Contribute to Quality Animal Welfare

Develop a firm foundation in this essential responsibility. 

Gain the ethical, theoretical and practical knowledge and confidence to apply this integral component to your work. 

Train to enhance the health, wellbeing and longevity of a variety of animals through obtaining both conceptual and practical insights into the animal welfare field. 

This is an experiential learning-based course. Throughout your studies you will have the opportunity to network with and learn from a variety of industry professionals. Establishing real-world relationships and confidence is key to career success. 

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Scope and Nature of Animal Welfare
   • History
   • Definitions
   • Ethics
   • Physical functioning
   • Mental and cognitive functioning
   • Naturalness
   • Scope of animal welfare
   • Moral status
   • Indirect theories
   • Direct Unequal theories
   • Moral equity theories
   • Ethical theory
   • Kantian theory
   • Virtue theory
   • Humean theory
   • Utilitarian theory
   • Rights theory
   • Capability theory
   • Animal rights
   • Arguments against animal rights
   • Animal Welfare today
   • Animal slavery
   • Conservation and wildlife research
   • Entertainment
   • Animal testing and research
   • Other significant global issues
2. Psychology and Sentience
   • Sentience
   • Sapience
   • Anthropomorphism and transference
   • Compassionate conservation
   • Sense and perception
   • Cognition - attention, memory, spatial cognition, reasoning and insight
   • Animal emotion - in primates, felines
   • Animal psychopathology - depression, stress, eating disorders
   • Activity anorexia
   • Over eating, Under eating, weight loss, pica, coprophagia, thin sow syndrome
   • Behavioural disorders
   • Compulsive behaviour
   • Lick granuloma
   • Stereotypies (Zoochosis)
   • Sentience influence on behaviour
3. Managing Animal Welfare
   • Duty of care
   • Assessing animal welfare
   • Preventing disease and injury
   • Health checks and observations
   • Importance of nutrition
   • Providing water
   • Exercise and Stimulation
   • Appropriate safe environment
   • Controlling pest and disease
   • Veterinary Prevention
4. Animal Protection Services
   • Protection organisations
   • Types of protection activities
   • Companion animals
   • Protection of farm animals
   • Wildlife
   • Understanding Health Issues
   • Pathogens - Viral, bacterial, fungal protozoa
   • Parasites - ectoparasites, endoparasites
   • Fleas, lice, ticks, mites, nematodes
   • Genetic disorders
   • Pet breeding
   • Metabolic and nutritional disease
   • Inspecting animal health condition
   • Temperature, pulse, respiration
   • Signs of ill health
   • Differential diagnosis
5. Animal Rescue Services
   • Introduction
   • Shelters
   • Health and welfare
   • Basic needs of animals
   • Animal first aid - aims, types of wounds (cuts, punctures, tears), treatments
   • Infection
   • Blood loss
   • Fly control
   • Bone and joint problems - sprains, broken bones, bone infections, Nutritional Bone diseases
   • Luxations
   • Tendon injury, Contusions, torn ligaments
   • Poisoning - chemicals, grazing, other
   • Restraining animals during first aid
   • First aid for wildlife
6. Animal Health Services
   • Animal health services
   • Routine health treatments
   • Vaccination debate
   • Quarantine
   • Euthenasia
   • De-sexing
   • Complimentary health services - homeopathy, naturopathy, tactile therapies, natural nutrition, acupuncture, etc
   • Employment
7. Animal Welfare for Pets, Work Animals and Animals in Sport
   • Welfare of companion animals
   • Work animal welfare
   • Welfare of animals in sport
8. Animal Welfare for Farm Animals
   • Farm animal welfare
   • Intensive farming
   • Pigs
   • Cattle
   • Poultry
   • Organic farming
   • Welfare during transport
   • Animal slaughter
   • Animal welfare labelling
   • Welfare issues with animals bred for alternative products - down, wool, etc
9. Animal Welfare for Wildlife: Free and Captive
   • Zoos and wildlife parks
   • Circus animals
   • Pet trade
   • Free wild animals
   • Habitat destruction
   • Protecting from hunting and trapping
   • The land and marine environments
   • Legislation
   • Codes of practice
   • Animal behaviour
   • Environmental law enforcement
   • Case studies

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Describe what is meant by animal welfare and how it can be implemented in society.
• Explain how animals might perceive the world, their sense of awareness and cognition, and how welfare can influence their mental health.
• Describe how animal welfare is assessed and upheld.
• Describe what animal protection services are available and what their roles are.
• Describe animal rescue services and how they contribute to animal welfare.
• Describe what animal health services are available and their benefits to animal wellbeing.
• Explain how animal welfare is implemented in the protection of pets & companion animals, work animals and animals in sport.
• Explain how animal welfare is implemented in the protection of farm animals.
• Explain how animal welfare is implemented in the protection of wild animals in their natural environments and in captivity.

