Traditionally risk-based measures have been used to assess Animal welfare in legislation and certification schemes. With increased knowledge and research, debate today tends to focus on and advocate the use of animal-based measures. However this is not a panacea for welfare and the most sound conclusion should be that assessment of Animal welfare needs both. The aim of this thesis is to identify the points that need to be taken into consideration to find the optimal balance in the use of input and outcome measures according to the aim of the assessment and how these should be applied when designing a certification scheme? To answer this, a comparison of the use of resource-based, management-based and animal-based measures in two certification schemes for dairy cow welfare, Freedom Food (UK) and Svenskt Sigill (SWE), was made.

Exotic small animals that are commonly kept as pets include aquarium fish, cage and aviary birds, rodents, rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), reptiles and amphibians. These different kinds of animals, even species within the same class, may differ markedly from each other regarding physiology and requirements. Although these species are common in both Swedish households and in pet trade, many animal keepers have a lack of knowledge about the origin and requirements of their pets. This is a cause of several health problems seen in animals which are held in captivity. In Sweden, the county administrative boards perform all Animal welfare controls.

Electrical stunning is the method that has been used in Sweden to stun broilers prior to slaughter. However, for reasons of Animal welfare and meat quality, research has been made in the EU to develop new stunning methods. Gas stunning is now regarded as the best alternative. In this study literature has been reviewed with focus on different gas stunning systems and observations have been made at two different slaughterhouses regarding Animal welfare before, during and directly after stunning. At one slaughter plant carbondioxide was used in a two-stage system where the birds were standing on a conveyer belt during the stunning procedure.

Stressful routines for animal handling can reduce immune function and productivity of animals. If stakeholders are handling animals aversively, animals will show increased expressions of fear for humans and higher stress levels which lead to the compromise of animals? welfare. In Ethiopia, there are no legislations to protect animals from suffering or discomfort. The main objective of this study was therefore to analyse welfare of cattle on animal markets in Ethiopia and map out supply chains of animals to these markets.

Psittacines and reptiles are exotic animals that are difficult to care for and it requires extra knowledge to make a correct assessment of their wellbeing. An Animal welfare inspector, with an education in general Animal welfare, may not have a deep enough knowledge of exotic animals to do a proper assessment of the animal?s general condition and its environment. In this paper it was therefore examined if Animal welfare inspectors have enough knowledge to do a satisfying inspection of establishments working with selling of exotic animals. A literature study was used to examine difficulties with each species.

Animal welfare is of increasing concern in present society. In commercial pig farming, Animal welfare problems are common. One of the causes for these problems is the barren environment in which pigs are housed, which can cause oral manipulation of pen mates. Providing straw might be one solution to this problem. Another solution could be reached through genetic selection.

In Sweden everyone has the possibility to report deficiencies in Animal welfare they encounter. They report this to the county administration in their county and such a report is called a complaint case. Complaint cases are normally handled with Animal welfare inspections, carried out by Animal welfare inspectors from the county administration in the county where the animal keeper with reported deficiencies lives. The county administrations in Sweden receive a lot of complaint cases that differ in grade of how severe the deficiency is. The complaint cases are given priority by how severe the deficiency seems to be.

Developed model for easier Animal welfare assessment- with examples from dairy cows in loose housingAnimals in captivity are completely dependent on human care. If captive animals are prevented from exhibiting their natural behavior, they may suffer. Animal welfare inspectors, who insure that the Animal welfare legislation is followed, use a checklist to assess the situation in the husbandry. This checklist contains only two levels of assessment, which may result in a lack of detail in the assessment of the husbandry. The objective of this report was to develop a more detailed model that provides an overview of the situation in husbandry.

Sweden?s animal legislation was adopted in 1988 and is one of the most rigorous legislations in the world. Despite this, Sweden import beef from countries where animal legislation is not in accordance to the Swedish legislation. The meat consumption in Sweden has, just like the importation of beef, increased while Sweden?s own beef production has decreased.

The aim of this review is to assess the ethical implications of aquaculture, regarding fish welfare and environmental aspects. The aquaculture industry has grown substantially the last decades, both as a result of the over-fishing of wild fish populations, and because of the increasing consumer demand for fish meat. As the industry is growing, a significant amount of research on the subject is being conducted, monitoring the effects of aquaculture on the environment and on Animal welfare. The areas of concern when it comes to Animal welfare have here been divided into four different stages: breeding period; growth period; capturing and handling; and slaughter. Besides these stages, this report includes a chapter on the current evidence of fish sentience, since this issue is still being debated among biologists.

Title: Notification of Animal welfareAuthor: Helen ÖhlundThe purpose of this study was to examine the routines of the county administrations in Sweden when it comes to receiving notification from the public about the welfare of animals. According to Jordbruksverket at least 50 % of the screening of Animal welfare should be based on routine controls on existing farmers. Today the routine controls only reach a 43 % average for the whole country. A big part of today?s result depends on the amount of time it takes the administrators of Animal welfare to process the notifications from the public.

The purpose of the paper is through a touristic view to see how the zoos have developed to modern zoss and interview Djurens Rätt and Skansen to see their view on "Animal welfare". Another part of the paper is to see what the public thinks of Animal welfare and if it's crucial when they choose a destination. We used a survey to see if the public has been influenced by any media in the aspect of their view of zoos. By seeing the evolution of zoos to the modern zoo, we can see how society had the power to influence. .

When farm animals are transported there are several factors that can affect their welfare. If the vehicle has an accident the welfare of the animals transported will probably be compromised. The aim of this study was to make a survey of accidents with animal transportation vehicles in Sweden. The survey included the number of accidents from January 2000 to May 2014, the cause of the accidents and how the Animal welfare was affected by the accident. The authorities which were likely to have reports about accidents involving animal transports were contacted. There were no collected records about transportation accidents and the authorities referred to eachother for information.

The purpose of this study was, if possible, to find a housing system for growing bulls that was as optimal as possible for the Animal welfare. In order to select housing systems you must take into account the size of the group, body weight and the type of floor. Seven of the international most common housing systems were compared, straw bedding, deep straw bedding, sliding straw bedding, concrete slatted floor, rubber coated slatted floor, cubicles and feeding cubicles. Studies that have examined the proportion of tail, claw and leg injuries and the presence of unnatural behavior in the different systems. In summary, all studies showed that soft underlay were beneficial for the animals in terms of the proportion of bone lesions and swellings.

India is home to every sixth person in the world, some 30 million dogs and a quarter of the total world cattle population. A vast majority of Indians are Hindus, and even though the Hindu religion proclaims love, nurturing and worshipping of animals, sometimes the same religion constitutes an obstacle for Animal welfare in practice. This paper investigates the significance of historic and religious symbols to the way animals are perceived in modern Indian society, as well as the different social factors which underlie attitudes to animals. The concept of karma, as well as that of good versus bad deaths, is probably the foundation of the general Hindu reluctance to euthanasia in any form. Although in theory all species are generally regarded as equal in Hinduism, in practice there seems to be a differentiation; for cultural, religious, medical and financial reasons.