Farmer and award-winning journalist John Humphrys knows all about the importance of the sentience of farm animals. Describing the importance of kind treatment of farm animals, he says: “Good farming is about healthy and, yes, happy animals.”
Because farm animals are sentient beings, how they are treated is of vital importance to them.
Animals who are afraid of humans because they have been treated roughly or unkindly may be more stressed and suffer health and welfare problems.
Kind treatment is more likely to mean happy and well-cared-for cows. Now researchers have found that cows whose farmers talk to them by name are, perhaps unsurprisingly, more relaxed.
Talking about dairy cows let out from the winter sheds into the great outdoors, John Humphrys says:
“They tear about the field, kicking their legs into the air …For six months they have lived in sheds, slept in stalls, stood on concrete. Now, once again, they have the grass beneath their feet. They seem, quite literally, to be full of the joy of spring. It lifts the spirits to watch them.”
There is a fascinating film about captive rats who were released to a semi-wild habitat. The rats were descended from generations of rats who had all been born in a laboratory. They were released into a ‘farmyard’ setting to see how they reacted to this more natural environment and whether they knew what to do in order to survive. As the commentator says, “It is the first time they have seen the sky.” This great film shows you how they got on.
The first chapter, “Release”, is linked below and visit www.ratlife.org to see the other chapters – well worth watching!
Berdoy, M. 2002. The Laboratory Rat: A Natural History. Film. 27 minutes. www.ratlife.org
Young rats like having fun. When they are tickled gently, they make a little chirping sound, and they like spending time with humans who tickle them and with other chirpy youngsters.
This film clip shows the rats who were being tickled.
Professor Marc Bekoff tells us that young rats also love to play. They enjoy chasing, wrestling, boxing and jumping on each other. When they play, rats follow rules to show they are playing. They use their snout to gently rub their playmate’s neck. The playmate then wriggles away or runs off, as you would to stop somebody tickling you.
In a fight, rather than a gentle touch to the neck, rats use a different signal: they bite their opponent’s rump!
This ability to understand another animal’s communication, and how to respond to it, is a strong indicator of animal sentience.
Rats are probably a lot more intelligent than we think.
A number of rats were trained to tell the difference between a short and a long burst of noise. They then had to tell the researchers whether it was a long or short noise by pressing a lever.
If they got the answer right, they would get a larger reward of treats. If their answer was wrong, they did not get any reward. If they chose not to answer, they got a small number of treats.
They were usually able to choose correctly. When it was too difficult to classify the noise as “short” or “long”, because it was in between the two, the rats chose not to answer, showing that they understood they might give the wrong answer.
Previously, scientists thought that only humans and other members of the primate family were capable of this type of understanding. This shows us again that many other animals have unsuspected depths and abilities.
Throughout the ages, most people have recognised that animals feel pain, hunger, thirst, fear, anger, contentment and other emotions, because animals often show us that they do.
Animals are sentient beings. They can enjoy life, but they can also feel pain and can suffer physically and mentally when things go wrong. These feelings are important to them.
Understanding animal sentience means looking at life from the animals’ point of view and taking account of different animals’ needs and preferences, so that in our dealings with them, we can help them live a good life and prevent suffering.
This blog will highlight stories of amazing animals and provide further evidence of their sentience.
