APSC 5254: Managed Animal Ethology and Welfare

Description

Animal welfare from holistic frameworks, Assessing physical and mental health. Philosophical frameworks and practical assessment of animal welfare. Ethology as a tool for assessing welfare in companion, working, and shelter animals, and other managed populations, such as community animals. Data-based interventions, focusing on enrichment and interventions of behavioral change, to improve both immediate and distal welfare.

Learning Objectives

Having successfully completed this course, the student will be able to:

• Apply the principles of ethology and animal learning to assess the body language and behavior of horses, dogs, and cats in a variety of settings and situations;
• Assess an animal’s welfare in a variety of settings (e.g., home, shelter, working environments) using species-specific information, knowledge of individual’s prior history and environmental details;
• Identify when the welfare of an animal is compromised by systematically using the principles of ethology as understood within the philosophical and practical framework of welfare assessment;
• Create management, training, and behavior modification plans for horses, dogs, and cats living in the animal shelter, community, home, and stable;
• Compare and contrast different management and training practices, with special attention to species and environmental differences in implementation approaches, efficacy, potential effects on behavior, and welfare implications;
• Implement intervention strategies that account for the differences in skills and knowledge of owners/handlers/trainers and are based on evidence-based best practices of applied behavior for that species

Prerequisites and Corequisites

APSC 5154

Instructor(s)

Lisa Gunter