Animal welfare in different human cultures, traditions and religious faiths.

Animal welfare has become a growing concern affecting acceptability of agricultural systems in many countries around the world. An earlier Judeo-Christian interpretation of the Bible (1982) that dominion over animals meant that any degree of exploitation was acceptable has changed for most people to mean that each person has responsibility for animal welfare. This view was evident in some ancient Greek writings and has parallels in Islamic teaching. A minority view of Christians, which is a widespread view of Jains, Buddhists and many Hindus, is that animals should not be used by humans as food or for other purposes. The commonest philosophical positions now, concerning how animals should be treated, are a blend of deontological and utilitarian approaches. Most people think that extremes of poor welfare in animals are unacceptable and that those who keep animals should strive for good welfare. Hence animal welfare science, which allows the evaluation of welfare, has developed rapidly.

Heritability of hair whorl position on the forehead in Konik horses.

There are studies on the relationship between the position and shape of hair whorls on bovine forehead and phenotypic traits. According to anecdotal beliefs by horse users and handlers, temperamental traits may be related to the position of hair whorls in horses. No previous research on the mechanisms of inheritance of hair whorls has been performed, so the aim of the present study was to determine the heritability of the position of the hair whorl on the forehead of Konik horses. The horses (n = 362) were classified into five groups based on the whorl position on forehead with respect to the top and bottom eye lines. The estimated heritability of hair whorl position was 0.753 (SE = 0.056). Heritability adjusted for the discontinuity of the trait was 0.836. The results show that hair whorl position in Konik Polski horses is highly heritable. The possible relationship between position of hair whorls on the forehead and other morphological traits needs further research and should be interpreted with caution.

Effect of cholesterol-enriched diet on liver and heart enzymes in male rabbits.

White New Zealand male rabbits were fed a high-cholesterol (1%) diet for 7 weeks. The activity of alkaline phosphatase (AP), alanine (AlaAT), aspartate (AspAT) aminotransferases and level of glucose in the blood plasma of rabbits was determined and compared with those of a control group of animals. The cholesterol-enriched diet resulted in increases in plasma AlaAT and AP activity and a decrease in plasma glucose. In the liver, cholesterol treatment decreased the activity of AspAT, AlaAT, AP, phosphoglucomutase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase and lactate dehydrogenase. Activities of glucosephosphate isomerase, aldolase and the level of glycogen were not affected. No statistically significant changes in the activity of examined enzymes in heart of rabbits fed with cholesterol-enriched diet were observed. Chronic intake of cholesterol in the diet had a negative effect on liver metabolism but not on heart metabolism in rabbits.

Handling and diet-induced atherosclerosis in rabbits.

Atherosclerosis was induced in rabbits by feeding them a 2% cholesterol diet (CHOL) during a 5-week period. Twelve rabbits were fed with increasing amounts of CHOL food until the ad libitum level was reached, whereas in 24 other rabbits the food was limited to the amount eaten by the lowest consumer of the group to reduce individual variability in total amount of food consumed. Twice a day, half of the rabbits were handled carefully, the other half had normal laboratory practice contact with their caretaker. Feed intake and amount of atherosclerosis were determined for all experimental animals, while for the handled animals behavioural parameters and changes were recorded daily and per animal. On average the handled and non-handled rabbits took the same amount of food per week, although there were large individual differences. The handled animals showed some behavioural adaptation to being handled. Handling had no influence on atherosclerosis size; this latter measure was only roughly determined by the amount of CHOL food eaten.

Feed efficiency and body composition of selected and unselected mice.

An examination was carried out of the feed intake, feed efficiency and body composition of selected and unselected mice. It was demonstrated that selected mice utilised food more economically, and, in total, produced more protein than the control animals. However, selection had a negative influence on the percentage content of protein and ash. Also, selection caused greater adiposity of selected females and a greater water content in the bodies of selected males (in %).