ROLE OF VETERINARIANS IN ANIMAL WELFARE
M.Hariharan1, N.Balamurugan1, A.Varun2 and M. Nithya Quintoil2
1Field Veterinarian, Puducherry
2Assistant Professor, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Education and Research
Abstract:
Animal welfare has been established over the ages, for both livestock farming and management. The veterinary health care and welfare approach serves an important part in sustaining the rise and growth of animal food production sectors while ensuring food security for expanding populations in emerging metropolitan regions globally. The majority of industries that supply meat or other animal-based goods follow an efficient ethical perspective as per the given standards. Intensively reared livestock farms should acknowledge that rearing and slaughtering animals for consumption by people and that harm to animals must be reduced in all factors mainly the nutritional requirements are taken into account during their lives and at the time of death. In this article, we discuss about the role of veterinarians in animal welfare.
Keywords: animal welfare, ethics, veterinary, five freedoms, food production.
Introduction:
Given rising urbanization and labor migration to metropolitan areas, demands for quick and economical ways to produce nutritious foods from livestock and transporting the animal products from producers to customers should be properly maintained. The growing density of the livestock food production sector coincided causing a rise in transmission of infectious diseases, which prompting the widespread use of antimicrobial medications to protect the health of animals being a primary concern for one health approach. Different kinds of animals such as swine, poultry, beef, dairy cows, other species used for food consumption, and pet animals around the globe have been included in the ring of animal ethics and welfare. During the past few decades, veterinary professionals and animal science researchers played a significant role in the advancement and refinement of livestock food production. Although boosting output effectiveness, from both entities is achieved by means of their research, knowledge, and instruction to maintain the well-being and maximizing the production of the animals reared for food production. But considering an animal health-centric perspective of the welfare of livestock that predominated the moral implications of maintaining livestock in various circumstances had not been thoroughly investigated, which worries the living circumstances and welfare of intensively raised food animals. Advance adjustments in the industry’s procedures are necessary for constant, sustainable methods, and common ethical norms for proper livestock management, which serve as the foundation for public standards for the welfare of animals. Regardless of the fact that it generally denotes that veterinary professionals always have the greater good for animals at heart, this always relies on each veterinarian’s capacity and openness to use moral and ethical thinking. Veterinary professionals serve an important part in veterinary-legal proceedings as witnesses and expert consultants. Veterinarians have an adequate knowledge of veterinary sciences, animal-related actions, and law enforcement processes. Veterinarians are in charge of performing autopsy exams and standing against animal offenses such as deliberate intoxication, livestock/pets illegal trade, theft, etc., and granting health certifications for claiming insurance to the animal.
Five Freedom of Animal Welfare:
The Brambell Committee subsequently utilized the term animal welfare/freedom to discuss about the well-being of livestock animals raised in intensive systems. According to the Brambell Committee’s findings, animals need to have enough area to engage in the following five basic activities: standing up, laying down, turning around, grooming themselves, and extending their limbs. A broader and more complete list of Five Freedoms was developed in 1979 by the UK Farm Animal Advisory Committee, and in 1993 it was corrected and published by the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC). The welfare of farm animals in intensive systems should be reared through the welfare, it complements the five freedoms with basic requirement needs for animals. The scientific field of animal welfare studies – applies animal behavior, which is quantifiable using behavioral monitoring of every animal. Eliminating aberrant stress and enhancing the environment for proper collection about knowledge of their behavioral activity is necessary. It also applies to clinical evaluations of an animal’s health state and includes the way of animals express their behaviors. In order to provide the best possible care for animals, by enhancing their welfare, and achieving conservation objectives, behavior evaluation through applied behavior analysis and behavioral monitoring studies is sufficient.
- Freedom from thirst, hunger, and malnutrition – By ensuring that they have easy access to clean water and a nutritious diet that will keep them healthy and vigorous.
- Freedom from discomfort – By providing necessary bedding arrangements, a space with the right temperature, less stress, and proper accessibility to natural light. Optimal shelter that includes protection and a comfortable sleeping place.
- Freedom from pain, injury, and disease – By ensuring early assessment and therapy for diseases. Prevention aspects include vaccinating animals, keeping an eye on their physical well-being, attending to any injuries, and giving them proper treatments.
