Agricultural Animal Bioethics

Woman purchasing animal productsDeveloping an integrated curriculum for agricultural bioethics education

There is a shortage of U.S. faculty with training and expertise in both animal welfare and bioethics. In light of this, it is essential to collaboratively create and disseminate sound, trans-disciplinary curricula in animal bioethics that are consistent in content and delivery across institutions so as to support the goal of promoting and sustaining animal agriculture. This project aims to address the need to develop standardized curriculum, instructional support and resources needed to advance agricultural animal bioethics education.

Project Leaders: Candace Croney (PI)

CO-PI (s):

Additional bioethics publications:

Related collaborative publications on public perceptions of animal welfare 

Project Leaders: Nicole Widmar (PI), Candace Croney (PI)

Funding Sources: IN Pork Board, IN Soybean Alliance

 


Previous Research

Farm Animal Cognition and Welfare

pigs

pig realizing shapes

pig eating out of cup 

Pig cognition

Cognitive processes such as learning, memory, and problem-solving are critically important for animals to adapt to the environments in which they are kept. Because the pig’s psychological processes may impact its physical well-being in a given environment, they have implications for animal production. For example, a pig’s ability to learn and remember interactions with people raises concerns that if their experiences and memories of those are unpleasant, they may be fearful or distressed and suffer accordingly. Likewise, production environments that are relatively barren may provide pigs with inadequate mental stimulation, which may cause them to experience psychological distress or suffering in the form of boredom, frustration, and other unpleasant emotional states. Our research has focused on the cognitive abilities of pigs and their potential applications to their care and management. We have shown that pigs are capable of fairly complex cognitive processes, such as operant learning, visual and olfactory discriminations and concept formation. 

Project Leaders: Candace Croney (PI)

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