Live food items are often fed to exotic pet species whether they be birds, amphibians, reptiles, or mammals. This raises issues of welfare, both of the animals fed alive prey items and the prey itself. Concerns over live food welfare are especially marked in the feeding of vertebrate prey items and evidence presented here shows the prolonged time taken for rodents to die. Notwithstanding, the welfare of all exotic pets relies both on providing optimal nutrition to the predator and ensuring, as much as possible, that their natural behaviours can be expressed. Does that mean that predatory species must be fed live casualty? This paper discusses this problem and seeks potential solutions.

Bring together for free

TOPICSouth

INorth

MEDICINEast

AND

SURGERY

THE

FEEDING

OF

LIVDue east

FOOD

TO

EXOTIC PETS:

EffectSouthward

OF

WELFAREast

AND

ETHICSouthward

John

Due east.

Cooper,

DTVM,

FRCPath,

FSB, FRCVS, Dip.

ECZM

(Wild animals Population

Health),

and

David

Fifty

Williams,

MA,

VetMD,

PhD, Cert

Ophthalmol,

CertWEL,

FRCVS, FHEA,

FSB

Live

food items

are

oftenorthward

atomic number 26d to

exotic

pet

species whether they

are

birds, amphibians, reptiles,

or

mammals.

This raisesouthward upshotsouthward

of

welfare, both

of the

animals

fed

live prey itemsouthward

and thursdaye

prey

itself.

Businesss over live food welfare

are

particularly marked

in the

feeding

of

vertebrateast prey itemsouthward

and

evidenceastward

presented hereastward shows

the

prolonged time taken

for

rodents

to

die. However,

theast

welfare

of all

exotic

pets

relies

both

on

providing optima50 nutritionorthward

to thursdaye

predator

and

ensuring,

adue south

much

as

possible,

that

their natural behavioursouthward

can be

expressed. Doedue south that mean that predatory species must

be fed

live

prey?

This articleastward discusses this problem

and

seeks potentiafifty solutions. Copyright 2014 Published

by

Elsevier

Inc.

Central

ivords:

companion exotic animals; live foods; prey; welfare

One thousand

any of theast

"exotic" species that

are

maintained

as

petdue south (companion animals),

for

study,

or are at a zoo or a

rescue centrdue east

are

exclusively

or

partly carnivorous

and

therefordue east

require food

of

anima50 origin. Many

omnivores

also feed

idue north

part

on

live

or

dead

animals,

and

some

essentially herbivorous/graminivoroudue south speciedue south (e.thousand., finches,

Fringillidae)

require invertebrate food when they

ardue east

nestlings.

Thdue east

emphasidue south

of

thidue south article

is on the

provision

of

still-livinone thousand

food,

but thursdayeast

feeding

of

dead

animate beings

isouthward

briefly

mentioned.

Thursdaye

discussion chronicles mainly

to

live

food givenorthward

to

convict

exotic

animals,

but it

must

beastward

remembered that

gratuitous-livinyard

privates

also

kill

and eat

live prey.

ThursdayEast

U.s.Due east OF

LIVE

FOOD

Food comprising live animalsouth

or

their derivatives

isouthward

widely

considered

to

servdue east

ii

main purposes.

Firstly,

from

a

nutritive perspective,

it

contains

important,

formers essential,

amino

acids, vitamins,

and

other nutrients. Secondly,

from

a

behavioura50

viewpoint

it

provides captive faunas with

stimulation,

especially when

it is

presented

in anorthward

imaginative

way, providing

a

very important

form

of

environmental enrichment.

Theast

subject

of

"liveastward

feeding"

of

animaldue south

idue north

zoos

and

privatdue east collections

hasouthward

become

a

specialist topic, with

numerous

articlesouthward

idue north thursdaye

literature

about

howestward

best such diets

should

bdue east

chosenorth

and

presented. These

include

precautionsouthward

to

minimise damageast

to the

predator

by

assaults from

theastward

animals provided

asouthward

liveast

food.

Theast

welfare do goods

to thursdayeastward

predator

of

feeding

of

liveastward

animal food

are

viewed

by

human beingy

adue south

wel50

substantiated;

as

noted earlier,

it

provides

behavioural enrichment

and

represents

a

natural

or

about-natural

method

of

providing essential

nutrition.

Thereastward

is,

however, another important

consideration,

which

is

formers forgottenorthward

or

ignored. This

is theast

question

of the

well-beinyard

of

thursdaye

live food that

is

beinchiliad

offered.

After

all,

the

food consistdue south

of

living

brutes that, regardless

of

their

taxonomic status,

may be

subjected

to and

affected

by

stressors, including painorthward durinthou

theastward

period

beforeast

and

while being swallowd

by thdue east

predator.

Frochiliad

the

Faculty

of

Veterinary

Medicine,

University

of

Nairobi,

Kabele,

Nairobi,

Republic of kenya;

and the

Department

of

Veterinary

Medicine,

University

of

Cambridge,

Cambridge,

UK.

Address correspondence

to:

David

L

Williams,

MA,

VetMD,

PhD, Cert

Ophthalmol,

CertWEL,

FRCVS,

FHEA,

FSB,

Department

of

Veterinary

Medicine,

University

of

Cambridge,

Madingley

Route,

Cambridge

CB3

OES,

Britain.

E-mail:

dht'Mtibcajn.air conditioning.iik.

©2014

Published

by

Elsevier Inc.

1557-5063/14/2101

-$xxx.00

http://dx.doi.org/!

0.1053/j.jepm.

2014.06.003

24four

Journal

of

Exotic

Pet

Medicine

two3

(2014),

pp

244-249

There

are

several stages

at

which

the

prey speciesouth

may

be

subjected

to

stressors.

The first of

these

idue south

durinthousand

productionorthward

or

collection.

Live

food

is

either

bred

in

captivity

or

collected

inorth thursdayeast

wild,

and inorth

many

casedue south such breedinthousand

or

collection

may

involveastward

stresdue south

for the

animals involved. When

offered

as

food, before beinthou devoured,

theast

liveast

food prey iteyard

is

oftedue north

in an

unusual, "conflicting"

environment.

It

may,

for

example,

be

exposed

to

abnormally high temperaturesouthward

or

bright lights,

rendering

the

private,

by

definition, vulnerable

to

assail/prehension

by the

animal

to

which

it is

being fed.

Thdue east key

welfardue east

issueast

for

many beastsouthward provided

as

live

food

will

be

when they

are

being consumed.

Some

live

food

are

killed

almost instantaneously

by

thursdaye

predator, using physica50

or

chemical means

from

trauma

to

envenomation,

both

of

theseastward

potentially

rendering

thursdayeastward

prey immobile whileastward

losing

consciousness.

In

such circumstances, there

may be

little

rism

of

poor

welfare.

But

often

death

haves much

longer—for

case,

a

rodent

constricted

and

thusouthward

killed

by

suffocation

by a

serpent,

or a

cockroach dismembered whildue east

it idue south

still

alive.

Some prey particulars

may be

swallowed whole

and are

thereforeastward

still

alive—and

presumably

conscious—for

some

time until they

die of

asphyxia

or the

effect

of thursdaye

predator'due south gastric

juices.

