Search Results (367)

This narrative review examines the clinical application of tiletamine–zolazepam (TZ) in exotic pet and wildlife anesthesia, addressing the complexities inherent in managing a broad taxonomic spectrum with diverse physiological profiles and temperaments. As a fixed-dose combination, TZ is a cornerstone of multimodal protocols designed to achieve balanced anesthesia. Its lyophilized formulation permits reconstitution with various sedative solutions, facilitating low-volume administration, a critical requirement for the immobilization of wildlife and small exotic patients. Given the significant variability in species-specific responses and environmental influences, selecting and adapting appropriate TZ-based protocols remain a challenge for practitioners. By synthesizing heterogeneous data into expert-validated guidance, this review provides specialized and general veterinarians with practical considerations for the judicious use of TZ. Emphasis is placed on integrating TZ within multimodal protocols to mitigate arousal risks, ensure consistent immobilization, and facilitate rapid recovery. This approach seeks to optimize anesthetic outcomes and promote animal welfare across these physiologically diverse populations. Full article

Transport is a fundamental component of equestrian training and competition. However, even horses with extensive transport experience may exhibit physiological stress responses during routine travel. This case report describes physiological stress responses in a transport-experienced 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding subjected to repeated, standardized short-distance transport. The horse was transported on 17 occasions along a fixed route to a riding school for dressage training using the same vehicle, handler, and protocol to minimize environmental variability. Physiological stress markers were assessed using continuous heart rate monitoring and salivary cortisol sampling at standardized time points before, during, and after each transport and training session. Salivary cortisol concentrations increased during transport and remained slightly elevated relative to preloading reference values throughout the transport–training–return sequence. Heart rate was elevated relative to typical resting values prior tooading, peaked during training, and remained moderately elevated during subsequent transport phases. Longitudinal visualization across repeated transport events revealed a gradual decline in cortisol concentrations after approximately ten transport events, suggestive of partial physiological habituation. However, the occurrence of a physiological outlier during the fifth transport event underscores that even in experienced horses, acute stress responses can occur independently of the general habituation trend. These findings indicate that repeated short-distance transport can elicit measurable physiological stress responses in transport-experienced horses and that habituation may be incomplete despite standardized conditions and familiarity with the procedure. Taken together, these results challenge the assumption that routine transport is minimally stressful, highlighting the importance of individualized transport management, adequate recovery periods, and ongoing welfare monitoring. Full article

The millisecond-level volatile fluctuations in workloads in large-scale intelligent computing clusters pose significant challenges to traditional electricity markets. Constrained by optical–electrical–optical conversion bottlenecks, these markets struggle to achieve real-time response and risk substantial social welfare loss. Leveraging existing fiber-optic infrastructure to build All-Optical Networks (AONs) presents a cost-effective evolutionary path. This paper develops a distributed energy trading strategy based on all-optical multicast. By utilizing the physical multicast properties of the underlying light-tree architecture instead of traditional protocols, the proposed strategy bypasses end-to-end latency constraints. This enables rapid transaction synchronization and dynamic tracking of social welfare optima within millisecond-level time-slots. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme elevates the transaction saturation threshold by two orders of magnitude compared with traditional strategies, effectively breaking the physical locking effect of latency on system throughput. Across various topologies, the social welfare gains exceed those of conventional schemes by more than 20 times. This study validates the engineering value of all-optical architectures for high-frequency trading and provides critical technical support for ultra-dynamic power trading algorithms. Full article

The rapid expansion of edible insect production has focused primarily on rearing, processing efficiency, safety, and nutritional composition, while the slaughter of insects has received comparatively little scientific and ethical scrutiny. This narrative review examines insect slaughter as a critical control point linking bioethics, physiology, and ingredient quality. The review synthesizes evidence from neurobiology, food science, and processing studies to evaluate how commonly used slaughter methods interact with biological aspects of insects. Existing literature shows that slaughter techniques influence protein stability and hydrolysis, lipid oxidation, antioxidant retention, techno-functional properties such as emulsification and gelation, as well as sensory attributes and consumer acceptance. Available evidence suggests that methods designed to rapidly suppress metabolic activity may be associated with improved preservation of certain nutritional and functional parameters, although findings remain species- and context-dependent. The review further highlights major knowledge gaps, including the lack of species- and life-stage-specific welfare indicators and standardized assessment protocols. Overall, the findings support the need to reconceptualize insect slaughter as a strategic upstream decision rather than a neutral processing step. Integrating ethical considerations with nutritional, functional, and regulatory perspectives is essential for establishing science-based standards and ensuring the responsible development of edible insect-based food and feed systems. Full article

