Research

Funding: Rentenbank, 90.000 EUR

Project Details:
The project aims at the integration of animal welfare as a constant dimension in the concept of sustainability. The work is done on conceptional levels and by use of case studies of selected kind of farm animals.

Results:

Using one of the resulting models, we can show that animal welfare is a protected good among many other sustainability goods, but due to its categorical difference it cannot be implemented as an equivalent element alongside the other sustainability dimensions in a sustainability concept. We were therefore unable to achieve a "genuine" integration of animal welfare as a constitutive component, but we were able to achieve a meaningful positioning via the social dimension of sustainability as a connecting link.

Since a decision is required in the case of conflicting objectives despite categorical differences, we have developed a reflection model as a proposal for dealing with this problem, which can serve as a basis for weighting in the case of value preference decisions. We have demonstrated its applicability in detail using a specific example.

Overall, we have been able to clearly distinguish ourselves from other concepts in the current sustainability discourse, among other things through the well-founded selection of arguments that can be applied from an ethical perspective.

The absolute goal of the sustainability debate in connection with animal husbandry and animal welfare is not clearly discernible from the discourse situation, so that there is still motivation to participate by contributing valid arguments.

 

Using one of the resulting models, we can show that animal welfare is a protected good among many other sustainability goods, but due to its categorical difference it cannot be implemented as an equivalent element alongside the other sustainability dimensions in a sustainability concept. We were therefore unable to achieve a "genuine" integration of animal welfare as a constitutive component, but we were able to achieve a meaningful positioning via the social dimension of sustainability as a connecting link.

Since a decision is required in the case of conflicting objectives despite categorical differences, we have developed a reflection model as a proposal for dealing with this problem, which can serve as a basis for weighting in the case of value preference decisions. We have demonstrated its applicability in detail using a specific example.

Overall, we have been able to clearly distinguish ourselves from other concepts in the current sustainability discourse, among other things through the well-founded selection of arguments that can be applied from an ethical perspective.

The absolute goal of the sustainability debate in connection with animal husbandry and animal welfare is not clearly discernible from the discourse situation, so that there is still motivation to participate by contributing valid arguments.

The design of a model with a high degree of concretization that adequately takes animal welfare into account is currently considerably limited by the fact that objectively measurable thresholds are not yet available.

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, 110.550 EUR

Project Details:
Social media are playing a rapidly growing role in human communication. If content is posted, imitated or shared on Social media which can impair animal welfare, it potentially reaches a broad mass of people. This project is intended to initiate a social debate on the subject of animal welfare on Social media, which is scientifically based. The aim is to educate potential users about the animals' expressive behaviour and needs, as well as the potential relevance of various depictions for animal welfare. Several functional groups such as universities, schools, veterinarians, pet shops and the (print) media are involved for this purpose.

Results:

A targeted search for pet videos with animal suffering was carried out on the platforms TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Numerous videos with animal welfare relevance were found, which were categorized according to their content. The scientific analysis of animal behaviour in the videos was the basis for determining the animal welfare relevance. In 82.4% of the videos analysed, the animals showed signs of stress. In 53.3% of the videos there was a risk of injury to the animals, and in 29.7% of the videos the animals were suspected of being in pain. The results of an online survey with 3,256 participants showed that 98.5% of respondents had already contact with animal videos. 41.7% of respondents said that they never/almost never searched for animal videos themselves and 73.8% said that they often/very often had animal videos suggested by the platforms' algorithms. Various print and online media reported on the project (e.g. Spiegel, Zeit (Leo), Hannoversche Allgemeine and various specialist magazines). In addition, those responsible for the project gave interviews on radio, television and in a podcast. Posters, flyers, logos as well as GIFS and PDF files were also made available to the public. Various functional groups were involved as multipliers through lectures at events and teaching opportunities for schools.

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, 119.980 EUR

Project Details:
Interactions between humans and wild animals in teh urban environment take place in many ways, indirectly and directly, rationally and emotionally. The discourse will involve various interest groups using variable discussion formats with online participation and accompanying data collection. Structured debates, including scientific findings and expertise, are intended to formulate theses on how to deal with animals in the human environment and create respective recommendations.

