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– a substrate which is a prime source of the Aspergillusfungus.
Finally, the quality of the black and white photographsand illustrations is disturbingly variable and there are irri-tating text repetitions.
There are other and better books on bantams availableboth for the amateur keeper and the veterinary surgeon,but if this one pushes readers to find out more, it will havefulfilled its purpose.
Victoria RobertsHon. Veterinary Surgeon to The Poultry Club of Great Britain,
Editor, British Poultry Standards,
Heather Bank,
Hillings Lane,
Menston, Near Ilkley,West Yorkshire, LS29 6AU,
UK
E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2006.07.016
A.C.D. Bayvel, S.A. Rahman, A. Gavinelli. Animal Welfare:
Global Issues, Trends and Challenges, OIE, Paris (2005).
ISBN: 9290446587, 813 pp.; €50 (soft)
In 2002, in response to increasing, world-wide, scientific,political and public pressure the OIE (World Organisationfor Animal Health) added animal welfare to its prioritymissions. It received a unanimous mandate from its 167member countries to become the leading internationalorganisation in the field of animal welfare. Amongst theOIE’s aims for animal welfare is to produce internationalstandards for animal welfare for use in international trade,to provide expert advice and to promote relevant educationand research.
Animal Welfare: Global Issues, Trends and Challenges isa special issue of the OIE Scientific and Technical Reviewseries. The publication aims to demonstrate the OIE’s com-mitment to the development of science-based animalwelfare assessment and the communication of such infor-mation to its member countries. The perspective of thebook is truly global, with twenty-seven review papers con-tributed by authors internationally recognised in their field,representing all regions of the OIE. The topics discussedare diverse yet well structured aiming to leave the readerwith a clear understanding of the aims of the OIE, the chal-lenges it faces in harmonising international welfare stan-dards and how it intends to carry out its vision.
The establishment of science-based animal welfare stan-dards is a key step in the improvement in animal welfareworldwide. Therefore, the first section of the book is a ser-ies of review articles detailing historical, current and futureapproaches to the scientific assessment of welfare in farm,companion, laboratory, wild/captive and aquatic animals.These detailed reviews inform the reader of the variety ofmethodologies available for assessment of animal welfareand they provide an interesting comparison as to how theprinciples of welfare and ethics are being applied to thediversity of species on our planet.
The articles in section two focus on global perspec-tives on animal welfare from the five OIE regions; theAmericas, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia the FarEast and Oceania. The individual papers are an overviewof current levels of animal welfare legislation, enforce-
ment structures and key welfare issues. In addition, theyclearly highlight the difficulty of the challenge the OIEhas set itself in setting internationally acceptable stan-dards for animal welfare legislation between countriesthat are so culturally, socially, economically, geographi-cally and religiously diverse. These papers emphasisethe need for change to be gradual and sensitive to eachcountries current status.
The OIE is keen to incorporate the views of non-gov-ernmental organizations, including industry, in its workon animal welfare. Thus section three consists of contri-butions on animal welfare perspectives from key interna-tional stake holders; the meat and livestock sector, theWorld Veterinary Association, animal transportationand the retail food industry. The aims, objectives andstrategies of the OIE in improving animal welfare world-wide are explained in the fourth section. The OIE estab-lished four Working Groups to develop guidingprinciples on the welfare of animals transported by landand sea, the welfare of animals at slaughter and the wel-fare of animals slaughtered for disease control measures.These guiding principles have since been adopted by theOIE. In this section, the subsequent papers from theWorking Groups report on the development of these prin-ciples and review the principles themselves.
The final section considers Strategic Animal Welfare
Issues in a series of review articles on key internationalwelfare issues. The content of this section is consistent withthe broad and inclusive content of this book with topicsincluding the assessment and implementation of animalwelfare, the use of animals in research testing and teaching,animal welfare and international trade, food safety andenvironmental issues in animal welfare, ethical and animalwelfare issues arising from the killing of wildlife for diseasecontrol and environmental reasons, and opportunities fortrade in high welfare products from developing countries.Of particular relevance to the OIE strategy is the discussionin Thierman and Babcock’s article Animal Welfare and
Trade on how the OIE welfare guidelines can be incorpo-rated into current trade rules.
