Marine Mammal Welfare

Marine mammals attract human interest - sometimes this interest is benign or positive - whale watching, conservation programmes for whales, seals, otters, and efforts to clear beaches of marine debris are seen as proactive steps to support these animals. However, there are many forces operating to affect adversely the lives of whales, seals, manatees, otters and polar bears - and this book explores how the welfare of marine mammals has been affected and how they have adapted, moved, responded and sometimes suffered as a result of the changing marine and human world around them. Marine mammal welfare addresses the welfare effects of marine debris, of human traffic in the oceans, of noise, of hunting, of whale watching and tourism, and of some of the less obvious impacts on marine mammals - on their social structures, on their behaviours and migration, and also of the effects on captivity for animals kept in zoos and aquaria. There is much to think and talk about - how marine mammals respond in a world dramatically influenced by man, how are their social structures affected and how is their welfare impacted?

Dr Andy Butterworth MRCVS is Reader in Animal Science and Policy in the Clinical Veterinary School, University of Bristol, UK. Andy teaches and carries out research in the areas of animal disease and production, animal welfare and legislation, behavioural biology, and animal welfare assessment in both farm and wild animals. He is a member of the European Food Standards Agency Scientific Panel on Animal health and Welfare, and chairs the EEER (Ethics, Economics, Education and Regulation) of the Farm Animal Welfare committee in the UK. He lectures widely and publishes in books, and the academic and trade press, with over 200 publications to date.