Overweight and obesity are prevalent among companion dogs and cats in the Western world. Affected animals are at risk of comorbidities and reduced longevity. This narrative review found that veterinary literature generally characterises overweight and obesity as nutritional disorders that are primarily addressed by reducing caloric intake. However, veterinary management of overweight and obesity has limited success outside research settings. The Five Domains model for animal welfare assessment is applied to explore impacts of overweight and obesity and their management in dogs and cats by focusing on nutrition, health, physical environment, behavioural interactions and mental state. A second focus is on the practical strategies for addressing non-diet-related barriers and client communication through the provision of management recommendations. This novel and integrative approach aims to inform veterinarians and improve the success of weight management protocols. Full article

Background: Optimizing pain control and anesthesia stability is essential for surgical outcomes in dogs. This study evaluated the effects of preoperative tapentadol on anesthesia depth, recovery, and serotonin levels in dogs undergoing elective spaying. Methods: Sixty-six healthy female dogs were randomly assigned to three groups: standard pain relief, tapentadol alone, or tapentadol combined with standard pain relief. Anesthesia was induced with propofol and maintained with sevoflurane. Intraoperative heart rate, blood pressure, anesthetic depth, postoperative sedation, pain scores, and plasma serotonin concentrations were recorded. Results: Tapentadol-treated dogs showed deeper and more stable anesthesia during surgical stimulation, higher early postoperative sedation that resolved within two hours, and reduced postoperative serotonin levels compared with controls. All analgesic protocols maintained adequate pain control, and biochemical parameters remained within normal limits. Conclusions: Preoperative tapentadol enhances anesthetic stability, supports smoother early recovery, and modulates serotonin levels in dogs, suggesting benefits for perioperative pain management and overall surgical welfare. Full article

Education is one of the core roles of modern zoos, alongside research and conservation. In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed on the importance of conservation within zoo education, and the term conservation education has become more widely used. Swedish zoos report using a variety of educational activities; however, systematic evaluations remain scarce. The aim of the present study was to analyse the content of species signage (n = 404) at 11 zoos in Sweden. A predetermined evaluation protocol was applied, including items related to conservation, animal biology, behaviour, ecology, and animal welfare, assessed using binary (“yes/no”) criteria. The signage analysis revealed that majority of signs provided basic species information, such as body size (88% of signs), lifespan (59%), geographical distribution (86%), diet (84%), and number of offspring (75%). In contrast, only 68% of signs included conservation status, 44% described specific threats, and just 17% provided information on actions visitors could take to support conservation. Information related to animal welfare was rare: 4% of signs mentioned enclosure design, 2% referred to enrichment, and only 1% included animal training. Overall, while Swedish zoos generally provided information on species ecology and, to some extent, conservation, guidance on how visitors could actively contribute to conservation was limited. Full article

Understanding how different pre-slaughter and slaughter procedures modulate physiological and neurochemical pathways in European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) remains essential for welfare-oriented aquaculture. This study comparatively evaluated six procedures: clove oil and 2-phenoxyethanol anaesthesia, percussive stunning, asphyxiation in ice slurry or on solid ice, and clove oil anaesthesia followed by ice slurry, using plasma glucose and whole-brain monoaminergic indices as integrative physiological response indicators. Ninety-six fish were analysed. Ice-based asphyxiation and 2-phenoxyethanol exposure were associated with the highest plasma glucose concentrations, whereas clove oil and percussive stunning showed comparatively lower values. Dopaminergic and serotonergic turnover ratios (DOPAC/DA; 5-HIAA/5-HT) increased sharply under ice and 2-phenoxyethanol treatments, indicating increased monoaminergic activity under these procedures. Multivariate analyses (MANOVA, PCA) distinguished anaesthetic-based treatments from ice-based methods according to their combined neurochemical profiles. Although correlations between glucose and monoaminergic indices were modest, they were statistically significant and consistent with coordinated metabolic–neurochemical adjustments. Overall, DOPAC/DA and 5-HIAA/5-HT ratios emerged as sensitive and mechanistic biomarkers capable of differentiating slaughter procedures according to their relative physiological impact. These findings support the integration of metabolic and neurochemical indicators in welfare assessment and may contribute to evidence-based refinement of humane slaughter protocols in Mediterranean aquaculture systems. Full article

Automated recognition of equine–human interaction behaviors from video represents a significant challenge in computational ethology, with critical applications spanning animal welfare assessment, equine-assisted services evaluation, and safety monitoring in equestrian environments. Existing approaches to animal behavior recognition typically focus on single species in isolation, rely solely on facial expression analysis while ignoring full-body posture, or employ flat classification architectures that fail under the severe class imbalances characteristic of naturalistic behavioral datasets. Furthermore, no prior framework integrates simultaneous analysis of both human and equine body language for cross-species interaction classification. This paper presents a novel hierarchical classification framework integrating multi-modal computer vision features to distinguish behavioral states during horse–human encounters. Our methodology employs three complementary feature extraction pipelines: YOLOv8 for spatial relationship modeling, MediaPipe for human postural analysis, and AP-10K for equine body language interpretation. From 28 annotated interaction videos comprising 50,270 temporal samples across five horse breeds, we extract 35 discriminative features capturing proximity dynamics, body orientation, and species-specific behavioral indicators. To address severe class imbalance (18.3:1 ratio between affiliative and avoidant categories), we implement cost-sensitive gradient boosting with automatic class weight optimization within a two-stage hierarchical architecture. The first stage classifies interactions into three parent categories (affiliative, neutral, avoidant) achieving 73.2% balanced accuracy, while stage two discriminates six fine-grained sub-behaviors achieving 88.5% balanced accuracy (under oracle parent-category routing; cascaded end-to-end performance is 62.9% balanced accuracy due to Stage 1 error propagation, identifying parent classification as the primary bottleneck). Notably, our system achieves 85.0% recall on safety-critical avoidant behaviors despite their representation of only 3.8% of the dataset. Extensive ablation studies demonstrate that equine pose features contribute most critically to classification performance, while comprehensive cross-validation analysis confirms model robustness across diverse interaction contexts. The proposed framework establishes the first systematic multimodal cross-species behavioral assessment pipeline in human–animal interaction research, with direct implications for improving equine welfare monitoring and rider safety protocols. Full article

We analysed the formal inspection reports of 108 licensed British zoos covering three consecutive formal inspections, equivalent to a licensing period, under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 (ZLA). We examined the compliance of zoos against animal welfare standards, animal escape protocols and engagement in conservation measures, as well as the effects of licence type, zoo association membership, and collection type. Of the 324 inspection reports analysed, 59 (18%) reported that the zoo had passed every assessed question. Failure to undertake the necessary number of escape drills was the most reported area of non-compliance in 134 (41%) of the reports. Across a total of 15,876 welfare assessment criteria, 14,067 (89%) were scored as compliant, but only 83 inspection reports (26%) recorded that the zoo had met all welfare standards. Zoos were commonly found to fall into one of three classes, which predicted their probability of participating in each of the five conservation measures within the ZLA. Farm parks were identified as the collection type performing least well across inspection categories. With British zoos being required to meet new standards from May 2027, we propose a number of changes which could aid inspection consistency and legislative enforcement and drive improvements. Full article

Sheep welfare outcomes vary depending on production systems, breeds, and environmental conditions. This study examined the effects of extensive, semi-extensive, and semi-intensive sheep production systems on animal welfare in Serbia, using the AWIN Welfare Protocol to evaluate 30 farms. Welfare indicators were categorised into resource-based, management-based, and animal-based metrics. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in space allowance among the production systems (p > 0.05). This suggests that the space provided was adequate for semi-intensive farms and suitable for both semi-extensive and extensive farms. However, management practices showed significant variations (p < 0.05), indicating diverse impacts on sheep welfare. No ocular discharge or stereotypic behaviours were observed, while respiratory issues, social withdrawal, and excessive itching were found to have a very low prevalence across all farms. The primary welfare concern identified in the extensive farms was the use of painful mutilations. Semi-extensive and semi-intensive farms had significantly higher rates of tail docking (p < 0.05) and poorer fleece cleanliness. These findings highlight the necessity of addressing the root causes of poor welfare to improve sheep welfare standards. Therefore, achieving sustainable welfare outcomes requires an integrated approach that combines genetic suitability, adequate housing, and effective management practices. Full article

Background: Breast cancer brain metastases (BCBM) lack effective treatments, contributing to breast cancer-related morbidity and mortality. Integrating translational animal models and advanced non-invasive imaging can accelerate the development of urgently needed therapies. Method: In this study, we developed an intracarotid method mimicking BCBM and compared it to the stereotactic model in terms of animal welfare, tumour establishment, and blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability. BCBM was established through intracarotid or stereotactic inoculation of BT474 and MDA-MB-231.Luc2 cells in NMRI nude mice. We utilised magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and bioluminescence imaging (BLI) to monitor tumour growth and BBB permeability, supported by fluorescent immunohistochemistry for validation. Finally, light sheet microscopy (LSM) was employed to visualise tumour establishment in intact brains. Results: Both inoculation methods achieved a survival rate > 70%, with animals recovering within a week post-surgery. MRI and BLI effectively visualised tumour growth with stereotactic implantation, resulting in single tumours, while intracarotid inoculation led to micro-seeding of up to seven tumours in one brain. Tumour growth was rapid and homogenous in the stereotactic model, whereas the intracarotid model exhibited slower, heterogenous growth. Notably, BBB permeability was significantly higher in small tumours in the stereotactic model when compared to the intracarotid model (p = 0.003). Ex vivo analyses validated these findings with the identification of multiple metastasis in the intracarotid model and single tumours in the stereotactic model. Conclusions: We developed an animal model that closely mimics BCBM, highlighting extravasation and micro-seeding while maintaining animal welfare. Our established imaging protocols enable longitudinal evaluations of BBB permeability and treatment response, creating a translational platform for testing novel anti-cancer therapies. Full article

