Animal Welfare Risk Assessment Plan For the dogs of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University

Abstract

The importance of good animal welfare is an upcoming topic in society, political debates and science. Though the majority of studies focus on the welfare of farm animals, animal welfare should be ensured independently of the context an animal is kept in. Nevertheless, focussing on certain animals in a certain setting or context is necessary to identify context-specific risks, potentially compromising welfare. To this end, a risk assessment can be performed, providing an objective and science-based framework, the risk assessment plan (RAP). The aim of the present RAP is to identify potential risks factors that may affect the welfare of the dogs kept at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University (FVMUU). To our knowledge, this is the first animal welfare risk assessment for laboratory dogs. To identify needs of dogs and risk factors associated with their husbandry, scientific data were collected from the existing literature and on-site during an internship of four weeks through observations and expert elicitation. Several potential risk factors have been identified and assessed according to the animal welfare concept of the FVMUU. In order to ensure animal welfare, animals should be provided with an environment which gives them the opportunity to make choices. So, they can adequately react to challenges in their environment in order to achieve positive state and ensure their own welfare. Risk factors are critically discussed and recommendations for further research are made. At the end of this study all the risk factors have been listed and an estimation of the priorities has been made.