Personality, abnormal behaviour, and health : an evaluation of the welfare of police horses.
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2018
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An animal's welfare depends on an individual's capacity to adapt to the environment in
which it lives. This adaptation is directly associated with the quality of the environment and
to the possibility of expressing natural behaviours. Horses kept in stables often display a
range of abnormal behaviours related to lack of control over their environment, which can
lead to behavioural and health problems. An individual's personality also plays an important
role in its susceptibility and resilience to the development of diseases and abnormal behaviour;
thus, an evaluation of horses' personalities could be crucial to selecting individuals best
able to cope with different work activities. This study aimed to assess the well-being of police
horses maintained in a semi-confinement regime in Brazil by associating their personalities
to the occurrence of abnormal behaviours and disease. Using a non-invasive approach, different
tests were performed to investigate the horses' behaviour, personality and welfare. A
frustration test and a novel object test were conducted with 46 horses and the individuals'
personalities were assessed using questionnaires and behaviour tests. In addition, we evaluated
their physical health through a survey of their veterinary records. The data for horses
were evaluated individually. The results demonstrated the occurrence of multiple abnormal
behaviours motivated by factors such as diet and lack of social contact. Moreover, the personality
tests indicated this is an important component when evaluating welfare, since correlations
were found between personality traits and abnormal behaviour expression, and
between personality traits and health problems. According to our results, passive, stubborn,
and confident horses are better suited to be selected as police horses. The ability to classify
horses according to their personalities could help in selecting horses most suitable for
patrolling, thereby helping to reduce behavioural problems and increasing animal wellbeing.
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SCHORK, I. G.; AZEVEDO, C. S. de.; YOUNG, R. J. Personality, abnormal behaviour, and health : an evaluation of the welfare of police horses. PLoS One, v. 13, p. e0202750, 2018. Disponível em: <https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202750>. Acesso em: 11 fev. 2019.