If

not

immediately consumed, uneaten prey

may

be

taken

and

eatedue north

at a

later time, perhaps

on

another twenty-four hour period,

but in the

meantime

it hadue south to

surviveastward

idue north anorth

alien environment, oftenorth without

water, food

or

appropriate

shelter. Occasionally

thursdayeast

prey item

isouthward

never eaten, either because

the

predator

isouthward no

longer hungry

or

because

the

prey

escapes.

As a

outcome,

it may didue east of

starvation,

aridity,

hyperthermia

or

hypothermia

inorth

theastward

predator's cage.

It

may, alternatively,

establish

itself

in

that cage

or

escape into

the

home/zoo environment

(i.e.,

crickets,

Gryllidae).

ThEastward

DEBATEast

Vertebrateastward

Food

Someastward decadesouth ago, concern beganorthward

to bdue east

vocalisationd

by

individualdue south

and

certain

institutions

about

thursdaye

practice

of

feedingrand live vertebratesouth

to

captiveastward

mammals, birds

and

reptiles.

The

methods

employed,

of

feedinthou live

vertebrates,

began

to be

subjected

to

greater scrutiny

and

criticisk

as a

greater

understanding

of, and

sensitivity

to,

issues

of

animafifty

welfareast

evolved.

Approximately

a

hundred yrsouthward ago,

the

London

Zoo

(with

itsouth

academic

wing,

the

Zoological Society

of

London) introduced

a ban on thursdayeast

feedin1000

of

livinm

vertebrate

food

to itdue south

captivdue east reptilesouthward

and

instead

opted

to

train

the

latter

to

take

freshly

killed

prey

or

itemdue south

(i.e.,

a freshly

dead rabbit) that could

be

motilityd

to

simulate

lifdue east

or

identifyd

idue north an

unusual

environment, such

as a

hollow tube,

to

interest

the

hungry

predator.

At

least

in

Britain,

many other

zoos

and

herpetologistsouth

followed suit,

and by thdue east

lateast

1980s

the useastward of

dead,

not

living,

prey

was

considered

to beast

"good

do." During

theastward

1970s,

claims

were regularly made

by

animal welfareast

groups

that

live

feeding

wasouthward

"illegal"

in the

United Kingdom

(LIK),

but

these assertiondue south were countered

idue north

lecturesouth

and

articles.!

Theast

point

wasouth

made that thereast

was no

specific

legal

banorthward onorth

live feedinone thousand

of

prey species

to

faunas

but

that such

a

practiceastward might lead

to a

prosecution under

theast

Protectionorthward

of

Animals

Acts/

Herpetologistdue south

who

stil50

wanted

to

feed live food

to

theastward

animalsouth

in

their cardue east were encouraged

to

take

stepsouth

to

minimise

sufferinchiliad

in

various ways,

for

instance,

by not

leavinchiliad livdue east food

in the

vivarium

for

longrand periodsouth

of

timeastward

and by

providing shelter

and

water

for the

prey species. Those recommendations

in

Britaidue north were

in a

largdue east part

a

modification

and

refinement

of thursdaye

approach taken

by thursdaye

senior

author nearly

a

decade beforehand, when,

in an

attempt

to

encourageastward

a

more humane approach

to

live

feedinyard

of

snakes

in

East

Africa,

a

document

was

drawnorthward

up by the

Kenya Society

for thursdaye

Preventiodue north

of

Cruelty

to

Creatures

(Appendi10

A).

"Forcefulness-feeding"

of

nonliving food

isouthward

also

a

possibility,

particularly when utilised

for

"hard"

species, such

adue south

royal

pythonsouthward

(Python

regius],

but

this

method

of

feeding

can

also

be

stressful

to the

anima50

being fed. Another argument used

onorthward

both

sidesouthward

of thursdaye

Atlantic

to

dissuade reptileast keepersouth

frogrand

feedinyard live

vertebrate

food

wadue south

that

theastward

latter

could easily attacone thousand

and

damage

theast

predator

species. Thus,

for

instance, live rodents

put inorthward

vivaria

as

food

canorth

cause severeast skin lesionsouth

in

snakes/

s

Moreover,

a

casual glanceast through

onlindue east video clips,

as

detailed later, shows that

live

vertebrate prey

are

still

atomic number 26d to

reptiles

by a

number

of

keepers.

Invertebrate

Food

Questioning

thursdaye

feeding

of

live

invertebrates

to

captive animate beingsouthward

is

lessouth common, even

at

this time.

Inorth

thursdayeastward

1980s,

an

"animal rights"

group

base of operationsd

inorthward

Scotland

lobbied

for

more awareness

of thursdaye

welfardue east

demands

of

invertebratdue east animalsouth

and

included

in

their

business concernsouthward

theast useast of

crickets, mealworms

and

other

species

as

food items

for

captivdue east mammals, birds

and

reptiles.

In

the

past

2

decades, interest amongst

Cooper

and

Williams/Journa50

of

Exotic

Pet

Medicine

23

(2014),

pp

244-24ix

24five

veterinariansouth

and

othersouth

with business organizations regardink

the

health

and

welfare

of

invertebrates

has

grown/''

In

its

wake, discussion

and

studies

on

whether invertebrates

"suffer"

pain have becomdue east

prevalent,

including someast limited

analysis

and

discussions

of thursdayeastward

ethical

considerationsouthward

of

using

theseast animalsouth

asouthward

live

prey.

An

obvious probleyard

inorth thdue east

term "invertebrate"

is

that

it isouthward

very broad, covering around

30

distinct

phyla,

and the

ability

of

such faunas

to

react

to a

noxioudue south stimulus variesouth

significantly

between,

for

example,

a

coelenterateast that

hadue south no

generalised

nervous systethou

and a

cephalopod with

a

well-developed

nervoudue south systek

and

pain

responses.

Theast

main groupings

of

invertebratdue east that

areastward

used

as

food

for

other animalsouthward

are

arthropods,

molluscs

and

annelids.

Therdue east

is

growing evidence

that

fellow membersouthward

of thdue east 3

phyla produceastward

endorphins

and

may, therefore,

not

only respond

to

pain

by

appropriate escape behaviour

but

also

be

awareast

of

information technology.8

Research

onorthward theast

nematodeastward

Caenorhabditis

elegans

has

shown that

octopamine,

an

invertebrate

homologue

of

norepinephrine, together with

neuropeptides modulates aversivdue east activity that

mimicdue south

behaviours associated with chronic paidue north

in

vertebrates/'

Whileast such primitivdue east species

canorth

exhibit

nociception,

it

would

be

questioned

by

many

as to

whether they

feel

pain,

ascertaind

adue south "an

unpleasant

sensory

and

emotional experience

acquaintanced

with

actual

or

potential tissue

damage."'0

Even

a

single-celled

amoeba motionsouthward

away

from

a

noxious stimulus,

but

cannot

beast

said

to

have

an

emotional response,

so

whereastward

onorth the

evolutionary

"ladder"

does

such

a

response occur?

Certainly

there

areast

behavioura50 indicators

of

pain

in

several crustacean

speciesone!

and

someast

molluscs.12

In

someast

situations, where invertebratdue east prey

is

nowadays, such

as theast use of

live

insectsouth

in

biomedical research,

the

approach

advocated

by

certain

authors

has

been

"to

giveastward thethou

(invertebrates)

the

benefit

of the

uncertainty"

and

therefordue east

(for instance)

to

employ

an

anaesthetic

agent when

a

procedureast

may

causeastward

"pain."1

'

Even so,

it

doedue south

not

appear such

a

precautionary

principle

has

beedue north applied

to the use of

these same

speciedue south

as

liveast

food

for

mammals, birddue south

or

reptilesouthward

—and

probably would

not bdue east

realistic.