- Freedom to express normal behavior – By providing the animal the adequate infrastructure, space, and companionship with other animals. Animals must have the ability to engage with and reject other members of their own species as they see fit for expressing their reproductive behavior.
- Freedom from fear and distress – By providing stress-free circumstances and care to avoid mental illness. An animal’s mental state is equally as vital as its physical state as emotional stress may easily turn into physical diseases.
Ethical Committee for Experimental Animals in India:
The Government of India formed the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) in compliance under Sections 14 – Chapter IV of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, with the aim of supervising and controlling animal experimentation. It is the responsibility of the CPCSEA to guarantee permission for the experiment so that animals do not endure needless pain or suffering before, during, or following the conduct of research. It has the authority to establish regulations governing animal research by publishing notices in the Indian Gazette that adhere to predetermined guidelines and standards, to authorize and enroll researchers and organizations to conduct animal research, and control animal experimentation according to established standards. The CPCSEA Principles for Experimental Animal Facility aim to improve animal health and welfare by promoting the humane treatment of the animals utilized for research. Proper veterinarian attention must be given, in order to deliver quick and correct information on issues pertaining to animal health, and behavior, a system of regular and personal interaction (about ethical problems) between the veterinarian and researchers should be established. It is important to execute experiments with empathy and ethics, by minimizing disruptive operations or surgeries that could potentially harm the animals. In order to avoid such discomfort, anesthesia must be utilized during surgical procedures, and animals wounded or in severe pain after the experiments should be euthanized. When it comes to reducing, refining, and replacing the use of animals in research, various humane measures should be followed. Laboratory animals should not be used just to practice manual skills in educational institutes for the purpose of learning. Records relating to animal experimentation must be maintained properly. Sudden fatalities, symptoms of disease, discomfort, or other health concerns from diseases in animals need to be addressed immediately by the veterinarian. Animals that exhibit symptoms of a transmissible disease must be separated from the healthy ones to avoid further transmission.
Ethical and Legal issue involving Euthanasia:
Euthanasia is a method of enabling an animal to die peacefully and painlessly for compassionate reasons by the pet/livestock owner. Euthanasia is used in desperate circumstances where medical therapy has failed and the animal is in terrible pain. Owners might request euthanasia when their pets exhibit undesirable behavior or if the owner no longer desires to keep the animal. Then veterinarians should not encourage or urge euthanasia in such particular circumstances but rather give ethical options and educate the owner to help them regret the choice of euthanizing healthy animals. The owner is ultimately responsible for the choice to euthanize an animal. Veterinarians have to consider about the legal consequences of euthanizing an animal, such as getting written approval from the owner on an authorization form. A lawsuit may be filed against the veterinarians if authorization is not obtained. The owner maintains all rights of ownership to the animal’s dead bodies, and veterinarians are legally required to euthanize any animal. The type of euthanasia chosen is determined by several criteria, such as the animal’s species, the total number of animals to be euthanized, financial constraints, and the owner’s desires. The procedure must result in death without much pain, should take only a short period of time for unconsciousness and death, must be dependable, reduce unfavorable mental strain and psychological impacts on spectators and owners, be cost-effective, have a minimal impact on the environment, and be safe for those involved. Barbiturates such as phenobarbitone, chloral hydrate, magnesium sulfate (cheap euthanasia), and potassium chloride are commonly used agents for euthanizing small/large animals.
Conclusion:
In the Future, public awareness about the welfare for livestock and pet animals is expected to rise, due to the involvement of various non-governmental animal welfare organizations and government-implemented welfare sectors. Veterinarians should also receive appropriate training in scientific techniques involving animal welfare and should have a greater understanding about animal ethics. In summary, the welfare of animals is a complicated topic that necessitates striking a compromise among the moral standards of Veterinary professionals and researchers, in-farm animal caretakers, and society’s standards, the public should make a significant contribution to enhancing and assuring the health and welfare of animals by confronting the problems and encouraging ethical laws.
Reference:
Yadav, A. R., 2020. CPCSEA guidelines for laboratory animal facility, Journal of Pharmacology and Clinical Research, 2(1).
VETERINARIANS AND ANIMAL WELFARE : ENSURING ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS
