Ethics and Welfare Forum
Eva Eberspacher DrMedVet, FTA, Dipl ACVA
Eva is currently a university assistant in the Clinic of Anaesthesiology and Peri-operative Care, Department for Small Animals and Horses, University of Vienna Austria. She has been in this post following completion of a residency of anaesthesia and critical care at UC Davis, USA and successfully achieving her ACVA Diploma.
Mass euthanasia of goats in The Netherlands to stop outbreak of Q Fever.
In an attempt to stop the spread of Q Fever in The Netherlands over 40,000 goats will be destroyed. Fortunately the Dutch government followed the advice of the anaesthesia department, University Utrecht and have adopted a humane technique to euthanase these animals. The protocol for euthanasia involves heavily sedating each animal before an injection of T61 is made intravenously.
The goats are sedated with a mixture of xylazine and ketamine given intramuscularly in the neck. When the animals are sedated a lethal dose of T61 is given intravenously. Evaluation of the protocol on the first day of killing (Monday 21st Dec) showed that the goats, on avarage, took a while to become sedated and struggled. The dose of the xylazine / ketamine mixture was increased and much improved sedation was achieved. It turned out that venous acces was easily achieved in the sedated animals.
T 61; A non barbiturate mixture;
1; embutramide: 200 mg/ml
2; mebenzoniumiodide: 50 mg/ml
3; tetracaïne hydrochloride: 5 mg/ml
Aprox. dosage for goats; 10-20 ml.
The first component will is produce loss of consiousness, the second will cause paralysis and the third will stop the heart.
The Netherlands are to be congratulated on adopting a humane approach to the mass euthanasia of goats.
Responses to the AVA statement on the use of CO2 for anaesthesia of piglets for castration are gathering fast. Hans Nieuwendijk has generated significant public interest in The Netherlands.
The story behind the publicity in The Netherlands can be downloaded here. 
To read the responses of other AVA members about this issue download the this PDF.
The AVA makes a statement on castration of piglets using CO2 anaesthesia
The AVA position statement on castration of piglets using CO2 anaesthesia is now clear and can be summarised as follows: "with respect to animal welfare and the aim of alleviating pain during and after castration of piglets, carbon dioxide anaesthesia would not seem to be an appropriate or advisable technique". The full document outlining the background to this statement can be downloaded here.
This statement has been sent to stakeholders in the pig industry and leading experts in animal welfare throughout Europe.
In order to see how piglets respond to CO2 anaesthesia for castration watch the following video www.trouw.nl/video/: The video commentary is in dutch, but the video illustrates well how aversive the procedure of castration under CO2 anaesthesia for piglets is.
Expert Working Group on Severity Classification Criteria Report, Brussels July 2009
The report has been produced as a result of work undertaken by the Expert Working Group on Severity Classification Criteria, which was tasked to provide scientific-technical background information in support of revision of Directive 86/609/EEC on the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes. Professor Paul Flecknell made a significant contribution to the report. The report is likely to have particularly significant implications for UK based researchers working under the A(SP)A 1986. A copy of the report can be downloaded here.
AVA Ethics and Welfare Forum
A key change that followed the Helsinki AVA committee meeting was the introduction of a new AVA Literature Screening Sub-committee. The aims of this committee are three fold:
a) to judge cases of unethical animal treatment as reported in all branches of the scientific literature as a preliminary step to recommending an AVA response;
b) to monitor and record the incidence of reported cases in order to publish the results of ongoing studies in this area;
c) as a result of these: i) to reduce the publication of unethical material; ii) to raise the AVA’s profile.
Full details about the aims and people involved in the AVA Literature Screening Sub-committee can be downloaded here. Please email Professor Eddie Clutton when you read articles that you find ethically unacceptable without identifying the offense. The material will then be passed onto all committee members for analysis and reporting, the reports will be collated into a final letter for the President to sign.
Please can all AVA members support this initiative. It is an excellent opportunity to let the biomedical community know that the AVA is an authority in this area and will not allow transgressions to go unannouced, leading to significant improvements in animal welfare.
Ethics and Welfare News
The AVA has already succeeded in promoting ethical (animal welfare) considerations in veterinary publishing. Following a meeting of the Association of Veterinary Journal Editors in London in September, where the VAA was represented by Prof. Eddie Clutton and Dr. Kathy Clarke an important goal to harmonize the recommendations for appropriate animal care (including the provision of analgesics) was defined. See letters to scientific journals where issues regarding animal care have already been highlighted (below).
Letter to the editor of the JVPT to express concern regarding the ethics of the study to evaluate the efficacy of tolfenamic acid for management of postoperative pain in dogs (JVPT 30, 503-507).
Follow up letter to The Veterinary Record in response to the reply by Starke and colleagues (May 19th 2007).
Letter to The Veterinary Record regarding the article by Starke et al. (2006) published in The Veterinary Record (February 3rd 2007).
