ReviewAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2020
A Ten-Stage Protocol for Assessing the Welfare of Individual Non-Captive Wild Animals: Free-Roaming Horses (
Review in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed.
- Social information about others' affective states in a human-altered world.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Review
- Updating the Five Provisions: Aligning Welfare-Focused Care with the Five Domains Model.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Farm Atmosphere: Calm Attention and Mobility Characterise Positive Horse Welfare.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Easy rescues, difficult decisions: Advancing the ethical dialogue in wildlife triage, treatment and rehabilitation.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2026Review
- Development of a health-related quality-of-life assessment tool for equines with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction.Equine veterinary journal · 2026Article
- An assessment of cetacean welfare in the Faroe Islands' drive hunt.Biology letters · 2025Article
- The 'Sanctuary Gap': Reviewing the Research on Captive Wildlife Sanctuary Tourism.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Inter-evaluator bias and applicability of feline body condition score from visual assessment.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Article
- Validation of indicators for the welfare assessment of captive Yangtze finless porpoises (Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2025Article
- The use of a severity index to analyse impact of bacterial zoonoses on welfare of wildlife populations.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2025Article
- Physical Measures of Welfare in Fin (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Introducing the Mellorater-The Five Domains Model in a Welfare Monitoring App for Animal Guardians.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Harnessing the gut microbiome: a potential biomarker for wild animal welfare.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Article
- A comparison of the welfare of free-ranging native pony herds on common land with those used for conservation grazing in the UK.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2024Article
- How Useful Are Existing Protocols in the Quick Assessment of the Welfare of Semi-Feral Horses? Pilot Study on Konik Polski Horses Living in the Forest Sanctuary.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Visual and morphometric description of feral horse hooves from Sable Island National Park Reserve.The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne · 2023Article
- Assessing Negative Welfare Measures for Wild Invertebrates: The Case for Octopuses.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Mental Experiences in Wild Animals: Scientifically Validating Measurable Welfare Indicators in Free-Roaming Horses.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Welfare of extensively managed Swedish Gotland ponies.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2023Article
- Positive Wild Animal Welfare.Biology & philosophy · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Knowledge of the welfare status of wild animals is vital for informing debates about the ways in which we interact with wild animals and their habitats. Currently, there is no published information about how to scientifically assess the welfare of free-roaming wild animals during their normal day-to-day lives. Using free-roaming horses as an example, we describe a ten-stage protocol for systematically and scientifically assessing the welfare of individual non-captive wild animals. The protocol starts by emphasising the importance of readers having an understanding of animal welfare in a conservation context and also of the Five Domains Model for assessing welfare. It goes on to detail what species-specific information is required to assess welfare, how to identify measurable and observable indicators of animals' physical states and how to identify which individuals are being assessed. Further, it addresses how to select appropriate methods for measuring/observing physical indicators of welfare, the scientific validation of these indicators and then the grading of animals' welfare states, along with assigning a confidence score. Finally, grading future welfare risks and how these can guide management decisions is discussed. Applying this ten-stage protocol will enable biologists to scientifically assess the welfare of wild animals and should lead to significant advances in the field of wild animal welfare.
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