The Longevity Legacy: The Challenges of Old Animals in Zoos
As knowledge of husbandry has improved with the keeping of wild animals in zoos over the last 200 years, so longevity has also improved, bringing with it challenges owing to the development of pathologies associated with ageing. In this chapter, the principal skeletal and dental pathologies of aged zoo mammals are described, and the results […]
Euthanasia of Geriatric Zoo Animals: Decision-Making and Procedure
The majority of animals cared for by modern zoos now live longer than their wild counterparts. This increase in both mean and maximum lifespan has resulted in a greater number of individuals which can be termed aged or geriatric (henceforth geriatric) resulting in an increased number of individuals with age-related pathologies. A wide range of […]
Quality-of-Life Assessments in Zoo Animals: Not Just for the Aged and Charismatic
Zoos should aim to provide all of their animals with a good quality of life (QoL) throughout all life stages. In parallel with the evolution of QoL assessment questionnaires and tools in human and domestic animal settings, in recent times, some individual zoos and zoo industry associations have incorporated such instruments into their animal management […]
Evaluation of Targeted Injections of Ivermectin or Potassium Chloride for Euthanasia of Anesthetized Thorny Devil Stick Insects (Eurycantha calcarata)
Insects are commonly utilized in biomedical research and have become increasingly popular in museum collections and as pets. Despite this, objective evaluation of insect euthanasia is scarce. This study investigated the effectiveness of targeted injections of ivermectin or potassium chloride (KCl) for the euthanasia of anesthetized thorny devil stick insects (Eurycantha calcarata). Ten clinically healthy […]
Effects of physiological changes and social life events on adrenal glucocorticoid activity in female zoo-housed Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)
Ensuring good health and welfare is an increasingly important consideration for conservation of endangered species and includes breeding of individuals managed under human care. Understanding how factors in the captive environment affect individual animal wellbeing can be aided by long-term monitoring of biological functioning. This study involved longitudinal assessments (4 to 28 years) of reproductive […]
Euthanasia of rats with carbon dioxide-animal welfare aspects
A method of inducing euthanasia by carbon dioxide (CO2) inhalation in the home cage of an animal is described and tested for distress by behavioural as well as by hormonal measures. The animals were maintained in their home cage while CO2 was induced at a flow of 6 l/min. The behaviour of the animals was […]
Dosage trials with transmucosal carfentanil citrate in non-human primates
Abstract 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2361(1999)18:53.3.CO;2-L The traditional method of immobilizing non-human primates involves remote-delivery injection of anesthetic agents. Orally delivered, transmucosally absorbed opioids have been shown to be a non-stressful alternative method of pre-anesthetic drug administration in children and adults [Stanley et al., 1989]. This report describes several cases using transmucosal carfentanil in non-human primates to determine whether […]
Welfare of animals: Introduction
Animal welfare and animal behavior are tightly linked with behaviors commonly used as indicators of an animal’s welfare. Behaviors keep animals healthy and they indicate disease and distress. This introductory article, and those that follow in this section, points out a wide variety of connections between the two disciplines and notes differences between them as […]
Is ‘a life worth living’ a concept worth having?
A recent FAWC report introduced ‘a life worth living’ as a useful concept in farm animal welfare discussions and policy. But what does this concept mean? And is it a useful one? This paper extends FAWC’s approach in several ways. It firstly provides an account of the concept of a life worth living in more […]
Euthanasia methods, corticosterone and haematocrit levels in Xenopus laevis: evidence for differences in stress?
Amphibians, like other vertebrates, respond to acute stressors by releasing glucocorticoid steroid hormones that mediate physiological and behavioural responses to stress. Measurement of stress hormones provides a potential means to improve the welfare of laboratory animals. For example, manipulations of laboratory housing and procedures combined with measurement of glucocorticoids may identify which conditions are more […]