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Environmental enrichment and

its role in animal welfare

Animal Welfare


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1. Concept of environmental enrichment

2. Definition of environmental enrichment

3. Conditions and constraints for environmental enrichment

4. Development of enrichment techniques5. Characteristics of intensive husbandry systems

6. Examples of effective environmental enrichments

7. Prolonged feeding time

8. New objects to play as environmental errichment

9. Operant conditioning as environmental enrichment10. Effects of environmental enrichment - an example

11. Some additional remarks on enrichment

12. Literature

Environmental enrichment and its role in animal welfare

Environmental enrichment and its role in

animal welfare


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Basic needs and requirements (food, water, shelter etc.) are

usually fulfilled in animal husbandry, however, higher

vertebrates have also some psychological needs related to

exploration and coping with their environment (Poole, 1992)Proper stimulation from environment is necessary for fulfilment

of all animal needs.

1. Concept of environmental enrichment

1. Farm animals are usually kept in an artificial environment

which is substantially impoverished in stimuli and barren as

compared to a natural environment

2. For good welfare, animals should have possibilities to perform

their innate natural behaviours.



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2. Definition of environmental enrichment

Environmental enrichment is an animal husbandry principle

that seeks to enhance quality of captive animal care by

identifying and providing the environmental stimuli

necessary for optimal psychological and physiological well-being.

(Shepherdson, 1998)



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4. Development of enrichment techniques1. Enrichment techniques were developed in the last twenty

years mainly for the zoo animals in response to critical

opinions on poor husbandry and housing conditions ofwild animals in captivity.

2. Technical solutions for environmental enrichment result

from studies on biology and behaviour of animals, also

studies of animals living in their natural habitats.



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1. barren environment

2. overcrowding or isolation of animals

3. no possibility to explore surroundings

4. no necessity to search for food

5. boredom and frustration of animal

These factors lead to abnormal behaviours in form of:

1. stereotyped behaviour,

2. bar biting or object eating / licking,

3. feather pecking,

4. tail biting

5. crossucling etc.)


5. Characteristics of intensive husbandry

systems:


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1. Addingnew objects to complexify the environment and stimulate

2. Animal activity such as play, exploration and exercise.

3. Providingextra space per individual.

4. Providingnew substrate for manipulation.

5. Preparingenriched foodenabling eating with an exploration and

play.

6. Providingspecial places for comfort acts (e.g. post for scratching).

7. Enabling contact with the conspecifics or even individuals fromother species.

8. Intensifyingcontact with the caretaker.

6. Examples of effective environmental

enrichments



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6. Examples of environmental enrichment

1. In growing pigs successful technique of enrichment turned out to

be also using extra space with the new substrate for manipulation.

(Beattie et al., 1995)

2. In laying hens the enriched food was used in the shape of small

spherical objects placed in the feed trough (Sherwin, 1995). They

were invented to stimulate more natural foraging in hen.

3. Stabled horses may suffer from isolation from the conspecifics.Therefore, the stable design enabling visual and tactile contact

between horses is desired. Alternatively, placing mirrors in stables

may be used. (Mc Greevy, 2004)



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7. New objects to play as environmentalenrichment

1. For example, in dairy calves living in highly impoverished

environment several devices were used: toys, plastic balls,smooth chains, calf lollies and a Braden bottle with calf starter

feed. (Morrow-Tesch, 1995)

2. The study of enrichment preference deliver information what

objects animals prefered as environmental enrichment.

3. The calves for example prefer devices rewarding them with food

(Braden bottle) and providing substitute for sucking (toys).



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8. Prolonged feeding time

Special devices were designed for the farm animals to prolong feeding time and

provide oportunity for oral activity.

The well-known device is football orEdinburgh football for pigs. (Young,

1995).

This device was designed as a spherical object with food container dispensing

food when manipulated in certain way. In this way, the behaviour of pig was

rewarded with small pieces of food.

As a result the prolonged pig feeding activity is achieved, which is important for

an animal with strong needs for exploration

This device somehow modified was also used with domestic horse. (Young, 1995)



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9. Operant conditioning as environmental

enrichment

1. A possibility to develop operant conditioning (e.g

obtaining food reward in response to given behaviour)

is also a good environmental enrichment.

2. The rewarding schedule should enable the most

effective reinforcement of the behaviour. Therefore,time, space of rewarding and the quantity of food

should be randomized. (Young, 1995)



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10. Effects of environmental enrichment - an

example

1. Experiments carried out on pigs show that indirect effect of

enrichment on production parameters and on the management

could be significant.2. Due to providing extra space and the substrate for manipulation

for pigs:

1. The dominance was correlated with body weight, but not with aggression.

2. There was good development of cognitive abilities.

3. There was more frequent locomotory behaviour and longer exploration.

(Beattie et al., 1995, O`Connell and Beattie, 1999, Smeldon et al., 2000).



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11. Some additional remarks on

enrichment1. Environmental enrichment is not ready made. In each case its

application needs careful planning, preparation and evaluation.

2. Some kinds of environmental enrichment can be ignored by

animals3. There could be considerable individual differences between

animals in their reaction to enrichment depending on species,

breed and individual life experience.

4. Improvement of animal behaviour is not always accompanied bysignificant productivity gain .



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