11月26日,在2022世界农场动物福利与食物健康大会上,Natalie Waran教授进行了精彩报告。她是世界动物卫生组织(OIE)代表、新西兰东部理工学院理工教育人文与健康科学学院执行院长,爱丁堡大学及诺丁汉特伦特大学荣誉教授,新西兰伴侣动物理事会主席,新加坡政府动物福利顾问。
On November 26, Professor Natalie Waran gave an excellent presentation at the 2022 World conference on Farm Animal Welfare. She is OIE Representative, Professor of One Welfare, and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Health Science at the Eastern Institute of Technology.
她认为“同一福利”极其重要。“同一福利”旨在强调动物福利、人类福祉和环境之间的相互联系。良好的生活质量会使动物感到快乐,进而提高身体机能。动物福利、应激、动物疾病都与食品安全息息相关。消费者日益关注他们吃的肉、蛋、奶,是否来自于积极福利状态的动物。越来越多的职业许可、产品市场开拓都对动物福利提出了新的要求。
She believes that "one welfare" is of extreme importance. "One welfare" focuses on the interconnection of animal welfare, human wellbeing and the environment. Good life quality makes animals happy, which in turn improves their physical functions. Animal welfare, stress, and disease are all closely connected with food safety. Consumers are increasingly concerned about whether the meat, eggs, and milk they eat come from animals in a positive welfare state. More and more occupational licenses and product market development are now placing new demands on animal welfare.
她提出,不同的畜种、不同的饲养模式存在着较为普遍的福利问题,常见的有高密度饲养、动物被关在狭小空间、饲养空间光线不足等。在集约化养殖模式下,动物无法表达自然行为,导致应激反应,产生沮丧感,甚至会受伤。应激会改变生物功能,影响动物的免疫系统,导致前期的病理变化,最终影响动物健康和畜产品生产。降低动物应激会使动物获得更好的福利,从而减少抗生素的使用,提高健康水平。
She suggested that there are general welfare problems for different livestock breeds and feeding patterns. Common examples include high stocking densities, confined conditions, unnatural and low lighting, etc. In intensive culture model, animals are unable to perform natural behavior, which leads to tress reactions, depression and even injury. Stress can alter animals’ biological functions and affect their immune system, leading to pre-pathological changes that ultimately affect their health and the production of livestock products. Reducing animal stress will lead to better animal welfare, resulting in less antibiotic use and better health.
改善动物福利需要站在动物的视角,思考动物情绪问题。OIE认为动物应处于良好的福利状态,因为健康的身体、舒适的环境、良好的营养和安全状况能够保证动物表达天性和本能行为。因此,既要关注动物身体健康、情绪和行为健康,避免产生应激反应,还需关注其主观感受,避免遭遇不良情绪。对农场动物来说,处于积极状态会更好地生长,拥有积极情绪就能保障动物健康。她还提到,目前欧盟已出台动物福利相关政策,要求用科学方法衡量动物福利状况,保证没有过度笼养。欧洲已经完全禁止了富集的笼养设施。
How to improve animal welfare depends on how we concern about animals’ feels from their perspectives. OIE believes that animals should be living in a good welfare state. This is because healthy body, comfortable environment, good nutrition and safe status ensure animals’ performance of their nature and instinctive behavior. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to both physical and mental well-being, as well as behavioral health to avoid stress reactions. In addition, we also need to be concerned with the subjective feelings of animals to avoid emotions. For farm animals, being in a positive state will lead to better growth, and having positive emotions will safeguard their health. She also mentioned that the EU has now introduced policies related to animal welfare, requiring scientific methods to measure animal welfare and to ensure that there is no over-caging. Enriched caging facilities have been completely banned in Europe.
“玩” 是评价动物福利的重要指标。在粗放饲养环境,动物会表现出游戏行为,游戏中的动物表现出积极情绪。在集约化饲养条件下,动物可能会表现出消极情绪。动物的负面反应与饲养方式息息相关,如果被饲养在密集条件或被暴露在痛苦环境下,它们倾向于通过更加消极的视角看待世界。如果动物眼睛的眼白比较多,说明其情绪是愉悦的。爱丁堡大学通过开展“相信你的眼睛”方法进行研究,对动物的行为进行定性评估,开展精神状态评估。这一方法现已被多家机构用于牲畜福利研究。
"Play" is an important indicator of animal welfare. In extensive feeding environments, animals exhibit play behavior and show positive emotions. Under intensive feeding conditions, animals may exhibit negative emotions. Their negative reactions are closely related to the way they are kept. If kept in intensive conditions or exposed to painful environments, they tend to view the world in a more passive way. If an animal shows more of the white of its eyes, it is pleasant. The University of Edinburgh conducted research through the method of "Trust Your Eyes", which qualitatively assesses animal behavior and mental state. This method is now used in livestock welfare research by a number of institutions.
人的行为是保障动物福利的关键。那些被很耐心、积极的人所饲养的动物,会表现出更积极的情绪、更友好、更擅于交际。良好的福利让动物感到安全,进而积极提升其生产力。因此,人与动物的良好关系对保障动物福利至关重要。最后,Natalie Waran教授呼吁,必须把人类健康、环境健康和动物福利联系起来,加强动物福利科学研究,开展动物福利评价,改变动物饲养方式,推动制定动物福利政策或法规等。
Human behavior is key for good animal welfare. Animals, which are pet by patient and positive stock people, tend to show more positive emotions and be friendlier and more sociable. Good welfare makes animals feel secure, which enhances their productivity. Therefore, a good relationship between animals and people is essential for animal welfare. Finally, Professor Natalie Waran called for the need to link human health, environmental health and animal welfare, to strengthen scientific research on animal welfare, to conduct animal welfare evaluations, to change animal feeding patterns, and to promote the development of animal welfare policies and regulations, etc.