Working Animals: Welfare, Ethics, and Human-Animals Relationship—2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Historically, animals have often been employed to aid the survival of the human species in a myriad of ways. Nowadays, millions of animals continue to work in collaboration with their handlers worldwide. The huge diversity of work performed by animals ranges from military; law enforcement and wartime duties; transport in agriculture; search and rescue; detection (drugs, explosive, wildlife, etc.,); herding, guarding, and hunting; animal-assisted therapy or assistance/service roles (such as guide dogs for the blind).

While the contributions and collaborations of these animals offer enormous benefits, in some circumstances, the role of "working animal" represents a significant welfare risk. Given the enormous social role played by these animals, it would be desirable to open a scientific debate on the potential benefits and risks associated with working animals, and the related ethical concerns. This is important both for animals that work in close contact with humans (such as rescue dogs and animals involved in assistance/service), because of their deep relationship with their handlers, and for those that are mainly exploited as a resource (for example, transport and hunting dogs), for which the performative request is not always reciprocated by adequate care and management.

Innovative papers from different research areas, such as the behavior and welfare of working animals, computer video analysis, sport exercise animal physiology, dog olfaction science, human–working animal relationship, animal-assisted intervention issues, and veterinary medicine, are invited to contribute to this Special Issue, which aims to collate the latest advances in the welfare and ethics issues of working with animals. Interdisciplinary studies will be considered, especially those regarding (but not limited to):

• Search and rescue dogs;
• Detection dogs;
• Herding and hunting dogs.
• Animals involved in assistance/service to humans;
• Human–working animal relationship;
• Transport animals;
• Ethical issues related to working animals.

Dr. Silvana Diverio
Dr. Gabriella Guelfi
Guest Editors

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