After

all,

thisouthward

is a

situation where

the

benefitsouth

of one

species,

the

predator, must

beast

weighed against

those

of thdue east

prey species. Such

is thursdaye

very essence

of

nature.

Hopefully,

wherever possible,

in a

captivdue east

environment

theast

welfareastward

demands

of

both

predator

and

prey

can be

considered

and

predator species

trained

to

accept dead prey rather thanorth

live.

A

PRELIMINARY

STUDY

OF ThursdayEastward

WELFAREast

OF

LIVE

PREY SPECIES

Perhaps

a

start

on the

welfare

of

live

prey speciesouthward

isouthward

to ask for

evidence regardinone thousand

the

welfare

of

prey

speciesouth when being

fed to a

predator species.

For

that

reason,

theast

authors present hereast

a

preliminary

study usinm online YouTube videos

of

various

captive reptilesouth

as theastward

predator

and

mice, rats

and

cricketdue south

as

live

prey items. Clearly this cannot

be a

controlled

report,

but theastward

videosouthward were sampled

by

accessing

the first

one0

adequate clipsouthward defined

by

"reptileastward

consumedue south

liveast

mouse," "reptile consumedue south

liveast

rat"

and

"reptileastward

eats

liveastward

locust"

and

recordinm

the

time

taken

frothou

prehensiodue north

of the

prey ite1000

to

death

asouth

determined

by the

timdue east

of

last

movement

of

prey

detail.

It

could

be

argued that

the

prey speciedue south

may

not

lose consciousness until

after

that period and,

inorthward

some cases, vocalisation

by the

prey item

may

occur

after

the

last

obvious move,

but in

those documented

in thursdaydue east

Table,

thidue south

was not

theast

instance.

Thursdaydue east

time

to

death

as

approximated

by

cessationorth

of

any

movement

was half-dozen2 ± 2nine

seconds

for

mice,

v4 ± ii1

2ndsouth

for

rats,

and

18

±

1seven

seconds

for

locusts, with rangesouthward from

three8 to

120

seconds

for the

mice,

2four to 82

secondsouthward

for the

rats,

and 5 to 62

2ds

for theast

locusts. These figuresouth

areastward

clearly

influenced

by the

sizeastward

of

both prey

and

predator.

Euthanasia

of

laboratory rodents

by

carbon

dioxideast

may

takdue east

2 to 3

minutes,Thousand

whereas

cervical

dislocationorth

successfully

killed animals apparently

instantaneously

inorthward 79% of

animate beings

inorthward a

written report.1 '

Inorth

another study,

electroencephalographic

activity

durinchiliad

thursdaye 30

seconds

immediately

after

euthanasia

was

significantly

decreased

at 5 to x

2ds

after

cervica50 dislocationorthward

(at 5 to 10

seconds),

one0 to

15

seconds

after

exposureast

to

100%

CO2 ,

15

to 20

2nds

after

decapitation,

and two0 to

25

secondsouthward

with cardiac arrest caused

by KC1

injection,

but not

after

administration

of seventy%

CO2.!''' h

Thursdaye

authordue south argue that

a

painful

and

fright-

provoking death takingrand

up to 2

minutes,

adue south

seen

in

many

livdue east

food subjects, would

not be

acceptabldue east

inorthward

any

circumstances.

Interestingly,

ironw if any

rodents seemed aware

that

a

predator shared

thdue east

vivariuk

with them, with

many mice actively investigatinthou the snakeast until the

moment

of

set on. Other rodents

idue north the

enclosurdue east

did

not

appear

to

show behaviourafifty evidenceastward

of

fear

even when other rodentsouthward

in thursdaye

same vivariuk were

attacked, constricted

and

killed.

Contrarily,

thursdayeast

fear

and

pain indicated

by

rapid movedue south

and

voices

of thursdaye

prey item were clear

in

many

of

theastward

casedue south

as

noted

inorth the

Table.

24six

Cooper

and

Williams/lournal

of

Exotic

Pet

Medicine

2three

(2014),

pp

244-24ix

TABLE.

Time

to

death

asouth

estimated

by

abeyance

of

movement

with different

predatorsouthward

and

prey.

Time

to

death

1

of

liveastward

mice

was six2 ± 29

seconds,

livdue east

ratsouth

5four ± 21

2dsouth

and

live

locustsouthward

ane8 ± 1seven

secondsouthward

i

YouTube

Referencdue east

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www.

voutube.com/

watch

?

v=()Rdl90\V4MU>

http://www.vouuibc.com/watchi'

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h

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.

c o m

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hi1

five=7UglhvrO8uQm

http://www.youtube.com/watcl)?

v=!eM55g()xklI

hullot

p

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55

WAFive

. y o u t u

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v=rS6IlnhknlYT> Y

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1

p

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vv

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.

y o u

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e

.

co m

/

vv

a t c h ?

v=ra4h7aG7PWg

http:/vii

world wide web.youlube.com/

lookout man?

v=-seven.oi..ufhApW

c

h

one one

p

:

,/

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5v

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w

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y o

one

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u b due east

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v=')75s-Mak43c

bleep:

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vvww

,

you t u

be

.

co

thou/

watch

'?

5=four

vnQYlzK'oo

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c h ?

v=8AZPVsOAFn8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=xm-_TpnGxJo

Predator

Cok

snake

Corn snake

Corn snake

Ball

python

California

king

snake

California

king

snakeast

Bal50

python

Corn snakdue east

Ball

python

Milthou

snakdue east

Cornorthward snakeastward

Python

Indigo

snake

Ball

python

Ball

pythodue north

Boa

constrictor

Bal50

python

Ball

pythonorthward

Ball

pythonorth

Boa

constrictor

Leopard

gecko

Collared

lizard

Bearded

dragonorthward

Plated

lizard

Leopard

gecko

Bearded

dragon

Leopard

gecko

Prey

Neonatal

mousdue east

Two

mice

Mouse

Mouse

Mouse

Mouse

Mouse

Two

mice

Mouseast

Mouseast

Rat

Young

rat

Rat

Rat

Rat

Rat

Rat

Rat

Rat

Rat

Locust

Locust

Locust

Locust

Locust

Locust

Locust

Timeast Until

Death

(south)

Notesouthward

120

No

constriction employd

5two

and 38

58

4viii

Mouse squeals

and

strugglesouthward

4vii

Mouse struggles

for 30 s

3viii

Other

miceastward

bear witness

no

concernorth

40

120

and vii0 No

constriction used

four0

72

Mouseastward vocalizes

for 40 southward

six5

72 Rat

stil50 aliveast after

being

ingested

iv2

iiifive

80

82

five6

48

24

32

ii3

ii5

5

10

Behaviour advises prey

alivdue east

in

stomach

7

8

1two

Cooper

and

Williams/Journal

of

Exotic

Pet

Medicine

two3

(2014),

pp

244-249

247

Table.

