Resarch Prof. Dr. Peter Kunzmann

Funding: Nds. Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur über Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 1.811.726 EUR

Project Details:
This initial project within the ZERN research and transfer network is dealing with the future-oriented keeping and use of fattening pigs. There are deficits in current fattening pig husbandry, particularly in the areas of animal welfare, emissions and nutrient efficiency. This project has therefore set the objective of scientifically evaluating relevant aspects of sustainable pork production synergistically and gaining new, practice-relevant knowledge.

Cooperation Partners:

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik (DIL)

Funding: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, 625.000 EUR

Project Details:
As long as animal experiments cannot be completely replaced, the question will arise on which animals research should take place. In this project, an interdisciplinary working group wants to investigate the ELSA-relevant question, according to which criteria the selection of laboratory animal models takes place or should take place. The aim of the enterprise is to determine the manifold reasons for the choice of certain laboratory animals; the process is interdisciplinary in the full sense of the word and put the different rationalities into a well-founded correlation. The question condenses several open and important issues concerning the treatment of animals. The answer is to be examined in each of the disciplines involved, between them and finally in their association, whether it is possible to establish a coherent catalog of criteria that also creates clarity for the practice of animal experimentation, both for everyday research and at the interface to legislation and enforcement. This is important against the background of rapidly changing social value judgements about animals, which also lead to permanent tensions here. In this project we want to investigate the ELSA-relevant question of the criteria for the selection of laboratory animal models. We follow an interdisciplinary approach, which is represented by the following cooperation partners: Its members are: Prof. Dr. Peter Kunzmann (ethics), Prof. Dr. Bernhard Hiebl (laboratory animal science), Prof. Dr. Maren von Köckritz-Blickwede (infection research) (all TiHo- Hannover) and the legal scientist Prof. Dr. Dr. Tade Spranger (University of Bonn).

Cooperation Partners:

Tade Spranger, Rechts- und Staatswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Bonn

Funding: Rentenbank, 30.000 EUR

Project Details:
The core question of the project is how and for what reasons the chances of success for sustainably effective advice on animal protection and/or animal welfare on farms with livestock farming can be increased or, conversely, why such advice sometimes fails. Using preliminary studies (project "Agri-cultural advisors as key players for animal welfare and animal protection""), the project aims to iden-tify obstacles in the process and help eliminate them. To this end, explicit advisory situations will be presented together with advisors and advisors in collaboration with specific interested parties and the advisory material from various providers will be examined for its prospects of success."

Results:

dvice is effective if it is not only technically sound, but also methodically adapted to the respective conditions on the farm. Among other things, it is important that it remains communicative and takes into account the structural conditions under which the farmer can accept and implement advice. Voluntary participation is a key prerequisite for effective advice, as it is directly linked to the farm manager's inner motivation to accept new ideas and integrate recommendations into everyday farm life in the long term. At the same time, voluntary participation remains a critical point in practice. Feedback from the advisory practice shows that farms with a particularly high need for advice often make less use of advice. This is an important point that needs to be researched and worked on in the future. It also shows that the selection of advisory staff plays a decisive role: Communication skills, methodological flexibility and a willingness to reflect are just as relevant as professional expertise. In this project, it was not only possible to work out relevant content-related findings, but also to incorporate these into the existing training and further training materials for advisors in a targeted manner in order to improve their quality. Both methodological and content-related foundations were created on which to build. Just like its clients, the farmers, the advisory service must constantly adapt to new, changing circumstances and overcome challenges. For example, through the qualitative further development of advisory processes, in the training of advisors or in what is probably the most complex task, the targeted approach to farms that were previously difficult to reach.

Funding: BLE, 812.500 EUR

Project Details:
Pig diseases and injuries occur in all housing systems. Intensive care or treatment does not always result in healing so that animals have to be killed to avoid further pain or suffering. The Animal Protection Act fundamentally stipulates the protection of animal lives and well-being. In the case of serious diseases or injuries, the deci-sion which subject of protection needs to be preferred is inevitable. For pig farmers, the decision concerning killing an animal is considerably challenging. The aim of this project is to define simply collectable and valid criteria with which the well-being of diseased pigs can be accurately assessed and a responsible, justified decision can be made regarding the killing. The criteria should define the earliest possible time-point in the course of a disease at which an impairment of the well-being for protecting life is no longer acceptable and emergency killing becomes inevitable. The decision regarding the killing requires in addition an ethical evaluation, which includes safeguarding interests of the pig owners. The project should depict the complex process of decision-making concerning the killing of diseased pigs exem-plary for relevant diseases or injuries. Diseased or injured pigs of various age groups should be monitored during the entire course of disease by means of clinical exam-inations and supplementary photo and video documentation in order to generate data sets, which make a decision regarding the killing understandable. Finally, prac-ticable, illness-/injury-specific criteria catalogues should be compiled for livestock pigs and integrated in a training concept. A further aim of the project is to analyse the reasons why pig farmers have wrongly assessed the health status of affected animals. The training concept should therefore directly deal with these reasons.

Cooperation Partners:

ISN Projekt GmbH, Damme

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz, 166.732 EUR

Project Details:
Der Verantwortungsraum von Berater/Innen wird bestimmt und Empfehlungen an die Hand gegeben, wie eine verantwortungsbewusste Beratung konkret umgesetzt werden kann. Es werden Konzept und Material für Fortbildungsangebote entwickelt, die zum einen Verantwortung von Berater/innen verdeutlichen und zum anderen auch die tierethischen Aspekte in der Beratung vermitteln.

