Are banks responsible for animals? A critical review of animal welfare and climate disruption in banks' due diligence policies for agribusiness lending

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Parker
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Due Diligence

scholarly journals Towards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda J. Keeling ◽  
Christoph Winckler ◽  
Sara Hintze ◽  
Björn Forkman
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Positive Experiences ◽  
Poor Welfare

Current animal welfare protocols focus on demonstrating the absence (or at least low levels) of indicators of poor welfare, potentially creating a mismatch between what is expected by society (an assurance of good animal welfare) and what is actually being delivered (an assurance of the absence of welfare problems). This paper explores how far we have come, and what work still needs to be done, if we are to develop a protocol for use on commercial dairy farms where the aim is to demonstrate the presence of positive welfare. Following conceptual considerations around a perceived “ideal” protocol, we propose that a future protocol should be constructed (i) of animal-based measures, (ii) of indicators of affective state, and (iii) be structured according to indicators of short-term emotion, medium-term moods and long-term cumulative assessment of negative and positive experiences of an animal's life until now (in contrast to the current focus on indicators that represent different domains/criteria of welfare). These three conditions imposed the overall structure within which we selected our indicators. The paper includes a critical review of the literature on potential indicators of positive affective states in cattle. Based on evidence about the validity and reliability of the different indicators, we select ear position, play, allogrooming, brush use and QBA as candidate indicators that we suggest could form a prototype positive welfare protocol. We emphasise that this prototype protocol has not been tested in practice and so it is perhaps not the protocol itself that is the main outcome of this paper, but the process of trying to develop it. In a final section of this paper, we reflect on some of the lessons learnt from this exercise and speculate on future perspectives. For example, while we consider we have moved towards a prototype positive welfare protocol for short-term affective states, future research energy should be directed towards valid indicators for the medium and long-term.

scholarly journals Macroscopic Examination of Multiple-Shot Cattle Heads—An Animal Welfare Due Diligence Tool for Abattoirs Using Penetrating Captive Bolt Devices?

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Grist ◽  
Toby G. Knowles ◽  
Stephen Wotton
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Anatomical Variation ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Training Material ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Medial Plane ◽  
Multiple Shot ◽  
Determining Factor ◽  
Macroscopic Examination

Ideally, the application of a penetrating captive bolt device to render cattle immediately unconscious prior to slaughter would be 100% effective. Unfortunately, due to various factors this is not always the case. This paper examined, as an initial proof of concept, 12 bovine heads which had received more than one shot from a penetrating captive bolt, collected from various abattoirs within the United Kingdom. The heads were frozen to facilitate splitting on the medial plane to prevent distortion of soft tissue and each sagittal section was examined macroscopically to ascertain if this method could be used to determine the reasons for repeated stun attempts. In 10 out of 12 heads, shot placement was the determining factor, in one other head it was felt that anatomical variation was the reason and the twelfth head demonstrated signs of gun malfunction as the likely cause. This work provides evidence for a larger trial to facilitate the production of guidance for the abattoir industry, the Animal Welfare Officer and regulators on the examination of heads as part of an investigation of failures of a mechanical stunning system and to provide training material for slaughter staff tasked with effectively stunning cattle.

scholarly journals A critical review of advancement in scientific research on food animal welfare-related air pollution

2020 ◽  
pp. 124468
Author(s):  
Ji-Qin Ni ◽  
Marisa A. Erasmus ◽  
Candace C. Croney ◽  
Chunmei Li ◽  
Yansen Li
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Food Animal

scholarly journals What Is so Positive about Positive Animal Welfare?—A Critical Review of the Literature

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair B. Lawrence ◽  
Belinda Vigors ◽  
Peter Sandøe
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
The Core ◽  
Current Research Interest ◽  
The Right ◽  
Goal Directed Behavior ◽  
Positive Animal

It is claimed that positive animal welfare (PAW) developed over the last decade in reaction to animal welfare focusing too much on avoiding negatives. However, it remains unclear what PAW adds to the animal welfare literature and to what extent its ideas are new. Through a critical review of the PAW literature, we aim to separate different aspects of PAW and situate it in relation to the traditional animal welfare literature. We find that the core PAW literature is small (n = 10 papers) but links to wider areas of current research interest. The PAW literature is defined by four features: (1) positive emotions which is arguably the most widely acknowledged; (2) positive affective engagement which serves to functionally link positive emotions to goal-directed behavior; (3) quality of life which serves to situate PAW within the context of finding the right balance of positives over negatives; (4) happiness which brings a full life perspective to PAW. While the two first points are already part of welfare research going back decades, the two latter points could be linked to more recent research agendas concerning aggregation and how specific events may affect the ability of animals to make the best of their lives.

Semi-synthesis as a tool for broadening the health applications of bioactive olive secoiridoids: a critical review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela Oliverio ◽  
Monica Nardi ◽  
Maria Luisa Di Gioia ◽  
Paola Costanzo ◽  
Sonia Bonacci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Review ◽  
Natural Compounds ◽  
Effective Strategy ◽  
Synthetic Analogues ◽  
Health Applications ◽  
Natural And Synthetic

Semi-synthesis is an effective strategy to obtain both natural and synthetic analogues of the olive secoiridoids, starting from easy accessible natural compounds.

On visions and promises — ethical aspects of in vitro meat

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 753-758
Author(s):  
Silvia Woll
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Meat Production ◽  
Ethical Aspects ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
In Vitro Meat ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Production Conditions

Innovators of in vitro meat (IVM) are convinced that this approach is the solution for problems related to current meat production and consumption, especially regarding animal welfare and environmental issues. However, the production conditions have yet to be fully clarified and there is still a lack of ethical discourses and critical debates on IVM. In consequence, discussion about the ethical justifiability and desirability of IVM remains hypothetical and we have to question those promises. This paper addresses the complex ethical aspects associated with IVM and the questions of whether, and under what conditions, the production of IVM represents an ethically justifiable solution for existing problems, especially in view of animal welfare, the environment, and society. There are particular hopes regarding the benefits that IVM could bring to animal welfare and the environment, but there are also strong doubts about their ethical benefits.

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