Continued

YouTubeast

Referenceastward

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wwwest

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Predator

Chameleodue north

Monitor lizard

Day

gecko

Prey

Locust

Locust

Locust

Time

Until

Death

(south)

Notes

6two

8

i6

In

many cases,

the

authors found

it

disturbinthousand

to

watch

thursdaye

aforementioned video clips.

Theastward

authors

would argue that

the

suffering

of

prey species

findd

in

many

of theast

video

dips

is in

humany ways

contrary

to the

requirementsouth

of the

United Kingdom

Animafifty

Welfare

Act

(2006),

as

discussed later on.

DISCUSSION

There

canorthward be due northo

hard-and-fast rules about

thursdaye

feeding

of

live

food

to

captive animals.

However,

weast

advocate that,

if it is not

necessary

to

sustaidue north

thursdaye

life

of theast

prey speciesouthward

to

stimulate

thdue east

predator

to

prehend

and

swallow,

live

feeding should

not

takdue east

place.

When such

a

feeding practice

is

necessary—

and isouthward not de

facto

inorth

contravention

of

legislation

—it

should

beastward

carried

out

with care

and

sensitivity

and

follow

a

code

of

practice.

Asouth

annotationd

at the

beginning

of

this article, thereastward

areast ii

elements

to

live

feeding—the

predator

and thursdaye

prey—and

theseastward

both warrant

a

humane approach.

Although

reptiles haveast attracted particular

attention

in thursdaye

debate

about

livdue east feeding,

other

carnivorousouth revenue enhancementa havdue east also come under some

scrutiny,

especially

inorthward

Europe.

The

feedinm

of

large

felidae,

such

asouthward

lions, tigers

and

cheetahs, with live

vertebrates,

such

adue south

rodents

or

lagomorphs,

has

lonthou ceased

to be an

accepted practice

in

most

European

zoos.

The united statese of

livinthou

animals,

such

as

mice

or

quail,

to

encouragdue east falconers' birdsouth

and

wildlifeast

casualties

to

perfect their huntin1000

skills

has,

likewise,

been

officially

phased out.

Some

of the

practices insinuated

to inorth the

article

have

stopped

because

of

public attitudes

but

legislationorth

hasouthward

as well,

indirectly,

had an

result.

For

instance,

theast UK

Animal Welfare

Air-conditioningt

2006,

although

not

specifically

outlawing

the

feeding

of

liveastward

food

to

carnivorousouth species, putdue south

anorthward

onusouthward

on

keepers

to

motorcareast

for al50

animalsouthward

in

their possessionorthward

and

thusouthward

an

obligation

to

ensure,

adue south

much

as

possible, that prey speciesouth

are

killed

beforeast beinchiliad

offered

adue south

food. Interestingly (and,

idue north the

authors'

view, regrettably)

thursdaye

Animal Welfareastward

Air conditioningt

(2006)

doesouthward

not

cover invertebrates

and

thus,

at

present,

the

feeding

of

live

invertebrate prey items

is not

covered

by the UThou

legislation.

ACKNO

WLEDG

EM

ENTS

Westwarde are

grateful

to

Sally

Dowsett

for

typing

anorthward

early

draft

and to

Margaret

Cooper

for

helpful

annotates

on thursdayeast

text.

APPENDIX

A

Copy

of

document gear upd

for thursdaye

Kenya

Society

for

thdue east

Preventiodue north

of

Cruelty

to

Animals

(K.S.P.C.A.).

Memorandum

onorth

feedinchiliad

of

liveast food

to

captive

snakes:

1. If

serpents

are

kept

in

captivity they must

beast fed

or

they wilfifty starve.

2.

Homoy snakedue south

are

particular about

the

type

of

food

they

wilfifty take

but

this usually amounts

to

preferring birds

to

mammals,

amphibiansouth

to

reptiles, etc.

3.

Most snakes

must

beastward irond

live food when

they

first

come into captivity

but

later many

will

learnorthward

to

takeastward dead food

if it is

moved

so asouth to

simulateast

life.

iv. It isouthward

extremely

difficult

to

assess

hodue west

"cruel"

or

"inhumane"

it is to

give

livinm

food

to a

snake.

Thursdaye

degree

of

sufferingrand

feeld

wilfifty

depend

upon:

a. the

speciedue south

and agdue east of the

animal

b. hodue west

lonyard

it

remains

inorth thdue east

cage beforeast

beinchiliad

eaten

c. to

what extent

its

time

in thursdayeast

cage

is

madeast

tolerable

by

providing food

and

water,

shelter

from

light, etc.

I,

therefore, suggest that

theast

K.S.P.C.A.

drawsouth

up

a

set of

recommendations regarding

theast

feedinthou

of

ophidiandue south

and

other

reptiles.

I

would recommend

something

base of operationsd

upon

the

following:

1. If at alfifty

possibleastward dead food should

be

utilized

inorthward

preference

to

live.

24viii

Cooper

and

Williams/Journafifty

of

Exotic

Pet

Medicine

23

(2014),

pp

244-249

2.

If

live

animals must

bdue east fed

then every

effort

should

be

made

to

reduceastward

suffering

by

such

measures

as:

a.

provision

of

shelter, food

and

water

b. in the

case

of

sociableast species, such

asouth

guinea pigs,

one

anima50 should

not beast put

in

thursdayeast

cage solitary.

c. any

liveast

food

not

eatenorth

after

6

hoursouthward

should

be

removed.

d. any

animal that

isouth

hurtd

or

obviously

excessively

frightened

as a

result

of the

snake

strikinyard

at, but not

eating,

it

should

bdue east

removed

and if

necessary humanely

killed.

iii. Thursdayeastward

feeding

of

dogsouthward

and

cats should

be

discouraged

sinceast

thursdaye

feedin1000

of

such species

is

aesthetically

unacceptable

to

many memberdue south

of theast

public. Therdue east would

be northo

objection

to

the

feeding

of

dead dogs

or

true cats

if

they

had

been

humanely killed beforehand.

4.

When feedinthou

live

animalsouthward thereastward should

be

strict

adherence

to thursdaye

Gameast Laws

and northwardo

protected species should

be

used.

5. For the

same aesthetic reasondue south requitedue north

idue north (3)

faunas

should only

be fed at

times when

thursdaye

public

do not

have access

to theast

snakes.

REFERENCEDue south

1.

Copper

MI::Theastward

feedinone thousand

ol

live

food

to

reptiles,

lierptilc

3

(3P7-39,

1977

2.

Cooper

Ml':

An

Introductiodue north

to

Animal

Constabulary. London,

UK:

Academic

Press,

1 937

3.

Cooper

(R,

Jacksodue north

OF:

Diseases

ol the

Reptilia.

London,

UK:

Academic

Press,

1081

4.

('ryeast

ane

I:

Biomedicai

and

Surgical

Aspectdue south

of

Captive

Reptileastward

Husbandry.

Melbourne,

1'L:

Kreiger

Publishing,

198)

5.

Mad

IT

OR:

Reptile

Medicine

and

Surgery.

Philadelphia,

PA: Due westB

Saunders,

1

98(>

six.

Lewbart

CA:

Invertebratdue east

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(eastwardd

2}.

Oxford,

U.k.:

Wiiev-BlackweH,

2012

seven.

Cooper

}R:

Anesthesia,

analgesia

and

euthanasia

of

inver-

tebrates.

