An attempt was made to encourage more foraging behaviour in eight pair-housed adult rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). No special device and no special food were used Daily commercial dry food rations (238g per animal) consisting of 33 bar-shaped or 16 star-shaped biscuits per animal were placed on the mesh ceiling of the cages instead of in the feed-boxes. This induced an 80-fold increase (17.0 vs 1362.9s) and 289-fold increase (12.3 vs 3551.4s), respectively, in foraging time. The animals spent on average 9.6 per cent and 24.7 per cent respectively, of four-hour observation sessions foraging for biscuits from the mesh ceiling. Working for their food did not discourage them from eating all left-overs in the course of a day regardless of the shape of the biscuits.

It was concluded that the new feeding procedure enhanced the animals’ behavioural well-being by encouraging foraging activities thereby helping to counteract understimulation.

A comparison was made of the behaviour of budgerigars housed singly in commercially available cages obtained from a pet supplier, and budgerigars housed in a group of six in a small aviary. Budgerigars housed in the aviary consumed significantly more food and were more active, performing more wing stretching and flying. Caged budgerigars performed significantly more vocalizations. When tested individually, aviary birds were more active in a novel test chamber and were significantly more likely to approach an unfamiliar bird. Cage birds were generally reluctant to approach an unfamiliar bird, but showed an increasing tendency to approach when allowed a longer period of familiarization. Pet budgerigars are commonly housed in isolation from conspecifics, with little consideration of potential effects on welfare. The aim of this study was to provide some initial information about the effects of social isolation on the behaviour of budgerigars.

Electronic microchip implants were used to identify groups of crab-eating (Macaca fascicularis) and rhesus (Macaca mulatta) macaques. They were implanted in different body sites and monitored for up to fifteen months. One group of rhesus macaques was trained to present the wrist in which the microchip was placed, to enable it to be read easily with the scanner. An improved method of permanently identifying primates will lead to better record keeping and could benefit the animals’ welfare.

Conventional cages for laying hens have many disadvantages for welfare and there have been widespread calls for them to be banned. However, they also have advantages: in particular, they house the birds in small groups. Modified designs intended to reduce the disadvantages while retaining the advantages have included the get-away cage (providing perches and other facilities for up to 60 birds), but these designs have not yet had much success. The Edinburgh project on modified cages has adopted a stage-by-stage, systematic approach to cage design. Recommendations include increased area and height compared to conventional cages, and inclusion of a perch, a nest box and a dust bath. Current trials combine all these features in designs with commercial potential One remaining welfare problem is restriction of locomotion, with associated effects on bone strength However, alternative, non-cage husbandry systems for laying hens also have welfare problems, including those associated with large group sizes, and these problems may be worse than those in modified cages. Probably most important is the risk of cannibalism - or the practice of beak trimming to prevent it. Rather than banning cages, it might be more appropriate for legislation to specify the facilities which should be provided for laying hens.

In the current state of development of alternative systems, modifying cages for laying hens could on balance be more beneficial to welfare than banning them.

Introduction

Guidelines have been formulated by the European Community (EC 1986) to cover housing conditions for laboratory animals. These guidelines are based essentially on common practice of housing laboratory animals and on limited data concerning relations between housing conditions and either animal growth or development of pathologies. Further information on this subject is required to optimize housing conditions of laboratory animals.

The Compassion in World Farming Trust (CIWF Trust; formerly the Athene Trust) has just published a straightforward account and criticism of the slaughter methods currently being used on broiler chickens in the UK. The printed document is backed-up by a four minute video, made by CIWF Trust and the National Society Against Factory Farming, which shows in vivid close-up what happens to chickens from their arrival in the slaughterhouse until they are placed on the supermarket shelf.

This volume contains the published proceedings of a conference held in late 1991 on institutional compliance with USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) regulations for the well-being of canines and non-human primates in research. The regulations have been criticized and were the subject of legal proceedings even before they were implemented. In February 1993, Judge Richey ruled that the sections concerning dogs and non-human primates were unlawful. So this is a publication that is, not only specific to the United States legal requirements but also, has to some extent been overtaken by events. Some of the papers review the available literature to support their theses, while others are reports of management practices at various institutions. After each paper there are transcripts of question and answer sessions which often suffer from a lack of structure and style. The first half of the book considers dogs, and in this section the emphasis is on the USDA requirements for space and exercise. These are important matters, particularly when the legislation only requires that the cage should be the square of the dog's length plus six inches! Having said that, in the introductory paper Wolfie points out, quite correctly, that far more is known about the social needs of dogs, and that these seem to be more important than small differences in cage or pen size.

Eurogroup for Animal Welfare - the organization which represents the leading animal welfare societies in the twelve member states of the European Community (EC) - has taken upon itself the tedious task of producing, at intervals, an updated summary of animal welfare legislation at the level of the EC and the Council of Europe (C of E).

Each year the many animal welfare societies in the UK publish their annual reports. Some of these numerous publications are of more general interest and value than others. The Annual Pictorial Review of Advocates for Animals (previously the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Vivisection) is one of the better ones.

In response to the growing interest in animal welfare within the world veterinary community, the World Veterinary Association (WVA) in 1988 set up an Animal Welfare Committee. At the 24th WVA Congress held in Rio de Janeiro in August 1991, there were a number of papers given on the welfare of animals used and managed by man.

This publication in the (US) National Library of Medicine's renowned Current Bibliographies in Medicine, is the ninth in a continuing series produced each year since 1984 on laboratory animal welfare. The current issue, which has been prepared by F P Gluckstein, is made up of eighty-six selected and annotated citations and covers the period January to December 1991. The entries are classified under some ten headings ranging from Historical Aspects through Replacement, Reduction, Refinement, and Biomedical Education and Training, to Monographs and Bibliographies.

