HUSBANDRY PORTFOLIO FOR THE CHEETAH (ACINONYX JUBATUS)
Preventative Health
The importance of preventative health
According to Miller (1999), the most basic form of medical care for captive animals is preventative medicine. Preventing disease is a much less costly form of veterinary medicine in comparison to disease treatment. Thus, it is important for any zoo to hold a preventative medicine programme. In the United Kingdom, the basics of animal care start with the Animal Welfare Act (2006) whereby the five freedoms dictate the basic care of a captive animal. The more detailed aspects of preventative health include social, nutritional, environmental, and pathogenic considerations. These fall under the responsibility of the zoo keepers, curators and veterinarians. The observation and check-up of an animal is crucial for its health maintenance and preventative medicine. Another important aspect to preventative medicine is reducing the risk of infectious disease within the zoo environment (Miller and Fowler, 2011). This involves strict quarantine facilities and strict protocols.
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Preventative Health Actions
Monitoring animal welfare, and therefore their health, comes under several people’s responsibilities, including keepers, curators, veterinarians and inspectors, as you can see in Table 1 below (Hosey et al, 2009).. These staff members can monitor health and welfare through different assessments, including daily animal assessments, welfare audits, as well as regular reviews (Draper and Harris, 2012). The British Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA), acclaim themselves to promote high standards of welfare as well as undertaking research to expand their understanding of how best to promote and understand animal welfare (BIAZA, Annual report, 2009).
Keepers
Evaluation of clinical signs is often the current health monitoring regime for captive cheetahs (Despauw et al, 2014). Keepers use their first-hand experience and knowledge to assess the welfare and health of an animal. Animal behaviour is a key element for assessing their health, as behavioural measures are often the most obvious indicator for the individuals coping in their environment and different situations within the confined space (Hill and Broom, 2009). However, an animal’s welfare is restricted by various factors such as keepers’ routines, visitor expectations, and enclosure design (Hosey et al, 2009). These restrictions can have negative impacts on the animal’s welfare, such as stereotypies and poor health. Captivity has been shown to effect mammals behaviourally as well as morphologically, domesticating wild, species-specific behaviours and altering their genetic makeup (O’regan and Kitchener, 2005). However, in the recent years, many studies aim to identify husbandry techniques that improve the behavioural repertoire of an animal, thus improving their health and welfare. Monitoring an animals’ behaviour and maintaining their welfare standards is a key role played by zoo keepers, however, once the animal does indicate signs of disease or illness, a veterinary professional is next staff member able to identify and treat the animal in question
Keepers also have the responsibility for maintaining personal hygiene and disposing of clinical waste properly as well as wearing the correct personal protective equipment when dealing with captive animals, to decrease the chance of disease spread (HSE, 2012).
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Veterinarians
Curators
Veterinary care is important for the maintenance of an animals’ health and the treatment for when the onset of disease is already present. Veterinary staff aim to prevent disease and suffering which also not causing unnecessary harm to an animal (Veterinary Surgeons Act, 1996). Procedures such as routine health checks and vaccinations are crucial for preventative medicine. A number of procedures come under routine checks, these include; risk assessments, body condition scoring vaccinations, contraception and wound management. disposing of clinical waste appropriately as well as good standards of personal hygiene is also important for the preventative health regime (HSE, 2012).
Zoo curators oversee all aspects of animal management and are involved in the decision making for animal husbandry interventions, diet, veterinary care as well as quarantine procedures and transportations.
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Zoo Inspector
British zoos are required to meet animal welfare standards and have done so since 1984 (Draper and Harris, 2012). Government-appointed inspectors regularly assess zoos based on their animal welfare standards, highlighting concerns and identifying the areas that need changes, leading to improvement (Draper and Harris, 2012). In 2012, only 24% of 192 zoos across the UK were assessed as meeting all the animal welfare standards, suggesting the other 76% require improvement. Animal health is closely linked to animal welfare standards and therefore it is important to maintain these standards across all zoos.
Table 1: Shows preventative health methods and who is responsible for these regimes.
Diet and Nutrition
Preventative Health
