What is Animal Welfare?

Animal welfare

is a multidimensional concept that encompasses the physical, mental, and emotional state of an animal. It includes various domains such as good feeding, good housing, good health, and the opportunity to express species-specific behaviors

Feeding

Housing

Health

Behaviour

As a biologist, my work in animal welfare primarily focuses on understanding the behavioral needs of animals and and creating suitable habitats and diets for different species. The domain of health, essential to animal welfare, is touched upon less here, as it falls more within the expertise of my veterinary colleagues.

Environmental enrichment

Environmental enrichment refers to a process aimed at enhancing the quality of captive animal care by providing stimuli which promote behaviors that are beneficial and/or essential to an animal's well-being. This is achieved through the introduction of objects or materials that stimulate the animal and resemble aspects of their natural habitat. Often, environmental enrichment tools will appear natural, drawn directly from the animal's natural environment or artificially constructed to mimic it. However, the importance of environmental enrichment lies more in its ability to promote natural behaviors in the animal than in its "natural" appearance to us. Environmental enrichment can be placed permanently in the animal's environment or introduced intermittently to prevent the animal from becoming bored with it. 

Plan for Introducing a New Environmental Enrichment

Study the natural history of the species: understand the behaviors that are beneficial and/or necessary to its well-being.

Establish a goal: which natural behavior(s) do we want to stimulate?

Assess any potential risks associated with the enrichment: could the animal harm itself with the material?

Source or construct the materials needed for this new environmental enrichment.

Develop a phased introduction plan, along with a contingency plan in case the animal shows adverse reactions to the enrichment.

Introduce the enrichment and monitor the animal's reactions. Take note of observed behaviors, time spent interacting with the enrichment, etc.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the environmental enrichment and make adjustments if necessary. Consider that many animals will need time to adapt before feeling comfortable with a new element introduced into their environment.

Environmental enrichment can also take the form of occasional activities aimed at stimulating animals and encouraging beneficial behaviors. For instance, a zookeeper in diving gear feeding fish to penguins can promote natural behaviors like swimming and foraging. An effective strategy is to create a routine of environmental enrichment, weekly or monthly, alternating different objects and activities.

Wild animals living in captivity

Enhancing the welfare of wild animals in captivity involves providing environments and activities that encourage positive natural behaviors, ensuring a proper diet, providing appropriate veterinary care, and minimizing stress caused by human presence or that of other animals.

In a rescue center aimed at releasing animals back into the wild once healed, efforts will focus on reducing stress factors, limiting human-animal interaction, and offering basic cage enrichment, provided it does not impact the animal's recovery.

In zoos, where animals spend their entire lives and are more accustomed to human presence, the focus shifts to providing appropriate environments, establishing environmental enrichment routines, installing physical and visual barriers to give animals the possibility to hide from the public, fostering trust between animals and caregivers, and training certain species for voluntary participation in activities like veterinary check-ups in return for rewards.