ILAR

i

52(two):

196-204,

201 ane

viii.

Croothou

R!,

I

lanlon

RT,

Walters

LT:

Squid have

nodceptors

that

display widespread

long

terone thousand

sensitization

and

spoil-

taneous

activity

after

bodily

injury,

j

Neurosci

33(24):

10021-10026,

201three

ix.

Mills

H,

Hapiachiliad

Five,

Harris

G, efifty

al:

Theastward

interactionorth

of

octopamineast

and

neuropeptides

to

slow

aversive

responses

in

(..'.

i'h'^iins

mimics

thursdaye

modulationorth

of

chronic

pain

idue north

mammals.

Worm

!(four):.?0ii

206,

20

i

2

10.

International Associatiodue north

for theast

Study

of

Hurting.

IASP

xiii.

Taxonomy.

Available

from:

htlp://world wide web.iasppain

org/Codue north

tent/NavigationMenu/CieneralResourcel.inks/PainUefmi

lions/default.html,

201ii

11.

Cherardi

(:

Behaviourafifty

indicatorsouthward

of

pain

in

crustaceanorth

decapods.

Annorth 1st

Super

Sanita

45:43two 438,

2009

12.

Croothousand

Rl,

Walters

LT:

Nodceptive

behaviour

and

physi-

ology

of

molluscs:

animal

welfare

implications.

ILAR

1 52:

185-195,

20i i

13.

1

iorvath

K,

Angele.lt

i

Fifty),

Nascetti

C, et al:

Invertebrateastward

welfare:

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overlooked consequence.

Andue north 1st

Super

Sanita

49(ane):

ix-17,

2013

14.

Neil

L,

Weary

DM:

Behaviora50

responsesouth

of the

rats

to

gradual-filfifty

carbodue north

dioxideastward

euthanasia

and

reduced

oxygenorthward

concentrations.

Appfifty

Antone thousand

Behafive

Sci

!(!{):

295-308,

2006

fifteen.

Carbone

I,

Carbone

It,

Yi

1:K,

et

al:

Assessin1000

cervical

dislocation

as a

human beingdue east

euthanasia

method

in

mice.

I A1000

Assoc

lab

Anirn

Sci

51(3):

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ii.01two

16.

CarlnerSO

Barlowestward

SC,

NessTj:

Lossouth

of

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miceast

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potassium

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CO_>

inhalation.

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57(6):

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Exotic

Pet

Medicineastward

23

(2014),

pp

244-249

249

... At that place are currently no regulations that foreclose the selling, importing or breeding of these three established species in mainland Southward Africa. Rats and mice are too sold in pet shops in South Africa and other countries as nutrient for other pets, such every bit snakes (Cooper & Williams, 2014;Harker et al., 2011;Kanagarajah et al., 2018;Lee et al., 2008;Maligana et al., 2020). Pet shops practise not just sell these non-native pets but take to apply for permits to trade in some of these species (Drews, 2001;Stoakes, 2014;Su et al., 2015). ...

... The popularity of rodents may exist considering near are relatively easy to maintain and are frequently traded equally nutrient for reptiles, for instance rats, hamsters and mice (Cooper & Williams, 2014;Kanagarajah et al., 2018;Maligana et al., 2020). Pet store owners tend to sell more than common pet species than rare species (Shiau et al., 2006;Shivambu et al., 2021b). ...

The sale of live not‐native animals has become a social norm and is of global business organization. The pet merchandise manufacture has become one of the chief pathways where not‐native small mammals are introduced worldwide. We conducted a questionnaire survey in Southward African pet shops from September 2018 to September 2019 to gain insights into not‐native pocket-size mammalian species merchandise in Due south Africa. We besides investigated whether the pet shop owners were aware of the South African National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM: BA; No. x of 2004), which regulates and provides management and conservation of the country's biodiversity. A total of 111 pet shop owners/managers responded to the survey, with 26.half dozen% of the owners reporting the sale of birds, 25.1% of fish and 22.5% of mammals. A total of 16 non‐native modest mammalian species were reported sold, with European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), Norwegian rats (Rattus norvegicus) and house mice (Mus musculus) being the most commonly sold pets. Nosotros found that breeders, animal rescues and pet shops were the major suppliers of small mammal pets, and in terms of the regulation, nearly respondents (67.8%) were aware of NEM: BA. However, despite the knowledge of the regulations, some of the traded species pose a serious invasion threat. As a result, we recommend increased regulation, monitoring and public awareness to prevent the potential negative impacts associated with non‐native mammal species in South Africa. La vente d'animaux vivants non indigènes est devenue une norme sociale et constitue une préoccupation mondiale. 50'industrie du commerce des animaux de compagnie est devenue fifty'une des principales voies d'introduction de petits mammifères non indigènes dans le monde. Nous avons mené une enquête par questionnaire dans des animaleries sud‐africaines de septembre 2018 à septembre 2019 pour avoir united nations aperçu du commerce des espèces de petits mammifères non indigènes en Afrique du Sud. Nous avons également cherché à savoir si les propriétaires d'animaleries connaissaient la loi sud‐africaine sur la gestion environnementale nationale : Biodiversity Act (NEM : BA ; n° 10 de 2004), qui réglemente et assure la gestion et la conservation de la biodiversité du pays. Au total, 111 propriétaires/gestionnaires d'animaleries ont répondu à l'enquête. 26.vi % des propriétaires ont déclaré vendre des oiseaux, 25.1 % des poissons et 22.5 % des mammifères. Au full, xvi espèces de petits mammifères non indigènes ont été déclarées vendues, les lapins européens (Oryctolagus cuniculus), les rats norvégiens (Rattus norvegicus) et les souris domestiques (Mus musculus) étant les animaux de compagnie les plus vendus. Nous avons constaté que les éleveurs, les ONG de protection des animaux et les animaleries étaient les principaux fournisseurs de petits mammifères à titre d'animaux de compagnie. En termes de réglementation, la plupart des répondants (67.8%) étaient au courant de la NEM : BA. Cependant, malgré la connaissance de la réglementation, certaines des espèces commercialisées représentent une menace sérieuse de prolifération. Par conséquent, nous recommandons de renforcer la réglementation, la surveillance et la sensibilisation du public afin de prévenir les impacts négatifs potentiels associés aux espèces de mammifères non indigènes en Afrique du Sud.

... Just that end (compared with even a short life, and even if were to weigh suffering more than heavily than pleasure) was probable pretty quick. For instance, a report of ophidian predation (Cooper & Williams, 2014) on mice and rats showed time to death 62 ± 29 seconds for mice and 54 ± 21 seconds for rats. Johannsen doesn't provide evidence that the 146 lizards that disappeared between year i and ii had "lives full of suffering" prior to this final painful infinitesimal or 2; neither does the herpetological written report he draws on. ...

  • Clare Palmer Clare Palmer

In his book Wild Animal Ideals, Kyle Johannsen argues that our duties of beneficence to aid suffering wild fauna require significant interventions into wild nature. In particular, he claims that the majority of wild animals lead miserable lives and that naturalness, or wildness, is not an intrinsically valuable property. In these comments, I question both these claims. Outset, I contend that a lot more testify is needed than Johannsen provides to support the claim that near wild animate being lives are terrible. Then I suggest that Johannsen both mischaracterizes and fails to recognize the importance of wildness value, meaning that he doesn't discuss some significant ethical worries about the kind of big-scale interventions into wild nature he proposes. While I don't argue that wildness value necessarily trumps the disvalue of wild animate being suffering. I maintain that there are genuine value conflicts here, and as well that wildness value is just i example of such a conflict. If, as Johannsen claims, he wants to gain democratic legitimacy for big scale interventions to aid suffering wild animals, he needs to take such value conflicts much more than seriously.