In the conclusion to the book, Bayvel, the author, con-siders the international trends that have resulted in thedevelopment of the OIE’s role in international leadership
230 Book reviews / The Veterinary Journal 173 (2007) 227–231
for animal welfare. He emphasises that the OIE’s missionto improve animal welfare will be ‘evolution not revolution’and must be ‘science-based, and validated, be implemented
over realistic time frames and take account of economic
and cultural factors’.The appeal of Animal Welfare: Global Issues, Trends
and Challenges, will be as broad as the impressive scopeof the book. The editors have compiled a series of reviewarticles on animal welfare and animal welfare sciencefrom internationally recognised authors that encompassa multitude of subject areas in these fields from a genu-inely global perspective, whilst providing a clear, openand fascinating account of the OIE’s strategy for improv-ing animal welfare. Veterinary and animal welfareresearchers, those involved in veterinary and animal wel-
fare education, and veterinarians in whatever careershould be aware of this highly significant developmentin the field of animal welfare and its potential implica-tions. In addition, veterinary and animal welfareresearchers should find the diversity of scientific reviewarticles and papers on laboratory animal welfare of inter-est and may also find the book of use in identifying sign-posts for future research.
Jennifer Duncan, BVA AWF Lecturer,University of Liverpool,
Leahurst, Neston,
South Wirral, CH64 7TE,
UKE-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2006.07.017
D. Cuddeford, Equine Nutrition, Crowood Press Ltd., 2003,
ISBN 1861265654, 160 pp.; £15–99 (soft)
The paperback version of Equine Nutrition is an excel-lent introduction to horse nutrition. The book is veryreadable being 160 pages in length and comprising 14 wellsectioned chapters. The information provided is at a levelsuitable for both a lay and more informed reader. Thefirst two chapters set the scene well for the remainder ofthe text by describing the evolution of the horse in termsof feeding behaviour and digestion. This helps to illustratehow our domestication of horses has contributed to someof the apparent feed related problems that they experiencetoday. Chapters 3–6 cover the nuts and bolts of equinenutrition, in terms of digestion and absorption and alsothe role of the major nutrients, macro and micro mineralsand vitamins.
The next section of the book provides the reader withvery practical information relating to grassland and itsmanagement, an area that is often neglected in other texts.The chapters that are concerned with conventional andcompound feeds are also extremely well presented, achiev-ing a good balance between scientific information and prac-tical insight. The last section of the book, which includesChapters 10–14, presents information on feeding a widevariety horses, including those used for leisure, competitionand breeding. The author succeeds in providing guidelinesand broad feeding rules, which are practical and useable
by horse owners, or other individuals responsible for theircare. There is also a section that discusses feed-related prob-lems, including obesity and inappetence as well as clinicaldisorders such as azoturia, laminitis and colic. This sectionboth explores causative factors and offers good basic feed-ing guidelines in these areas. The final chapter presentsinformation pertaining to the theory behind much of thepractical equine nutrition practised today. This informa-tion, whilst essential for the academic or technical reader,could, from experience, be considered complicated by rela-tively lay readers. However, the author succeeds in present-ing the information in a very palatable form.
Throughout the book the illustrations and diagrams areclear and sufficiently detailed to add to the text. The tablesof data that are incorporated in the text draw on publishedresearch are very informative; however, some reference tothe original research would have been useful for more aca-demic readers. In summary, this book is a very useful addi-tion to the limited range of publications that focus onequine nutrition and I would readily recommend it to any-one looking for a reference text or a broad overview of thissubject.
Catherine DunnettIndependent Equine Nutrition Ltd,
P.O. Box 319, Mildenhall,Suffolk, IP28 6SY, UK
E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2006.07.018
Book reviews / The Veterinary Journal 173 (2007) 227–231 231