Funding: DFG, 117.450 EUR

Project Details:
Das West Nile Virus (WNV) ist eine in allen Regionen der Welt verbreitete Zoonose und wird durch verschiedene Stechmückenarten auf wild lebende Vögel übertragen. Es kann sich aber auch auf Menschen und Pferde ausweiten, wobei es neben meist asymptomatisch Verläufen bei etwa 20 - 30 % der Erkrankten zu grippeähnlichen Symptomen ("West-Nil-Fieber") und in 1-2 % der Fällen sogar zur Ausbildung einer schweren, neuroinvasiven Form mit meist fatalem Ausgang kommt. Ältere Individuen haben ein höheres Risiko, eine solche neuroinvasive Form zu entwickeln.
Im Jahr 2018 konnte das West Nil Virus in Deutschland neben Pferden und Vögeln auch erstmalig beim Menschen diagnostiziert werden und wurde 2019 bei 5 Personen als Krankheitsursache bestätigt. Im Gegensatz zur Anwendung im Pferde gibt es noch keine für den Menschen zugelassene Impfung, weshalb jene Entwicklung von großer Bedeutung ist. In Anbetracht des erhöhten Risikos einer schweren Erkrankung bei älteren Individuen ist insbesondere für diese Gruppe ein Impfstoff von hohem Interesse. Dies wird dadurch erschwert, dass Impfungen in dieser Gruppe zu einer schwächer ausgeprägten und damit weniger effektiven Immunantwort führen können. Daher soll die Immunantwort älterer Mäuse auf den von uns entwickelten Impfstoff gegen das West-Nil-Virus charakterisiert werden, insbesondere in Hinblick auf die Entwicklung einer T-Zell-Immunität.
Ziel ist es, die WNV Pathogenese bei Tier und Mensch und die Impfstoff-induzierte Immunantwort im Hinblick auf schützende Korrelate besser zu verstehen, damit neue therapeutische und präventive Strategien entwickelt werden können.

Project Details:
Ziel des Projektes ist die Untersuchung von Probenmaterial zum Nachweis von Mykoplasmen bei Schlangen, und die Auswertung in Abhängigkeit von der Lokalisation, Spezies und der klinischen Symptomatik.

Cooperation Partners:

Laboklin GmbH

PD Dr. Rachel Marschang

Marline Faulhaber

Project Details:
Ziel der Studie soll die Evaluierung der Ausbreitung von Ophidiomyces in der Schlangenpopulation in Deutschland sein. Durch Einbeziehung klinisch gesunder und erkrankter Schlangen soll eine Aussage bezüglich der Prävalenz getroffen und weitere Erkenntnisse über die Pathogenität und Auswirkungen sowohl auf das Einzeltier als auch die Gesamtpopulation sollen gesammelt werden.

Cooperation Partners:

Laboklin GmbH

PD Dr. Rachel Marschang

Lisa Schüler

Project Details:
Ein Verfahren zur Messung des Stresslevels über Ausscheidungen des Mäusebussards soll etabliert, validiert und anschließend zur Einschätzung der Stressbelastung von Tieren in Rehabilitation eingesetzt werden.

Cooperation Partners:

Prof. Dr. Touma, Universität Osnabrück

Funding: Fritz-Ahrberg-Stiftung, 40.000 EUR

Project Details:
Recent studies show that after processing pork and turkey meat frozen stored at -80°C for up to 48 weeks to raw sausages, red values of the sausages were higher and aw values lower compared to unfrozen or at -18°C frozen stored meat samples. These results suggest that when producing products from such frozen meat, the concentrations of cooking salt and nitrite salts might be reduced, as red values and aw values would change in the opposite sense when salts are reduced. However, a reduction of common salt and nitrite salts must be proportionate, as the shelf life and texture of the products could be changed. In the study, meat from beef, pork, chicken and turkey is therefore stored for 24 weeks at -18°C and -80°C and, after thawing, processed into raw and cooked sausages with reduced NaCl and nitrite concentrations. The meat products are analysed microbiologically, sensory and physicochemically during maturation and further storage in a protective gas atmosphere.

Funding: Zentrales Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand (ZIM), 218.163 EUR

Project Details:
Entwicklung der Vorgaben und Grundlagen für Diagnosesoftware, Entwicklung von weiterführenden diagnostischen Empfehlungen, therapeutischen Konzepten und Therapieempfehlungen

Funding: Brigitte und Wolfram Gedek - Stiftung, 40.000 EUR

Project Details:
Enteropathogenic Bacillus cereus are responsible for a diarrhoeal type of food poisoning. In earlier studies, we could show that milk inhibits the toxic activity of B. cereus enterotoxins towards human colon epithelial cells. At this, caseins as well as lactoferrin seem to hinder the interaction between the single toxin components. In this project, the influence of lactoferrin on growth and enterotoxin production of different B. cereus isolates is tested at first. Strain-specific differences are made visible, as well as the influence of different lactoferrins and their derivatives. The molecular mechanisms underlying the enhanced enterotoxin production after lactoferrin exposure are investigated via RNA sequencing. It is further tested which genes are up- or downregulated under iron deficiency and especially after lactoferrin contact. This gives an overview on the transcriptional changes in the organism. The second point is the detailed investigation of the inhibiting effect of lactoferrin towards the B. cereus enterotoxins in cell culture systems. For this, different commercially available lactoferrin products and derivatives will be tested, as well as their impact on different B. cereus toxins such as haemolysin BL, the non-haemolytic enterotoxin, cytotoxic K and the emetic toxin cereulide. Finally, the issue of lactoferrin-sensing and motility (chemotaxis) of selected B. cereus strains will be investigated. Next to the general ability of active movement, it will be tested if lactoferrin has a repelling or attracting effect on a certain isolate.