Animal welfare considerations of laparoscopic A.I. - a reply

Authors: Jerram PJS
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 35, Issue 9, pp 157, Sep 1987
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Goat, Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant
Subject Terms: Animal welfare, Artificial insemination, Reproduction - female, Breed/breeding, Husbandry/husbandry procedures, Reproduction, Reproduction - male
Article class: Correspondence

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Abstract: D.A. Conway has given us new guidelines to anaesthesia for laparoscopy. What rot. Hundreds of thousands of sheep, and now goats have been `laparoscoped` in New Zealand and Australia in the last 10 years. In sheep, this has been done without any chemical restraint, and with very few problems at all. I also have laparoscoped quite a lot of goats over the last two years, as have many other veterinarians throughout New Zealand. Apart from the stress to the veterinarian of a fair amount of vocalisation from does I have not found this to be unsatisfactory from a technical point of view, when mild tranquillisation is used. More importantly, I do not believe there is undue hardship on the animal. Would a seriously stressed animal feed immediately following laparoscopy? Animal production will necessarily include procedures involving some discomfort to the animal. In my opinion laparostopic A.I. is about as stressful as shearing, when performed correctly by a veterinarian. If it was more stressful we would not get conception rates of 70% plus. We have to be careful the animal welfare lobby does not…

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