Journal article
Circus and zoo animal welfare in Sweden: An epidemiological analysis of data from regulatory inspections by the official competent authorities
PL Hitchens, J Hultgren, J Frössling, U Emanuelson, LJ Keeling
Animal Welfare | UNIV FEDERATION ANIMAL WELFARE | Published : 2017
Abstract
Good animal welfare is crucial for the success of circuses and zoos. Epidemiological studies of animal welfare that investigate associations between animal-based measures (ABMs) and resource- and management-based measures are needed. However, due to the relatively low numbers of animals within each species kept at individual facilities, such investigations can be difficult to carry out. In this paper, we report the analysis of a multi-facility epidemiological study using data from all regulatory inspections of circus and zoo animals in Sweden for 2010 to 2014. Information from 42 inspections of 38 circuses, and 318 inspections of 179 zoos was analysed. For ABMs assessed during routine inspec..
View full abstractGrants
Funding Acknowledgements
The authors thank Formas, the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning for financial support, and the Swedish Board of Agriculture and County Administrative Boards for providing animal welfare inspection data. The project is part of the Centre of Excellence in Animal Welfare Science, a Swedish collaborative research platform.