Proceedings OF ThE - Australian Institute of Animal Management Inc

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Annual Conference on Animal Management AIAM Proceedings 2012 39 The case will be heard by the Victorian State Coroner in the last week of August 2012, and so no more can be said on the future at this stage, and so for now we can only assess and review… We [BAW] are proud of our progress but under no illusion that one event changed things very rapidly. Upon reflection however, we can now see that this event essentially resulted in a rapid acceleration of the path we were already on. Our advice to all governments, local, state and federal, is to plan as much as you can, review as much as you can, implement improvements as much and as often as you can – because some things you cannot prepare for. About the author Tracy is the Manager of Policy and Education at the Bureau of Animal Welfare. Along with the team of Authors for this paper Tracy overseas the Domestic Animals Legislation in Victoria. Tracy has worked at the Bureau for nearly five years with a dynamic, passionate and very dedicated hard working team. Contact Tracy Helman Manager Policy and Education, Bureau of Animal Welfare, DPI, Victoria Email: Tracy.Helman@dpi.vic.gov.au . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
40 Proceedings 2012 AIAM Annual Conference on Animal Management 07 A portable, automated apparatus for testing cognitive bias in dogs Melissa sTArling University of NSW Animal welfare science focuses on the assessment and the potential optimisation of the quality of life of animals. Animal welfare studies have traditionally focused on identifying negative states tied to stressors such as those causing pain, fear, anxiety and frustration (Duncan 2006; Boissy et al. 2007), as it was assumed that they reflect poor welfare and that therefore good welfare would be an absence of these states (Duncan 2006). However, there are problems with this approach. For example, negative states are adaptive and consequences of a stress response may be protective(Korte et al. 2007). It has been suggested that assessments of animal welfare should not focus purely on avoiding pain and suffering, but should also provide positive, pleasurable activities and resources (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi 2000). It is therefore of growing importance to identify accurate indicators of positive and negative affective state in animals. One potential method of identifying positive and negative affective states in animals is cognitive bias. Cognitive bias is a term that has been used in the human literature to describe the effects of emotional state on information processing and decision-making (Hinde 1985; see Paul et al. 2005 for review). It is now being put to similar use in non-human animals, referring to the phenomenon of affective state influencing cognitive processes (Mendl et al. 2009). In animals, the cognitive process under investigation so far has been judgement bias. A judgement bias refers to how animals interpret ambiguous signals and whether they seem to expect more positive or negative outcomes. A negative affective state leads to an expectation of negative outcomes and a negative bias in the interpretation of ambiguous signals. This is being referred to in the animal cognitive bias literature as pessimism (e.g. Bateson & Matheson 2007; Burman et al. 2009). A positive affective state leads to an expectation of positive outcomes and positive biases in signal interpretation, which is being referred to as optimism (e.g. Matheson et al. 2008; Brydges et al. 2011). Environmental conditions that induce either a state of positive or negative affect can be used to test this concept in animals by changing environmental conditions to induce positive or negative affect and then testing whether cognitive bias changes correspondingly. This approach has been reported in rats (Harding et al. 2004; Burman et al. 2008a), starlings (Bateson & Matheson 2007; Matheson et al. 2008; Brilot et al. 2010; Brydges et al. 2011; Douglas et al. 2012), sheep (Doyle et al. 2010b; 2011; Destrez et al. 2012), chickens (Lindström 2010; Salmeto et al. 2010), cats (Tami et al. 2011), macaques (Bethell et al. 2012), pigs (Douglas et al. 2012), dogs (Mendl et al. 2010)Burman et al. 2011) and even honeybees (Bateson et al. 2011). In the species studied to date, negative judgement biases tend to positively correlate with conditions known to induce negative affect, and positive judgement biases positively correlate with conditions known to induce positive affect. These results support the use of cognitive bias in animals as a potential indicator of both positive and negative affective state. Some studies have found that individuals that display more stereotypic behaviour than their conspecifics are also more likely to be more pessimistic (Brilot et al. 2010; Bethell et al. 2012). If all individuals within a given population are assumed to be equally prone to optimism or pessimism, using cognitive bias as a welfare assessment tool would be relatively straight forward. However, if individuals differ in their inherent tendencies towards optimism or pessimism, any assessment of welfare would need to take this inherent tendency into account. This study reports on the trial of a portable, automated apparatus to train an operant task and then discrimination between auditory cues of different tones (low and high) to reveal dogs’ expectations and therefore their cognitive bias. The device was designed to collect data on cognitive bias in a range of dogs from different environments, investigate population levels of optimism and pessimism and explore factors that may affect its expression.
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