ABSTRACT

Cephalopods are increasingly viewed as sentient animals that require the same welfare consideration as their vertebrate counterparts. In this study, an observational welfare assessment tool developed by the EU Directive was revised to be species-specific for the giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini. This E. dofleini health and welfare assessment tool includes categories assessing E. dofleini external appearance, behavior, and clinical signs of stress and disease. These categories are scored in severity from 1 to 4, allowing a quantitative perspective on health observations. Six facilities used the health and welfare assessment tool to evaluate E. dofleini until the animal was humanely euthanized or died naturally. Results showed an irreversible upward trend in scores for feeding behavior and response to stimulus beginning 4 weeks prior to death, with significant changes in health and welfare scores between 4 weeks and the final week prior to death. This suggests that upward trends in these two variables predict death within 3–4 weeks. Highly variable results between individuals for other categories indicate that a quantitative tool can help assess health and welfare at the individual level.

摘要

头足类动物越来越被视为需要与脊椎动物相同的福利考虑的有知觉的动物。在这项研究中，由欧盟指令开发的观察福利评估工具被修改为针对巨型太平洋章鱼 Enteroctopus dofleini 的物种特异性。此 E. dofleini 健康和福利评估工具包括评估 E. dofleini 外观、行为以及压力和疾病临床症状的类别。这些类别按严重程度从 1 到 4 进行评分，从而可以对健康观察进行定量分析。六个设施使用健康和福利评估工具来评估 E. dofleini，直到动物被人道安乐死或自然死亡。结果显示，从死亡前 4 周开始，进食行为和对刺激的反应得分呈不可逆转的上升趋势，在死亡前 4 周和最后一周之间，健康和福利得分发生了显着变化。这表明这两个变量的上升趋势预测了 3-4 周内的死亡。其他类别的个体之间差异很大的结果表明，定量工具可以帮助评估个体层面的健康和福利。