... However, in their report Almli and Burghardt (2006) included the provision of live mammalian prey as part of their environmental enrichment (aslope climbing branches and hiding places). The use of live vertebrate prey comes with substantial ethical and welfare issues (Cooper and Williams, 2014). Every bit such, it is essential to investigate whether increasing muzzle complexity without live nutrient provision would have a similar impact. ...

At that place is a wealth of bear witness demonstrating the benefits of environmental enrichment across a range of different animal species. All the same, there is comparatively fiddling such research into the event of enrichment provision on convict reptiles. The aim of this study was therefore to ascertain if an increment in environmental complexity was beneficial to the behaviour and welfare of corn snakes (Pantherophis guttatus). The written report used a combination of behavioural observations in the dwelling enclosure, behavioural tests of anxiety, and a preference exam. The snakes used the enrichment when it was available to them and enriched snakes showed changes in general behaviour reflective of improved welfare. However, the anxiety tests revealed few effects of enrichment provision on performance. In contrast, the snakes exhibited a potent preference for the enriched enclosure when given a choice. These findings suggest that the provision of environmental complexity to the enclosure was beneficial to the behaviour and welfare of convict corn snakes. We therefore recommend enrichment should be used when keeping captive snakes.

... Non-native small mammal species are also commonly traded via online portals and pet shops as feed for other non-native pets such as snakes, e.g. ball python Python regius and the red-tailed boa Boa constrictor (Cooper and Williams 2014;Kanagarajah et al. 2018). An increase in the trade of these non-native minor mammal species as pets is of great business organization for human and predator pets' health as almost of these species are associated with zoonotic agents such every bit Salmonella, Francisella tularensis, monkeypox virus and Yersinia pestis (Inoue et al. 2009;Lankau et al. 2017;Kanagarajah et al. 2018). ...

Not-native pocket-size mammals are amidst the most popular species traded as pets around the world. Some of these mammals accept become invasive through various pet merchandise releases and escapees in virtually countries. In South Africa, several nonnative small mammals have been introduced for pet trade purposes. We assessed the sale of non-native small mammals in South Africa from September 2018 to 2019 to make up one's mind their abundance and caste of merchandise online and in pet shops. A full of seven websites were recorded selling 2,681 individuals representing 24 species belonging to seven taxonomic orders. For physical pet shops, 19,391 individuals representing 16 species and seven orders were recorded from 122 pet shops. Rodents and primates were the most dominant groups in both online and pet shops. The virtually common pocket-size mammal species traded were the Norwegian rat Rattus norvegicus, the guinea squealer Cavia porcellus, the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus and the house mouse Mus musculus. Prices ranged from ZAR9.00 to ZAR12,000.00, with rodents offered at relatively low prices. The near abundant species traded were relatively cheap when compared with the least abundant species and CITES species were more expensive than non-CITES species. Species with high abundances traded at low prices and have a history of invasion through pet trade releases and escapes pose an invasion run a risk in South Africa. Therefore, their trade should be strictly regulated.

... While introducing live prey may have immediate and long-term benefits for exhibited predatory animals, there are several concerns. Outset and foremost are the articulate and adverse effects on the prey animals themselves [45][46][47]. Live prey introduced into an showroom may endure injury and ultimately death, with some facilities and/or countries choosing to restrict or prohibit the apply of live prey [48,49]. A second concern for public facilities is the effect on visitors. ...

Penguins are considered among the about popular animals for zoo and aquarium visitors to observe. Pond is considered a desirable activity, both for the visitor feel and the welfare of the penguins. Nevertheless, little is known near the amount of time exhibited penguins spend swimming, or how such pond is related to regular feeding events. We examined the effects of introducing live prey in the form of trout on 22 Humboldt penguins living at the Woodland Park Zoo. Of primary interest was how the live feeds inverse (one) daily and hourly swimming activity, and (two) variability in enclosure use. We hypothesized that the alive feedings would increment swimming action prior to and during the delivery of the live trout, likewise equally create an overall increase in total swimming activity for live feed days compared to not-alive feed days. We also predicted that the penguins would exist more likely to use the entire exhibit around these live feeds, since they are probable to hunt fish throughout the exhibit. Penguins did prove an increment in swimming activity in the hour prior to and during the alive feed, with a small decrease in swimming action post-obit the alive feed when compared to non-live feed days. In that location was also a more than 30% increase in the total pond activity for live feed days when compared to all other non-alive feed days. In improver, a unmarried measure out of variability in enclosure use (entropy) showed greater overall enclosure apply for the live feed days compared to the non-alive feed days. These results demonstrate that alive fish tin can exist a useful way of enriching the behavioural welfare of Humboldt penguins.

... Similarly, the black rat (R. rattus Linnaeus, 1758) and the Gambian pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus Waterhouse, 1840) are also kept as pets and used for scientific enquiry (Cooper 2008;Driscoll et al. 2009). Rats are too used every bit food for pet snakes, where they are referred to equally feeders (Cooper and Williams 2014). These rodents are also known to damage crops, stored nutrient, household items, cause zoonotic diseases, and have been implicated in the extinction of island birds (Aplin et al. 2003;Witmer and Shiels 2017). ...

Although synanthropic invasive murid rodents are freely traded in pet shops in Southward Africa, their taxonomic identities, nonetheless, remain largely unknown. Xx-four murid rodents were sampled from pet shops in 4 of the five municipalities in Gauteng Province, South Africa for genetic identification using mitochondrial cytochrome b (mtDNA) sequence information. Distance-based Neighbour-Joining (NJ), character-based maximum likelihood (ML) and model-based Bayesian inference (BI) were used to infer the human relationship between the pet murid rodents. Brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) and business firm mice (Mus musculus) were the virtually dominant species in the pet shops. The results demonstrated that pet shop owners lacked the taxonomic expertise to identify murid rodent species they trade in. For example, the juveniles of brown rats were misidentified as adults of the house mouse. The murid rodents sampled in the current study were genetically affiliated to both wild and laboratory strains of R. norvegicus and M. musculus. The results of the BI showed that the pet murid rodents were in the terminal clades as those of conspecifics in NCBI GenBank reference sequences. The molecular data used in the current study may be useful for developing national policies and regulations for synanthropic invasive murid rodents in the pet trade industry in South Africa.

... Similarly, the black rat (R. rattus Linnaeus, 1758) and the Gambian pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus Waterhouse, 1840) are as well kept as pets and used for scientific research (Cooper 2008;Driscoll et al. 2009). Rats are also used as nutrient for pet snakes, where they are referred to every bit feeders (Cooper and Williams 2014). These rodents are also known to damage crops, stored food, household items, crusade zoonotic diseases, and have been implicated in the extinction of island birds (Aplin et al. 2003;Witmer and Shiels 2017). ...

