An assessment of future rewilding potential in the United Kingdom.

Restoring ecosystems is an imperative for addressing biodiversity loss and climate change, and achieving the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. One form of restoration, rewilding, may have particular promise but may also be precluded by requirements for other forms of land use now or in the future. This opportunity space is critical but challenging to assess.

Use of an expert elicitation methodology to compare welfare impacts of two approaches for blood sampling European badgers () in the field.

In the UK and Republic of Ireland, the European badger () is considered the most significant wildlife reservoir of the bacterium , the cause of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). To expand options for bTB surveillance and disease control, the Animal and Plant Health Agency developed a bespoke physical restraint cage to facilitate collection of a small blood sample from a restrained, conscious badger in the field. A key step, prior to pursuing operational deployment of the novel restraint cage, was an assessment of the relative welfare impacts of the approach.

Behavioral responses to offshore windfarms during migration of a declining shorebird species revealed by GPS-telemetry.

EU member countries and the UK are currently installing numerous offshore windfarms (OWFs) in the Baltic and North Seas to achieve decarbonization of their energy systems. OWFs may have adverse effects on birds; however, estimates of collision risks and barrier effects for migratory species are notably lacking, but are essential to inform marine spatial planning. We therefore compiled an international dataset consisting of 259 migration tracks for 143 Global Positioning System-tagged Eurasian curlews (Numenius arquata arquata) from seven European countries recorded over 6 years, to assess individual response behaviors when approaching OWFs in the North and Baltic Seas at two different spatial scales (i.

Seven steps to enhance Open Science practices in animal science.

The Open Science movement aims at ensuring accessibility, reproducibility, and transparency of research. The adoption of Open Science practices in animal science, however, is still at an early stage. To move ahead as a field, we here provide seven practical steps to embrace Open Science in animal science.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on animal behaviour and welfare researchers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many changes in the way research is conducted. Some specific groups (e.g.

Humanely Ending the Life of Animals: Research Priorities to Identify Alternatives to Carbon Dioxide.

The use of carbon dioxide (CO) for stunning and killing animals is considered to compromise welfare due to air hunger, anxiety, fear, and pain. Despite decades of research, no alternatives have so far been found that provide a safe and reliable way to induce unconsciousness in groups of animals, and also cause less distress than CO. Here, we revisit the current and historical literature to identify key research questions that may lead to the identification and implementation of more humane alternatives to induce unconsciousness in mice, rats, poultry, and pigs.

The 3Rs and Humane Experimental Technique: Implementing Change.

In 1959, the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) Scholars Russell & Burch published the Principles of Humane Experimental Technique in which they laid out the principles of the Three Rs. However, the Three Rs owed much to others. It was UFAW and, in particular, UFAW's Founder and Director, Major Charles Hume who identified the problem that needed to be tackled, and who developed the non-confrontational approach that was needed to both formulate the questions that needed answers and to obtain the answers from the research community.

Alternatives to Carbon Dioxide-Taking Responsibility for Humanely Ending the Life of Animals.

Carbon dioxide (CO) is commonly used to kill rodents. However, a large body of research has now established that CO is aversive to them. A multidisciplinary symposium organized by the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office discussed the drawbacks and alternatives to CO in euthanasia protocols for laboratory animals.

Opportunities for refinement in neuroscience: Indicators of wellness and post-operative pain in laboratory macaques.

Being able to assess pain in nonhuman primates undergoing biomedical procedures is important for preventing and alleviating pain, and for developing better guidelines to minimise the impacts of research on welfare in line with the 3Rs principle of Refinement. Nonhuman primates are routinely used biomedical models however it remains challenging to recognise negative states, including pain, in these animals. This study aimed to identify behavioural and facial changes that could be used as pain or general wellness indicators in the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta).

The Use of a Mechanical Non-Penetrating Captive Bolt Device for the Euthanasia of Neonate Lambs.

A non-penetrating captive bolt device, powered by a 1-grain 0.22″ cartridge delivering a calculated kinetic energy of 47 Joules was tested as a euthanasia method on 200 neonate lambs of 4.464 kg (SD (Standard deviation) ± 1.

The Use of a Non-Penetrating Captive Bolt for the Euthanasia of Neonate Piglets.

The most common method for the on-farm euthanasia of neonate piglets is reported to be manual blunt force trauma. This paper presents the results of research to evaluate a mechanical non-penetrating captive bolt (the Accles and Shelvoke CASH small animal tool, Birmingham, UK) to produce an immediate stun/kill with neonate piglets. One hundred and forty-seven piglets (average dead weight = 1.

Dispersal: a matter of scale.

Population density around the natal site is often invoked as an explanation for variation in dispersal distance, with the expectation that competition for limiting resources, coupled with increased intra-specific aggression at high densities, should drive changes in dispersal distances. However, tests of the density-dependent dispersal hypothesis in long-lived vertebrates have yielded mixed results. Furthermore, conclusions from dispersal studies may depend on the spatial and temporal scales at which density and dispersal patterns are examined, yet multi-scale studies of dispersal are rare.

Mineral analysis of complete dog and cat foods in the UK and compliance with European guidelines.

Mineral content of complete pet food is regulated to ensure health of the companion animal population. Analysis of adherence to these regulatory guidelines has not been conducted. Here, mineral composition of complete wet (n = 97) and dry (n = 80) canine and feline pet food sold in the UK was measured to assess compliance with EU guidelines.

When 'Sanctity of Life' and 'Self-Determination' clash: Briggs versus Briggs [2016] EWCOP 53 - implications for policy and practice.

In a landmark judgment in the English Court of Protection, the judge (Charles J) found it to be in the best interests of a minimally conscious patient for clinically assisted nutrition and hydration (CANH) to be withdrawn, with the inevitable consequence that the patient would die. In making this judgment, it was accepted that the patient's level of consciousness - if CANH were continued and rehabilitation provided - might improve, and that he might become capable of expressing emotions and making simple choices. The decision to withdraw treatment relied on a best interests decision, which gave great weight to the patient's past wishes, feelings, values and beliefs, and brought a 'holistic' approach to understanding what this particular patient would have wanted.

Mineral status in canine medial coronoid process disease: a cohort study using analysis of hair by mass spectrometry.

In several species, developmental skeletal diseases involving abnormal endochondral ossification have been associated with imbalanced mineral intake. Hair analysis reflects long-term mineral status. To determine the mineral content of hair from dogs with or without medial coronoid process disease (MCPD).

A Good Death? Report of the Second Newcastle Meeting on Laboratory Animal Euthanasia.

Millions of laboratory animals are killed each year worldwide. There is an ethical, and in many countries also a legal, imperative to ensure those deaths cause minimal suffering. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding what methods of killing are humane for many species and stages of development.

Impact of anti-inflammatories, beta-blockers and antibiotics on leaf litter breakdown in freshwaters.

Pharmaceuticals are now recognised as important pollutants in freshwater systems, but a shortcoming of effects studies is that they have focused on structural endpoints and impacts on ecosystem functioning are poorly understood. The decomposition of organic matter is an important functional process in aquatic systems, and it is known that this can be impacted by the presence of pollutants. Previous studies on leaf litter breakdown have only considered the effects of antibiotics and not other groups of drugs though.

Phenotype-limited distributions: short-billed birds move away during times that prey bury deeply.

In our seasonal world, animals face a variety of environmental conditions in the course of the year. To cope with such seasonality, animals may be phenotypically flexible, but some phenotypic traits are fixed. If fixed phenotypic traits are functionally linked to resource use, then animals should redistribute in response to seasonally changing resources, leading to a 'phenotype-limited' distribution.