Em Nau Farm BLOG

University of Edinburgh – Animal Welfare Course

Over the past month or so I have been undertaking a course through the University of Edinburgh - Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) faculty.  Basically the MOOCs are free courses and cover a range of interesting subjects with a Certificate of Attainment if you successfully complete the course.  I don’t get any qualifications out of it but the course I did (Animal Welfare) was a subject of interest and provide some interesting concepts and information. 

The course, as I said above, was spaced out over five weeks with each week covering a different subject on animal welfare.

-       Week One: Introduction, History, and Concepts of Animal Welfare.

      -       Week Two: Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Assessment.

      -       Week Three: Companion Animal Welfare.

      -       Week Four: Production Animal Welfare.

-       Week Five: Captive Wild Animal Welfare.

During week one, we considered what animal welfare is, the meanings and definitions of animal welfare and the history of animal welfare in different parts of the world and how views on animal welfare are influenced by cultural, social, economic, political and other factors

During week two we covered how animals show both short-term and long-term behavioural, physiological responses and immunological responses to challenges in their environment. We discussed how to use knowledge of animal physiology and both normal and abnormal behaviour as complementary approaches in the assessment of the welfare of an animal in its captive environment. We also discussed how to employ experimental techniques to try to understand animal emotions in relation to their living conditions, for example; to determine their preferences, or what they don't like or find aversive about a procedure or environment. These experimental techniques allowed us to ‘ask’ the animals how they feel about their environment. During week 2 we explored a variety of techniques used practically and experimentally to provide an insight into the animal’s experience of its world.

Week 3 was about cats and dogs.  In many countries dogs and cats are traditionally kept as pets in the home, with stray/abandoned or unwanted animals usually housed in shelters, where there are frequently questions about their behavioural needs. In other parts of the world dogs and cats may exist very successfully as part of a ‘community’ or as ‘street’ animals, and this existence also presents unique challenges and benefits to the welfare of these species. During week 3 we explored the place of dogs and cats in human society and how different attitudes and management styles impact on their welfare.

Week 4 was the hot topic of production animal welfare (farm animals). During the learnings of this phase of the course we gained an appreciation of the relevance of farm animal welfare and the issues that impact on production animal species. We also looked at the way that scientists have contributed to our understanding of the importance of these impacts from an animal's point of view. We explored societal concerns and the application of a scientific understanding of animal welfare within a variety of production systems.

During the fifth week we summarised key welfare issues relating to the management of captive wild animals in zoos. Primarily conservation-focussed, we discussed how the zoo community is becoming increasingly aware of the welfare concerns arising from the management of captive wild animals and is developing strategies to address these issues. We looked at the conflicts between welfare and conservation, the methods for assessing welfare within a zoo environment and the challenges associated with this.

The course was very beneficial to my understanding of why animals, be they farmed or companion animals, behave the way they do and how to best “read” the signs.  It was, coincidentally, also an ideal fit for the book by Temple Grandin I was reading called “Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals” which covered pretty much the same subjects.  Both the course and the book were great companion pieces to each other.