First Aid for Wildlife

The first aid basics for wild animals are essentially the same as the first aid treatment for domestic animals. However, the circumstances surrounding the need to administer first aid to wildlife can be very different. 

In contrast to farm, zoo animals and pets, generally, the only time that a wild animal experiences physical contact with another species is as part of a predator-prey interaction. It is, therefore, highly stressful for wildlife to come into contact with humans. To minimise the animal’s stress and give it the best chance of survival the following should be considered:

• Remain very quiet when handling an injured wild animal – DO NOT “comfort” it by cuddling it, gently patting it or talking to it as this will frighten it even more and may even cause sudden death. 
• Take special care when transporting the animal to prevent further injury - various tools may be utilised to effectively move an injured animal. 
• The animal should be kept warm and in the dark away from noise, e.g., in a ventilated cardboard box.
• Be prepared to provide temporary housing for the animal until it is able to be handed over to experienced carers.
• After first aid treatment is applied, the animal should be taken to a veterinarian as soon as possible to undergo professional assessment.

Safety

Upon finding an injured wild animal, first consider the safety of yourself and the animal:

• Assess the situation you are faced with and remove any further threats to the animal or yourself.
• If the animal is on a road, ensure you are parked in a safe place off the road and watch for moving traffic.
• If necessary, flag down another driver to assist by stopping or diverting traffic while you attend to the animal.
• If applicable, confine domestic animals away from the scene to prevent further stress to the animal.
• Exercise caution that the animal does not bite you.

Airways

• Check if the animal is breathing.
• If the animal is breathing, roll it onto its side so that the mouth and nose are facing down and the head and neck are lengthened to drain the airway and allow a clear flow of air.
• If the animal is not breathing, open its mouth and check for any obstructions that may be preventing breathing, e.g., blood, vomit. 

Consciousness

• If the animal is unconscious, position it so that its head is higher than the stomach to avoid choking.

Circulation

• Stop arterial bleeding with a pressure bandage that is not too tight that it will impair the animal’s breathing.
• Keep the animal in a quiet location without interruption to facilitate clotting of any minor internal bleeding.

Body temperature

• Keep the animal warm by placing it in a soft fabric without holes such that the animal does not get caught up in it, e.g., a towel.
• Place the animal gently into a box in a dark, quiet, uninterrupted location.

Feeding

Never feed an injured wild animal unless instructed by a trained carer. Many wild animals have highly specialised diets and they may become ill or die if they consume certain foods.

Contact help

Following the provision of any essential first aid, it is essential to seek advice from veterinarian or wildlife rescue centre. The animal has a much greater chance of survival and rehabilitation if it is passed on to trained carers as soon as possible as they can provide:

• Specialised dietary requirements in appropriate quantities and feeding intervals.
• Additional treatment that is not necessarily obvious to the untrained eye.
• Specialised environmental needs, such as: heating, a perch, or bedding.
• A specialised recovery and rehabilitation plan.

Do not try to keep the animal as a pet – the biological characteristics, such as territorial and social behaviours, specialised diets and housing requirements, of wild animals are very different to domesticated ones.

Further, note that in many places, it is illegal to keep wildlife without an appropriate permit.

After your studies…

There are numerous opportunities for working in the field of Animal Welfare whether its working with domestic animals, wildlife, captive animals or farm animals.

If you are specifically interested in working with wildlife, studying Animal Welfare may assist you to work in the following jobs:

• Wildlife Rehabilitator
• Animal Hospital Carer
• Community Educator 
• Trainer in Caring for Wildlife
• Animal Shelter Attendant
• Animal Rescue Organisation Office Staff
• Wildlife Researcher
• Fundraiser
• Animal Hospital Ambulance Driver

Why Study with ACS?