuremberg, Germany.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jun 25;15(13):1878. doi: 10.3390/ani15131878.
Flight is part of the natural behaviours of most bird species, and as a consequence, flight restraint in zoos, even for those species that are primarily ground-dwelling, encounters increasing animal welfare concerns. While previous studies on greater flamingos () and white pelicans () have found no significant effects of flight restraint on welfare, scientific data on other species remains limited. This study investigated the welfare implications of flight restraint in white storks () by assessing feather corticosterone concentrations (CORTf) alongside behavioural observations. We compared CORTf values of deflighted zoo birds ( = 53) and hand-reared abandoned nestlings ( = 11) from eleven different zoos in Germany and storks in rehabilitation. These birds were wild individuals, found injured, and therefore provided an opportunity to collect feather samples ( = 70). In line with the 3R principle proposed by Russell and Burch, we employed a recently validated, less invasive feather sampling method that involves cutting feathers close to the skin. We hypothesised that CORTf would differ significantly between the wild, airworthy storks and the deflighted individuals under human care. However, we found no significant difference in CORTf regarding the ability to fly, nor did the method of flight restraint show a significant influence on CORTf. Housing facilities with significant site-specific variations emerged as the predominant factor influencing feather corticosterone concentrations. These results suggest that flight restraint does not have a noticeable direct impact on the corticosterone levels of white storks, and the behavioural observations support the reliability of these findings. This study enhances our understanding of the effects of deflighting procedures on the welfare of white storks in zoos.
飞行是大多数鸟类的自然行为之一，因此，在动物园中限制鸟类飞行，即使是对于那些主要在地面活动的物种，也引发了越来越多的动物福利问题。虽然之前对大火烈鸟和白鹈鹕的研究发现限制飞行对其福利没有显著影响，但关于其他物种的科学数据仍然有限。本研究通过评估羽毛皮质酮浓度（CORTf）并结合行为观察，调查了白鹳飞行受限对其福利的影响。我们比较了来自德国11个不同动物园的被剪羽的圈养鸟类（n = 53）、人工饲养的弃巢雏鸟（n = 11）以及康复中的鹳的CORTf值。这些鸟均为野生个体，因受伤被发现，因此提供了采集羽毛样本的机会（n = 70）。根据拉塞尔和伯奇提出的3R原则，我们采用了一种最近经过验证的、侵入性较小的羽毛采样方法，即靠近皮肤剪取羽毛。我们假设野生、能够飞行的鹳与在人类照料下被剪羽的个体之间的CORTf会有显著差异。然而，我们发现CORTf在飞行能力方面没有显著差异，飞行限制方法对CORTf也没有显著影响。具有显著特定地点差异的饲养设施成为影响羽毛皮质酮浓度的主要因素。这些结果表明，飞行限制对白鹳的皮质酮水平没有明显的直接影响，行为观察也支持了这些发现的可靠性。本研究增进了我们对剪羽程序对动物园中白鹳福利影响的理解。
