An Approach to Assessing Zoo Animal Welfare in a Rarely Studied Species, the Common Cusimanse Crossarchus obscurus

Objective welfare assessments play a fundamental role in ensuring that positive welfare is achieved and maintained for animals in captivity. The Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (AWAG), a welfare assessment tool, has been validated for use with a variety of both domestic and exotic species. It combine...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of zoological and botanical gardens 2022-09, Vol.3 (3), p.420-441
Main Authors: Free, Danielle, Justice, William S. M., Smith, Sarah Jayne, Howard, Vittoria, Wolfensohn, Sarah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal welfare
Aquariums
AWAG
behaviour
Captivity
Crossarchus obscurus
cusimanse
Foraging behavior
Introduced species
Quality of life
welfare
zoo
Zoo animals
Zoos
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Summary:Objective welfare assessments play a fundamental role in ensuring that positive welfare is achieved and maintained for animals in captivity. The Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (AWAG), a welfare assessment tool, has been validated for use with a variety of both domestic and exotic species. It combines both resource- and animal-based measures but relies heavily on knowledge of the species to effectively assess welfare. Many zoo species are understudied in the wild due to their cryptic nature or habitat choice; therefore, the published literature needs to be supported with captive behavioural observations and zoo records. Here we adapted previously published AWAG templates to assess the welfare of Crossarchus obscurus. A total of 21 factors were identified, and the final template was used to retrospectively score the welfare of two male and two female C. obscurus at Marwell Zoo, UK, validating the use of this process for preparing a welfare assessment for a species where the published literature is scarce.
ISSN:2673-5636
2673-5636
DOI:10.3390/jzbg3030032