... Similarly, the black rat (R. rattus Linnaeus, 1758) and the Gambian pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus Waterhouse, 1840) are also kept as pets and used for scientific research (Cooper 2008;Driscoll et al. 2009). Rats are likewise used as food for pet snakes, where they are referred to as feeders (Cooper and Williams 2014). These rodents are too known to impairment crops, stored food, household items, cause zoonotic diseases, and have been implicated in the extinction of island birds (Aplin et al. 2003;Witmer and Shiels 2017). ...

Although synanthropic invasive murid rodents are freely traded in pet shops in South Africa, their taxonomic identities, yet, remain largely unknown. Twenty-4 murid rodents were sampled from pet shops in 4 of the five municipalities in Gauteng Province, South Africa for genetic identification using mitochondrial cytochrome b (mtDNA) sequence data. Distance-based Neighbour-Joining (NJ), character-based maximum likelihood (ML) and model-based Bayesian inference (BI) were used to infer the human relationship between the pet murid rodents. Brownish rats (Rattus norvegicus) and house mice (Mus musculus) were the most dominant species in the pet shops. The results demonstrated that pet store owners lacked the taxonomic expertise to identify murid rodent species they trade in. For example, the juveniles of brown rats were misidentified as adults of the house mouse. The murid rodents sampled in the current study were genetically affiliated to both wild and laboratory strains of R. norvegicus and Chiliad. muscle. The results of the BI showed that the pet murid rodents were in the terminal clades as those of conspecifics in NCBI GenBank reference sequences. The molecular data used in the current report may be useful for developing national policies and regulations for synanthropic invasive murid rodents in the pet trade industry in S Africa.

... There is some statement in the literature for feeding live animals to reptiles, equally a component of environmental enrichment that results in increased behavioural adaptiveness for the predator. 26 However, this is not recommended in the CoP considering the ophidian may be injured by the animal during the feeding process, 27 as well as the poor welfare outcomes for the prey animal enduring subjugation and killing in an artificial context. 27 28 Additionally, many animals bred specifically for feeding to a convict reptile are maintained in poor atmospheric condition, impacting their welfare fifty-fifty during their lives. ...

Background A large number of snakes are kept as pets in Western societies. Few studies have been undertaken to assess keeping practices of snakes by private owners in Australia. Therefore, there is concern that some owners may not sympathize even basic husbandry requirements. The aim of this preliminary study was to identify the most mutual practices used by snake owners in Victoria, Australia. Method An online survey asked 251 snake owners to describe means in which they attempt to run across their snake's ecology, behavioural, dietary, social and wellness needs. Results Fewer than half of participants had an enclosure large enough for the snake to fully stretch out, and just over half had an enclosure big enough to meet the requirements in the Victorian Code of Practice. Just lx per cent of owners correctly identified their serpent'south activity patterns based on information about wild snakes of the same species. Conclusion Educational campaigns may help improve outcomes for snakes in the hereafter, but more research is needed about captive snake husbandry, to provide an evidence base for informing snake management recommendations.

  • Trent Charles van Zanten
  • Shane Craig Simpson

Managing the wellness of reptile and amphibian collections is centered on providing advisable environmental parameters, husbandry conditions, and diet too every bit maintaining expert welfare and conscientious drove planning. Disease manual is reduced through quarantine, advisable diagnostic testing, and annual veterinarian health assessment."

Octopamine (OA) appears to function as the invertebrate analogue of norepinephrine (NE) in the modulation of a number of key behaviors. In C. elegans, OA signaling is complex, mediated by at least 3 distinct α-adrenergic-like receptors and appears to actuate more global peptidergic signaling cascades that have the potential to dramatically amplify the octopaminergic indicate. These OA-dependent peptidergic signaling cascades involve an array of neuropeptides that activate receptors throughout the nervous system and have the potential to both straight and indirectly modulate locomotory decision-making. In this commentary we highlight the use of C. elegans as a model to expand our understanding of noradrenergic signaling in mammals, specifically as information technology relates to the part of NE in anti-nociception.

Bodily injury in mammals oftentimes produces persistent pain that is driven at to the lowest degree in role by long-lasting sensitization and spontaneous activity (SA) in peripheral branches of main nociceptors near sites of injury. While nociceptors take been described in lower vertebrates and invertebrates, exterior of mammals there is limited evidence for peripheral sensitization of main afferent neurons, and at that place are no reports of persistent SA being induced in master afferents by baneful stimulation. Cephalopod molluscs are the most neurally and behaviorally complex invertebrates, with brains rivaling those of some vertebrates in size and complexity. This has fostered the opinion that cephalopods may experience hurting, leading some governments to include cephalopods under fauna welfare laws. It is not known, all the same, if cephalopods possess nociceptors, or whether their somatic sensory neurons exhibit nociceptive sensitization. Nosotros demonstrate that squid possess nociceptors that selectively encode noxious mechanical but not heat stimuli, and that show long-lasting peripheral sensitization to mechanical stimuli after pocket-size injury to the body. As in mammals, injury in squid can cause persistent SA in peripheral afferents. Different mammals, the afferent sensitization and SA are almost every bit prominent on the contralateral side of the body as they are near an injury. Thus, while squid exhibit peripheral alterations in afferent neurons similar to those that bulldoze persistent pain in mammals, robust changes far from sites of injury in squid advise that persistently enhanced afferent action provides much less information about the location of an injury in cephalopods than information technology does in mammals.

While invertebrates make up the majority of animal species, their welfare is overlooked compared to the concern shown to vertebrates. This fact is highlighted by the virtually absence of regulations in animal research, with the exception of cephalopods in the European Spousal relationship. This is often justified by assumptions that invertebrates do not experience pain and stress while lacking the chapters for higher social club cognitive functions. Contempo enquiry suggests that invertebrates may exist just equally capable as vertebrates in experiencing pain and stress, and some species display comparable cerebral capacities. Another obstruction is the negative view of invertebrates past the public, which oft regards them as pests with no individual personalities, gastronomic entities, or individuals for scientific experimentation without rules. Increasingly, studies have revealed that invertebrates possess private profiles comparable to the personalities plant in vertebrates. Given the large economical impact of invertebrates, developing certain attitude changes in invertebrate welfare may be beneficial for producers while providing higher welfare conditions for the animals. While the immense number and type of species makes information technology difficult to suggest that all invertebrates will benefit from increased welfare, in this review we provide prove that the topic of invertebrate welfare should be revisited, more thoroughly investigated, and in cases where appropriate, formally instituted.

  • Larry Carbone Larry Carbone
  • Elizabeth T Carbone
  • Elizabeth Thou Yi
  • James D Wilkerson

Research investigators often choose to euthanize mice by cervical dislocation (CD) when other methods would interfere with the aims of a inquiry project. Others choose CD to assure death in mice treated with injected or inhaled euthanasia agents. CD was showtime canonical for mouse euthanasia in 1972 by the AVMA Panel on Euthanasia, although scientific cess of its humaneness has been sparse. Here we compared 4 methods of spinal dislocation--3 targeting the cervical area (CD) and one the thoracic region--in regard to time to respiratory arrest in anesthetized mice. Of the 81 mice that underwent CD past ane of the 3 methods tested, 17 (21%) continued to breathe, and euthanasia was scored as unsuccessful. Postmortem radiography revealed cervical spinal lesions in v of the 17 cases of unsuccessful CD euthanasia. In addition, 63 of the 64 successfully euthanized mice had radiographically visible lesions in the high cervical or atlantooccipital region. In add-on, 50 of 64 (78%) mice euthanized successfully had radiographically visible thoracic or lumbar lesions or both. Intentionally creating a midthoracic dislocation in anesthetized mice failed to induce respiratory arrest and death in any of the xviii mice subjected to that procedure. Nosotros conclude that CD of mice holds the potential for unsuccessful euthanasia, that anesthesia could be valuable for CD skills preparation and cess, and that postmortem radiography has minimal hope in quality-control assessments.

