New study published on assessing wild animal wellbeing
Dr Harvey is currently researching koala wellbeing.
A new study into the mental wellbeing of wild animals has been published, which could help conservationists to assess the psychological health of wildlife.
Led by Dr Andrea Harvey, a veterinarian and animal welfare scientist, the research team has demonstrated that indicators of physical/functional states in free-roaming wild horses can be used to assess for a range of negative and positive mental experiences.
The study focused on brumbies, free-roaming wild horses which live in Australia’s alpine regions, chosen because there has already been research on the wellbeing of domestic horses. It builds on previous research by Dr Harvey, published in 2020, which developed a conceptual framework for assessing physical and behaviour indicators of mental states in wild animals.
Dr Harvey explained: “We can never be certain what's going through an animal's mind and exactly what they're feeling. It’s also an area that scientists have traditionally shied away from. However, we know mental experiences arise from physical states, and we can directly measure these states
“Nutrition, the physical environment, health, and behavioural interactions all provide clues to the mental experience of animals. This includes negative states such as thirst, hunger, heat and cold discomfort, pain, fatigue, anxiety and fear and positive ones such as satiety, exercising agency, physical vitality and positive social interactions.”
Although there is a growing amount of research on the wellbeing of companion and farm animals, the wellbeing of wild animals has not been studied to a similar degree. Instead, conservationists have focused on population numbers and reproductive success to create effective conservation strategies.
Dr Harvey is now collaborating with other researchers to look at the wellbeing of Australian water birds, kangaroos, dingoes, and koalas.
She added: “A deeper understanding of the wellbeing of wild animal populations can not only enhance conservation efforts, but also provide an indication of the state of the natural environment and its recognised links to human health and wellbeing.”
The study, ‘Mental Experiences in Wild Animals: Scientifically Validating Measurable Welfare Indicators in Free-Roaming Horses’, is published in Animals.
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