Funding: Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft , 190.960 EUR

Project Details:
Animals have become a core moral issue in Western societies. All those who earn their money from animals should be able to think through their position and present it in a well-considered manner. However, the experiences of recent years also show how relatively quiet the voices from agriculture are in an ever louder concert on this topic. In this sense, a solid project on ethics in livestock farming serves the purpose of self-positioning internally and the ability to engage in discourse externally. The basis of the project is to be a well-founded, applied ethical analysis of the current debate on animal husbandry, from which a handbook will be centrally produced.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Results:

EthOrNu should offer "ethical orientation for livestock farming"" in several respects: It should make the moral discourses in society more understandable for those involved who earn their money from livestock farming, and at the same time create an offer to position themselves in these discourses. Conversely, it is intended to open up relevant agricultural expertise for those interested in ethical issues and to help them make informed judgments about animal husbandry. The novelty lies in this bridge, which can be crossed from both sides. Only by combining both elements is it possible to make a competent assessment of the real and concrete conditions in livestock farming. The central building block for this is the creation of a handbook that presents relevant knowledge in an attractive way for both sides and opens up the possibility of further use. From the handbook, it will be possible to develop materials that also make the results accessible for the specific (initial, further and continuing) training of livestock farmers. Furthermore, central contents and theses from the project were tested in the field, e.g. in a larger presentation of the ""decision cascade"" at the Animal Welfare Day in Triesdorf (April 2022). The collaboration with the ""Responsibility of advisors in livestock farming"" project also made it possible to discuss the key ethical content of the handbook with a highly interesting target group, namely agricultural advisors, at several workshops."

Funding: Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, 50.000 EUR

Project Details:
The projects`main question is if, why and how the welfare of farm animals is connected to the idea of sustainability and if animals`interests are playing a role in the present discussions on sustainability.

Results:

In current sustainability concepts, animals and animal welfare are only indirectly addressed in places, although this preliminary study has shown that their inclusion is socially desirable or even demanded. The extent to which the anthropocentric sustainability goals and the welfare of farm animals can be meaningfully linked will be the subject of a follow-up project.

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, 97.745 EUR

Project Details:
The ongoing dispute over the future of livestock has enormous economic relevance in a state like Lower Saxony; in the livestock-rich regions, the issue is also becoming socially explosive. The issue is a major concern for society.
The aim of the project is to objectify the debate and contribute to a deeper understanding of the positions. The core of the project consists of analyzing the content and positions of animal husbandry and relating them to their own ability to engage in discourse.

Results:

The project locates and analyzes reasons for moments of failure and escalation in the farm animal discourse. At the same time, perspectives for its improvement are identified in order to point out possible turning points towards a more peaceful, respectful and constructive discussion about so-called farm animals.

The main results of the project are a discourse path as a suggested outline and a flyer with rules for discussion, which can be viewed on the website https://wiemenschenuebertierestreiten.jimdofree.com/.

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, 45.000 EUR

Project Details:
Das Projekt soll tierärztliche Praktiker in den Ethik-Unterreicht einbeziehen und dezidiert Praxis und Theorie eng miteinander verzahnen. Ziel von PEP ist es, ethische Konflikte aus den tierärztlichen Handlungsfeldern bereits im Studium der Tiermedizin aufzugreifen, diese ethisch zu reflektieren und so zu beleuchten, dass ethische Konflikte von zukünftigen Tierärzten und Tierärztinnen besser bewältigt werden können. Vertretbare Antworten auf moralische Anfragen werden entwickelt und das dazu nötige theoretische Wissen daraufhin ausgewertet. Das Projekt bietet einen hohen Reiz für die Angewandte Ethik, weil es allgemein nach den Möglichkeiten der Verbindung zwischen bottom-up- und top-down-Modellen in der Ethik fragt. Sollte sich das Format bewähren, lässt es sich in andere Konstellationen (z.B. Ethik in der Humanmedizin und in Technischen Fächern) adaptieren.

Results:

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Funding: BMBF und Bundesländer, 2.252.000 EUR

Project Details:
Mit FERTHIK2 werden Inhalte des Zentrums für klinische Fertigkeiten (CSL), das im Vorgängerprojekt FERTHIK unter Berücksichtigung ethischer Aspekte aufgebaut wurde, auf spezielle praktische Fertigkeiten erweitert. Ergänzend dazu werden weitere Anleitungsvideos erstellt und zur Verfügung gestellt. Die Vermittlung ethischer Aspekte bleibt fester Bestandteil der Ausbildung im CSL und wird als angewandte Ethik in der Tiermedizin in der Lehre systematisiert und auch anderen Zielgruppen wie beispielsweise Lehrende, Nachwuchswissenschaftler/innen innerhalb der Hochschule zugänglich gemacht. Summerschools auf nationaler und später internationaler Ebene sollen eine Plattform für den Austausch über das Training von klinischen Fertigkeiten an Simulatoren und den damit verbundenen Tierschutzaspekt sowie über Ethik in der Tiermedizin ermöglichen und fördern.

Results:

SCHAPER E, WISSING S, KUNZMANN P, TIPOLD A: Schlussbericht zu FERTHIK II. Projekt FERTHIK. Hannover, 2021.

https://doi.org/10.2314/KXP:1833421795