开始时间: 04/22/2022 持续时间: Unknown
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所在平台: CourseraArchive 课程类别: 其他类别 大学或机构: The University of Edinburgh（爱丁堡大学） 授课老师： Nat Waran Fritha Langford |
课程主页: https://www.coursera.org/course/animal
课程评论：没有评论
Animal welfare has been described as a complex, multi-faceted public policy issue which includes important scientific, ethical, and other dimensions. Improving our understanding of animal welfare, involves the fascinating study of animal behavioural needs as well as the challenge of accessing animal emotions.
Week 1: Introduction, History, and Concepts of Animal Welfare.
During this week, we will consider what animal welfare is, the meanings and definitions of animal welfare and the history of animal welfare in different parts of the world and how views on animal welfare are influenced by cultural, social, economical, political and other factors.
Week 2: Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Assessment
Animals show both short-term and long-term behavioural, physiological responses and immunological responses to challenges in their environment. We can use knowledge of animal physiology and both normal and abnormal behaviour as complementary approaches in the assessment of the welfare of an animal in its captive environment. We can also employ experimental techniques to try to understand animal emotions in relation to their living conditions, for example; to determine their preferences, or what they don't like or find aversive about a procedure or environment. These experimental techniques allow us to ‘ask’ the animals how they feel about their environment. In week 2 we will explore a variety of techniques used practically and experimentally to provide an insight into the animal’s experience of its world.
Week 3: Practical Animal Welfare: Companion Animal Welfare
In many countries dogs and cats are traditionally kept as pets in the home, with stray/abandoned or unwanted animals usually housed in shelters, where there are frequently questions about their behavioural needs. In other parts of the world dogs and cats may exist very successfully as part of a ‘community’ or as ‘street’ animals, and this existence also presents unique challenges and benefits to the welfare of these species. In this lecture we will explore the place of dogs and cats in human society and how different attitudes and management styles impact on their welfare.
Week 4: Practical Animal Welfare: Production Animal Welfare
Production animal welfare is a hot topic. In this session you will gain an appreciation of the relevance of farm animal welfare and the issues that impact on production animal species. We shall also look at the way that scientists have contributed to our understanding of the importance of these impacts from an animal's point of view. We will explore societal concerns, the scientific understanding of animal welfare within a variety of production methods and how we gain insight to the animal's viewpoint.
Week 5: Practical Animal Welfare: Captive Wild Animal Welfare
During the fifth week we will summarise key welfare issues relating to the management of captive wild animals in zoos. Primarily conservation-focussed, the zoo community is becoming increasingly aware of the welfare concerns arising from the management of captive wild animals and is developing strategies to address these issues. We will look at the conflicts between welfare and conservation, the methods for assessing welfare within a zoo environment and the challenges associated with this.
Animal welfare has been described as a complex, multi-faceted public policy issue which includes important scientific, ethical, and other dimensions. Improving our understanding of animal welfare, involves the fascinating study of animal behavioural needs as well as the challenge of accessing animal emotions.