In November 1991 the UC Center for Animal Alternatives was established within the nine campuses of the University of California. It is sited at the School of Veterinary Medicine on the Davis campus and is headed by Dr Lynette Hart. The stated aim of the Center for Animal Alternatives (CAA) is to build on the concept of the Three Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) of Russell and Burch but, as replacement and reduction are being widely tackled in several other places, to concentrate on refinement factors which may affect the well-being of the animals being used by man.

In 1989 the British Veterinary Association; the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experimentation; the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare set up a working party to run a series of workshops on the ways in which common scientific procedures could be refined to minimize any pain or distress caused to laboratory animals. Any reduction in these adverse effects not only has the potential to improve the welfare of the animals; it could also improve the quality of scientific research, in that suffering can often result in physiological and other changes which are likely to mask or interfere with the experimental results.

The development of intensive livestock production systems over the last forty or so years has resulted in large numbers of animals being looked after by relatively small numbers of stockmen. This widening of the animal: man ratio has been made possible by the increasing use of mechanical and electronic (computer) devices to maintain, manipulate and monitor these intensively kept animals. Nowadays it is possible to warm/ventilate and clean out animal houses by means of carefully engineered control systems; cows can be automatically milked; pigs can be permitted/refused access to a ‘help yourself’ feeding station according to the identification code held within their neck collar; poultry can have their body-weights regularly monitored and the stockman can be informed when the flock's weight gain deviates significantly from a preset norm. There are many potential production and welfare advantages to be gained from the use of these mechanical and electronic devices - there are also potential disadvantages, for example reduction in the stockman's contact with the individual animal, the danger of power cuts.

A new quarterly newsletter, The Shape of Enrichment focuses on environmental and behavioural enrichment for captive animals. In an easy to read, desk top published format, the newsletter is produced on double-sided A4 and stapled, with black and white photographs, line-drawings and clip art throughout. The Shape of Enrichment has feature articles on general enrichment topics and regular columns on browse, feeding programme, behaviour and exhibit design and construction. The ‘Shorts’ section includes brief practical advice on particular enrichment techniques and the Letters section adds to the sharing of ideas that this publication promotes.

This most useful annotated list of some 237 audio-visual presentations (video-cassettes and slide sets with associated audio-cassettes) relating to animal care, use and welfare has been prepared by D'Anna J Berry of the USDA National Agricultural Library's Animal Welfare Information Center. Audio-visual material can be produced for instruction, for education and for indoctrination and there are numerous examples of each of these in this catalogue. The subjects covered range from animal welfare/rights through research techniques used on animals, the care/husbandry of farm, companion and laboratory animals, to alternatives and the justification for biomedical research. The items listed were produced mainly in the 1980s and 1990s; each is described and commented on and the name and location of the producing organization is given (as in a book reference) but the detailed postal address is not. This makes it a little difficult for non-US residents - the material listed can, apparently, be borrowed by any US library but not by potential overseas users - they would have to approach the producing organizations directly. Nevertheless, this is a useful and informative catalogue of the audio-visual material available in the animal welfare field.

The statutory provisions relating to the welfare of animals on the farm are somewhat complex and are scattered throughout a large number of Acts and Regulations/Orders. They may not therefore be easily understood and followed by the average farmer or stock keeper. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) is to be congratulated on producing a much needed, short, clear summary of the main points covered in the various pieces of legislation. The summary of the law relating to certain routine surgical operations eg castration is particularly well done. Details of who may carry out which operation, on which particular species and age range of animals, and under what anaesthetic regime (if any) is clearly laid out in a series of seven detailed species-orientated tables.

In 1989 the International Primatological Society (IPS) published an outline of general principles relating to the welfare and use of primates. These were followed in 1993 by very much more detailed codes of practice specifying requirements for physical and psychological welfare. The two sets of guidelines are complimentary, and to improve ease of access have now been published together as one volume. However, in the process a few typographical errors have crept in. Most of the use of non-human primates still occurs outside the source countries, but studies using primates are constantly changing. There are moves away from using wild caught animals towards captive bred supplies (sometimes within the countries of origin) and research in source countries is increasing. The use of primates cuts across national boundaries and there is a clear need for international agreement on the necessary standards. These guidelines, which have been produced as a synthesis of international expertise, are a step in the right direction and should help to persuade those whose regulations are not up to the mark.

This publication, which is reprinted from the journal Laboratory Animals 1993, 27: 93-107, was drawn up by the Laboratory Animal Breeders Association and the Laboratory Animal Science Association in alliance with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry; the British Laboratory Animal Veterinary Association; the Institute of Animal Technology; the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare; the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate of the Home Office, and with comments from the Research Animals Department of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. These various organizations had one common aim in mind: the improvement of the condition and thus the welfare of laboratory animals during transit. The guidelines start with an introductory section on the general requirements of animals in transit and this is followed by detailed information on the needs of the various species. The material is clearly presented and there are a number of drawings of transport containers reprinted from the International Air Transport Association's Live Animals Regulations. This is a very useful, concise and informative document. The adoption of the recommendations contained within it should help to ensure the welfare of laboratory animals in transit.

Anthrozoology, the study of interactions between man and animals is essentially an interdisciplinary science, involving specialists in biology, psychology, social sciences, medicine and veterinary science. The subject has emerged as a speciality over the last five years, seeing the initiation of for example its first peer-reviewed journal, Anthrozoös, and foundation of the International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ).