Genetics and Animal Welfare - Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals - page 457

tremendous knowledge about both genetics and the nervous system if
researchers take a few simple precautions, most mutants can be maintained
in a laboratory with good welfare. The “no-fear” mice would have an ade-
quate level of welfare if caretakers made sure not to mix unfamiliar mice
together. However, homozygous mutants with hyper-locomotor activity may
be more compromised. Breeding large numbers of these mice may not be
ethically justified, but breeding in small numbers may be justified to learn
about mechanisms of neurotransmitter pathways and that could lead to devel-
opment of new medications and treatments for many serious disorders.
A researcher sensitive to the welfare of the animals in his laboratory could
maintain mutant breeding stock with large numbers of heterozygotes, which
have more normal behavior, and keep just enough homozygotes for ongoing
experiments.

The Farm the Laboratory

A big difference exists between hundreds of mice in a laboratory and thou-
sands of pigs or chickens used for the commercial production of animal pro-
tein. Since animals on commercial farms often are not managed as carefully
as research animals, genetic characteristics causing minor welfare problems
in a controlled laboratory setting could cause horrible suffering on a farm.
This would be especially true if the farm was poorly managed. If a “no-fear”
pig was developed, on farm welfare could be deplorable because the animals
might seriously injure each other during fights. New research shows that fear
is not a single trait. Different types of fear are controlled by different brain
circuits ( Gross and Canteras, 2012 ). Selective removal of different fear path-
ways could have different effects. On the other hand, if aggression was
totally removed to eliminate fighting, new problems might occur. Maybe a
fearless, totally nonaggressive cow or sow would fail to take care of her
babies, or totally non-emotional mutants would be too lazy to fully graze a
pasture. The authors conclude that one should be more cautious when geneti-
cally altering an agricultural animal compared to a laboratory animal. Even
when animals are bred naturally, one must be careful to ensure that the ani-
mal fits into its environment. LeNeindre et al. (1996) found that cattle and
sheep been bred for intensive conditions, may have behavioral problems
when housed extensively. For example: gentle cows under intensive condi-
tions may become aggressive toward humans when reared on large pasture.
This raises the question: is it preferable to engineer animals to fit industrial
systems, or rather to engineer systems that fit the animals in the first place?
In 1991, the first author was asked to present a paper on biotechnology
and meat production ( Grandin, 1991 ). In this paper, a brief history of science
was reviewed. Scientists in the past were persecuted and sometimes killed
for discussing and discovering forbidden knowledge. Yesterday's forbidden
knowledge is today's accepted fact. Galileo was persecuted for writing that

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