Welfare in police horses from Curitiba/PR, Brazil: clinical and behavior indicators and circadian cortisol rhythm/ Bem-estar em equinos de policiamento em Curitiba/PR: indicadores clinicos, etologicos e ritmo circadiano do cortisol

• Published in: Ciência rural Vol. 44; no. 7; p. 1272
• Main Authors: Gontijo, Lilian D'Almeida, Cassou, Fabiane, Junior, Pedro Vicente Michelotto, Alves, Geraldo Eleno Silveira, Bringel, Beatriz, Ribeiro, Rodrigo Ma, Lago, Luiz Alberto do, Faleiros, Rafael Resende
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria 01.07.2014
• Subjects: Glucocorticoids; Steroids (Organic compounds); Stress (Psychology)
• ISSN: 0103-8478; 1678-4596
• DOI: 10.1590/0103-8478cr20131196

The scientific assessment of welfare has been important to detect animals non adapted to their management conditions, which can interfere with their productive potential and put them at increased risk of illness. With this objective, 30 horses from the Military Police of Parana were evaluated, considering clinical, ethological and hormonal indicators of equine welfare. In the clinical evaluation, horses were assessed by physical examination and their body score conditions and the history of colic incidence in the last twelve months were determined. Abnormal behavior incidence were studied by ethological observation and the individual rate of circadian rhythm of cortisol (RCC) was calculated based on cortisol concentration changes in two blood samples taken at 08:00 am and 5:00pm. Despite significant incidence of abnormal behaviors (26.7%), clinical findings were normal and there were no reports of colic episodes in the last 12 months preceding the study. The mean blood cortisol concentrations and the mean RCC rate were within the normal range. However, 42% of the studied horses had abnormal RCC rates. Despite the significant incidences of abnormal behavior and abnormal RCC rates (indicators of chronic stress), these horses were considered in good welfare when compared to ones previously reported in other national studies. Key words: stress, housing, equine, behavior, stereotypies. A avaliacao cientifica do bem-estar tem sido importante para detectar animais nao adaptados as condicoes de criacao que lhes sao impostas, situacao que afeta o potencial produtivo e os coloca em maior risco de enfermidades. Com esse objetivo, foram avaliados 30 equinos da Cavalaria daPoliciaMilitar do Parana, considerando-se indicadores clinicos, etologicos e hormonais. Na avaliacao clinica, alem da determinacao do escore corporal e exame fisico, verificou-se o historico de ocorrencia de colica nos ultimos doze meses. Comportamentos anormais foram pesquisados por observacao etologica e a taxa do ritmo circadiano do cortisol (RCC) foi determinada por meio de duas colheitas de sangue, as 08 e as 17 horas. Apesar da significativa ocorrencia de comportamentos anormais (26,7%), os achados clinicos foram normais e houve ausencia de relato de colica nos ultimos 12 meses precedentes ao estudo. As medias dos resultados das analises de cortisol estiveram dentro da normalidade, nos dados absolutos e na variacao do RCC, entretanto, 42[degrees]%o dos animais analisados apresentaram RCC alterado. Apesar da expressiva incidencia de comportamentos anormais e de animais com alteracao no ritmo circadiano de cortisol, sinais indicadores de estresse cronico, considerou-se que os equinos deste estudo apresentaram boas condicoes de bem-estar em relacao aquelas relatadas por estudos nacionais previos. Palavras-chave: estabulacao, estresse, cavalo, comportamento, estereotipias.