Publications by authors named "Barbara De Mori"

Veterinarians face ethical challenges during their careers, but despite evidence of work-related stress and burnout in veterinarians, moral distress has been poorly investigated. Using an online survey, professional experience, moral distress, and burnout were investigated in 704 Italian veterinarians caring for companion animals, farm animals, or both. The reliability of the moral distress questionnaire was optimal, and Factor analysis identified four factors for moral distress: I.

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Ensuring animal welfare is a key aspect of animal management in zoological facilities and aquaria, representing a pivotal facet of their mission. Italy currently lacks a comprehensive and valuable assessment methodology for evaluating the welfare of captive animals. To address this gap, the present study aimed to identify the most important criteria that should be considered in the welfare management and assessment of animals housed in Italian zoos and aquaria.

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Article Synopsis
  • Genome Resources Banks (GRBs) are essential for collecting and managing genetic material to protect biodiversity for research and conservation purposes.
  • They help in species preservation and genetic management, particularly for endangered animals, by storing genetic information securely to counteract population risks.
  • The article discusses the ethical concerns around wildlife biobanking practices and suggests using a tool called ETHAS to ensure these procedures maintain high ethical standards throughout their development and operation.
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  • Assisted reproductive technologies are being used to help save endangered rhinoceros species, including the Southern and Northern white rhinoceroses.
  • Researchers successfully generated in vitro blastocysts from these species, with 22 blastocysts from the Northern white and 19 from the Southern white rhinoceros.
  • This innovative approach aims to address the urgent need for reproductive strategies as rhinoceros populations decline, especially since the Northern white rhino is functionally extinct.
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South Africa's wide range of animal facilities offers many different types of Animal-Visitor Interactions, wild animal encounters where animals and visitors come closer than in normal circumstances. The aim of this study was to provide a map of the ethically relevant aspects involved in AVIs in South Africa as a first step towards regulating these activities. A participative approach based on the ethical matrix, a tool which organizes the ethical standings of the stakeholders by three bearing ethical principles (wellbeing, autonomy, fairness), was applied.

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Achieving ethically responsible decisions is crucial for the success of biodiversity conservation projects. We adapted the ethical matrix, decision tree, and Bateson's cube to assist in the ethical analysis of complex conservation scenarios by structuring these tools so that they can implement the different value dimensions (environmental, social, and animal welfare) involved in conservation ethics. We then applied them to a case study relative to the decision-making process regarding whether or not to continue collecting biomaterial on the oldest of the two remaining northern white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), a functionally extinct subspecies of the white rhinoceros.

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Nowadays, most zoos have taken prominent and active positions in endangered species conservation and educating visitors about the value of biodiversity. However, to be effective and trusted in their mission, they must act ethically and have a good reputation. Yet, the drivers that can influence their reputation are still little investigated, and there are still few studies focused on assessing the reputation of these institutions.

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Animal-Visitor Interactions (AVI) are activities offered by zoos and other tourism facilities, in which visitors come into close contact with animals. These activities can promote conservational and educational content, raise conservation mindedness and responsibility for the environment and animal welfare, but if not properly managed can jeopardize visitors' and animals' well-being and conservation efforts. The Animal-Visitor Interaction assessment Protocol (AVIP) has been designed to perform an integrated and multidisciplinary assessment of these activities, encompassing the "One Health, One Welfare" approach.

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Most people lack direct experience with wildlife and form their risk perception primarily on information provided by the media. The way the media frames news may substantially shape public risk perception, promoting or discouraging public tolerance towards wildlife. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, bats were suggested as the most plausible reservoir of the virus, and this became a recurrent topic in media reports, potentially strengthening a negative view of this ecologically important group.

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Article Synopsis
  • ARTs, initially used for domestic and lab animals, are now being applied in wildlife conservation to enhance genetic management and increase population numbers.
  • The use of ARTs in wildlife raises ethical concerns that haven't been thoroughly examined yet.
  • This study introduces an ethical analysis framework based on the Ethical Matrix (EM) and uses ovum pick-up (OPU) procedures for the northern white rhinoceros as a case study to guide similar assessments for other endangered species.
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Article Synopsis
  • - The mass extinction of animal species, driven largely by human actions like habitat destruction, is leading to a significant loss of biodiversity globally.
  • - Traditional zoo breeding programs are evolving to incorporate assisted reproduction technologies (ART), including techniques like artificial insemination and in-vitro embryo generation, to help conserve endangered species.
  • - Advanced ART methods, such as cloning and stem-cell techniques, are being developed to further support species preservation, utilizing cryopreservation and biobanking to maximize genetic diversity and improve the chances of restoring populations.
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This study aimed to investigate how three groups of people of differing ages, and with differing knowledge of the species, perceived the emotional state of African elephants () managed in captive and semi-captive environments. Fifteen video-clips of 18 elephants, observed during three different daily routines (release from and return to the night ; interactions with visitors), were used for a free choice profiling assessment (FCP) and then analyzed with quantitative methods. A general Procrustes analysis identified two main descriptive dimensions of elephant behavioral expression explaining 27% and 19% of the variability in the children group, 19% and 23.

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Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) can make a difference in biodiversity conservation. Their application, however, can create risks and raise ethical issues that need addressing. Unfortunately, there is a lack of attention to the topic in the scientific literature and, to our knowledge, there is no tool for the ethical assessment of ARTs in the context of conservation that has been described.

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Elephants are charismatic, cognitively highly-developed animals, whose management conditions can vary along a "wild-captive continuum." Several protocols have been proposed for the assessment of zoo elephants' welfare. It is important to investigate the possible limitations, if any, of extending findings from zoo elephants to conspecifics in a different dynamic in said "wild-captive continuum.

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Due to the popularity of wild animal-visitor interactions (AVIs), there is a need for an ethical assessment of their impact on animal welfare, education, and conservation. The protocol presented in this study is designed to evaluate such interactions on an integrated level, using a transparent analysis of all the aspects involved, including all the stakeholders and the potential conflicts of values. The protocol consists of a six-step process encompassing dedicated data acquisition and a specific ethical assessment.

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In recent years, awareness of the controversial aspects connected with wild animal-visitor interactions (AVIs) in zoos and other facilities has increased due to cultural changes. Therefore, the need to apply transparent procedures to evaluate AVIs programs in zoos and similar facilities has also increased. This study presents results of animal welfare's assessment of a pilot test of a protocol based on six steps that aim to explore and assess the overall value of AVIs considering the impact both on animals and visitors.

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Space allowance and resource dispersion is recognised as an important factor affecting the welfare of elephants in captivity. In the present pilot study, we investigated distances kept among individuals in an artificially created semi-captive mixed-sex group of African elephants, when individuals were free to disperse. The study involved a herd of six elephants, three females (aged 11 to 16years), and three males (aged 15 to 23years).

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