IATP Hog Report - Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Section 6
about the effects of intensive systems on the welfare of farm animals and
making recommendations for improved systems.
The Brambell Committee Report was "the first careful examination and
frank discussion of the welfare aspects of intensive animal-husbandry in
any country." 11 Another significant outcome of the report was the
formation of the International Society of Veterinary Ethology in 1967.
With the establishment of this society, for the first time the science of
ethology (animal behavior), which formerly had been focused on the study
of undomesticated animals in the wild, was turned to the study of
domesticated animals. Basic and applied research programs were designed
to identify indicators of well-being and suffering in various production
environments and to identify key behavioral activities and requirements of
farm animals. The Society's formation met another expectation of the
Brambell Committee, that "the evaluation of welfare must consider the
scientific evidence available concerning the feelings of animals that can be
derived from their structure and functions and also from their behaviour." 12
The new research emphasis led to two landmark ethological experiments
conducted in manmade, semi-natural environments designed to simulate
the natural habitat of wild boar. The first, in a "pig park" near Edinburgh,
Scotland, was conducted by Wood-Gush and Stolba in 1978. 17 The second
was conducted from 1983-1987 in a "pig park" near Stockholm by Jensen
and others. 18 The experiments demonstrated that, despite decades of
selective breeding for intensive confinement, domesticated pigs released
into semi-natural environments are resourceful individuals who soon
acclimate to their surroundings and engage in the same critical survival
behaviors as their ancestors and wild cousins. Many of the natural
behaviors that ethologists observed provided clues as to why pigs in
animal factories, deprived of the opportunity to fulfill critical species
behaviors, suffer.
In addition to clinical detection of disease and injury and behavioral
observations, neuroendocrine analysis also is applied to determine an
animal's state of being. Scientists also developed preference tests, for
example, to allow chickens to demonstrate their preferences between solid
floors covered with litter and floors made of bare wire netting. 13 Animal
welfare science became a special discipline, with scientists focusing on the
needs of animals rather than exclusively on how to get them to peak
productive and reproductive performance and, more recently, on criteria
for production environments that would afford positive experiences to
animals in addition to alleviating the suffering caused by inappropriate
environments. 14,15
The emphasis of the Brambell Committee on the importance of behavior
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