Saliva is an important biological matrix that allows the investigation of various welfare parameters; in ruminants, it is abundant and can be easily collected without requiring professional veterinary intervention. The aim of the investigation was to provide additional information on both digestive and antioxidant enzymes of sheep farmed in good welfare conditions, assessed with the Animal welfare indicators (AWIN) protocol. Small surgical forceps holding a Salivette^® device (Sarstedt, Nümbrecht, Germany) were gently inserted into the sheep’s mouths without any force. The sheep chewed the swabs independently for a few seconds, allowing saliva collection. Seventeen enzymes from the saliva of 15 sheep were analyzed: antioxidant enzymes (catalase, glutathione S transferase), proteolytic enzymes (trypsin, chymotrypsin, N-aminopeptidases, carboxypeptidase A and B), carbohydrases (glucose oxidase, amylase, cellulase, lignin peroxidase, chitinase and α-glycosidase), and esterases (alkaline and acidic phosphatases, lipase and esterase). Esterase activity showed the highest value (12.95 ± 1.25 U/mg of proteins), whereas lignin peroxidase activity showed the lowest (2.23 ± 0.37 µU/mg of proteins). The activity of all enzymes was observed except for glutathione S transferase and α-glycosidase. Among the enzymes, lipase activity has already been identified as a biomarker of stress in sheep saliva. This investigation may represent a basis for further investigations into the diet and adaptive responses of sheep to different environmental conditions. Furthermore, samples collected using the Salivette^® device can be easily obtained without requiring specialized staff and without causing any stress to the animals. Further investigations into the origin of individual enzymes using a proteomic approach are desirable. Full article

Agonistic behaviors such as aggression, ear biting, and tail biting remain major challenges for pig welfare, particularly during the weaning and growing periods. Computer vision (CV) technologies are emerging as scalable tools for non-invasive monitoring of these behaviors. This systematic review summarizes recent advances in CV-based detection of agonistic behaviors in pigs and identifies factors influencing their reliability and commercial adoption. Following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a structured search of Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed identified 42 eligible studies. Most studies employ deep learning approaches, including you only look once (YOLO)-based detectors and spatio-temporal models, achieving detection accuracy of up to 97% for behaviors such as head knocking, head-to-body pushing, and tail biting, typically evaluated under controlled conditions using mAP@0.5. Three key findings emerged: rapid progress in deep learning-based detection; methodological heterogeneity in behavioral definitions, validation strategies, and annotation protocols; and a gap between high detection accuracy and demonstrated improvements in welfare or productivity. Progress is limited by scarce cross-farm validation, inconsistent bout definitions, reliance on manual annotations, and weak integration with physiological and production indicators. Future research should prioritize standardized behavioral definitions, multimodal integration, predictive modeling, and rigorous external validation. Full article

Assessing zoo animal welfare can involve generic evaluations or targeted, species-specific protocols. While the latter offer greater precision, their development is often limited by species diversity and the lack of validated indicators. The Animal Welfare Monitor^® (AWM) protocol addresses these challenges by adapting Welfare Quality^® principles to zoological contexts. Its core innovation is a four-level hierarchical structure (base, order, family, species) linking broad taxonomic knowledge to species-level protocols. This enables tailored questionnaires for each species, including data-deficient taxa, by leveraging information from related groups. Questionnaires, covering housing, nutrition, health, and behaviour, are complemented by behavioural observations. AWM currently covers 87 species (69 mammals, 15 birds, 2 amphibians, 1 reptile) and constitutes a substantial database of species-specific welfare assessment protocols embedded within a single, standardised methodological framework. Between 2021 and 2025, 14 zoos conducted over 1000 assessments and 15,000 behavioural observations, demonstrating the protocol’s feasibility in routine operations. AWM integrates data entry with visual documentation, such as photographs of enclosures or enrichment, which add context, enhance decision-making, and strengthen long-term records. While refinements such as group-level assessment remain, AWM offers a scalable, flexible tool combining scientific rigour with operational applicability, supporting positive welfare outcomes across diverse zoological institutions. Full article