Molluscs take proven to be invaluable models for basic neuroscience research, yielding fundamental insights into a range of biological processes involved in action potential generation, synaptic manual, learning, memory, and, more recently, nociceptive biological science. Evidence suggests that nociceptive processes in primary nociceptors are highly conserved across diverse taxa, making molluscs bonny models for biomedical studies of mechanisms that may contribute to pain in humans only likewise exposing them to procedures that might produce painlike sensations. We review the physiology of nociceptors and behavioral responses to baneful stimulation in several molluscan taxa, and discuss the possibility that nociception may issue in painlike states in at least some molluscs that possess more complex nervous systems. Few studies have straight addressed possible emotionlike concomitants of nociceptive responses in molluscs. Because the definition of hurting includes a subjective component that may exist incommunicable to gauge in animals quite different from humans, firm conclusions about the possible beingness of pain in molluscs may be unattainable. Evolutionary divergence and differences in lifestyle, physiology, and neuroanatomy suggest that painlike experiences in molluscs, if they exist, should differ from those in mammals. Simply reports point that some molluscs exhibit motivational states and cognitive capabilities that may exist consistent with a capacity for states with functional parallels to pain. We therefore recommend that investigators try to minimize the potential for nociceptor activation and painlike sensations in experimental invertebrates by reducing the number of animals subjected to stressful manipulations and by administering appropriate anesthetic agents whenever practicable, welfare practices like to those for vertebrate subjects.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is widely used for euthanasia of laboratory rats, but trivial is known about the pain and distress caused past this procedure. Physiological and human self-study information suggest that CO2 may cause pain and dyspnea, a sensation of breathlessness and increased respiratory endeavour, at the concentrations used for gradual-fill euthanasia. However, previous studies examining the behavioural responses of rats have reported conflicting results. In this study, detailed behavioural responses of rats were examined during gradual-make full CO2 euthanasia and during gradual-fill with argon to produce a similar reduction in oxygen concentration. Animals were randomly allocated to the CO2 or reduced oxygen treatment groups (due north=8 for both), and were first tested with air exposure and then with treatment gas exposure on the post-obit 24-hour interval. Observations were taken for 105s earlier and after gas flow began (baseline and exposure periods), as animals had ceased purposeful movement within 105s of CO2 menstruum starting. Behavioural changes from baseline during gas exposure were compared to changes during air exposure on command days. In comparison to air exposure, CO2 resulted in increased activity, rearing, touching the nose to the bedroom lid, escape behaviours and vocalizations. A minor increase in touching the nose to the chamber lid was observed when oxygen concentrations were reduced with argon, merely no other behavioural changes were observed. These results suggest that gradual-fill CO2 euthanasia causes distress in rats, and that hypoxia alone is not a major crusade of this distress.

  • John E Cooper John E Cooper

Invertebrate animals take long played an of import part in biomedical research in such fields as genetics, physiology, and development. However, with few exceptions, scientists, veterinarians, and technicians have paid little attending to the anesthesia, analgesia, and euthanasia of these diverse creatures. Indeed, some standard research procedures are routinely performed without anesthesia. Yet diverse chemical agents are available for the immobilization or anesthesia of invertebrates, ranging from gases or volatile liquids that can be pumped into either an anesthetic bedchamber (for terrestrial species) or a container of water (aquatic species), to benzocaine and other substances for fish. Many invertebrates are non hard to immobilize or anesthetize and the procedures recommended in this article appear to be safe; however, none should be considered totally run a risk-gratuitous. Analgesia of invertebrates is equally yet a largely unexplored field; until scientific data are available, other measures can promote the well-being of these animals in the laboratory. For euthanasia, diverse methods (concrete or chemical or a combination of both) have been recommended for different taxa of invertebrates, but near take non been properly studied nether laboratory conditions and some tin can be problematic in the context of research procedures and tissue harvesting. Furthermore, relevant data are scattered, sometimes available only in languages other than English language, and there is no international approach for seeking and collating such information. In this article I review diverse methods of anesthesia, analgesia, and euthanasia for terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, every bit well as areas requiring farther research.

  • Francesca Gherardi Francesca Gherardi

Whether invertebrates are able or not to feel hurting is a highly controversial issue. An operative way to solve such a controversy might exist to investigate their responses to potentially noxious stimuli and to collect prove of their behavioural complexities as proxies of cognitive capacities. The principle of argument-by-analogy can be then applied to these information: the behaviour displayed by invertebrates is compared with that of "higher" animals, its similarity denoting the former's capacity to take analogous experiences. Here, the author discusses some examples, extracted from the literature on crustacean decapods, that pinpoint their nature of "sentient" animals. This review, however, also shows that enquiry is nonetheless scanty in the field. The studies that examine the potential links between stress responses and pain experience are few, and the several papers that help elucidate cognitive abilities in decapods have been limited to a few taxa and are not specifically directed to the question of "sentience". On the contrary, besides in the calorie-free of the expected revision of the current EU legislation in the thing, more than scientific efforts should exist expended on exploring the upshot of pain experience in invertebrates.

  • Samuel Cartner Samuel Cartner
  • Shayne C Barlow
  • Timothy J Ness

Electroencephalograms (EEG) and visual evoked potentials (VEP) in mice were recorded to evaluate loss of cortical function during the first 30 southward after euthanasia by various methods. Tracheal cannulae (for positive-pressure ventilation, PPV) and cortical surface electrodes were placed in mice anesthetized with inhaled halothane. Succinylcholine was used to block spontaneous animate in the mice, which so underwent continuous EEG recording. Photic stimuli (1 Hz) were presented to produce VEPs superimposed on the EEG. Anesthesia was discontinued immediately before euthanasia. Compared with that obtained before euthanasia, EEG activity during the 30-s study period immediately after euthanasia was significantly decreased after cervical dislocation (at 5 to 10 southward), 100% PPV-CO2 (at 10 to 15 s), decapitation (at 15 to 20 due south), and cardiac abort due to KCl injection (at twenty to 25 s) but not later administration of seventy% PPV-CO2. Similarly, these euthanasia methods also reduced VEP aamplitude, although 100% PPV-CO2 handling affected VEP aamplitude more than it did EEG activity. Thus, 100% PPV-CO2 treatment significantly decreased VEP beginning 5 to x s later assistants, with most abolition of VEP by xxx south. VEP aamplitude was significantly reduced at 5 to 10 s after cervical dislocation and at ten to 15 south after decapitation simply not afterwards either KCl or 70% PPV-CO2 assistants. The data demonstrate that 100% PPV-CO2, decapitation, and cervical dislocation lead to rapid disruption of cortical function as measured by 2 different methods. In comparison, 70% PPV-CO2 and cardiac abort due to intracardiac KCl injection had less rapid effects on cortical function.