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The aim of this article is to show difficulties arising when courts judge the negligence of dog owners in absence of precise legislation and typical precedents. We analyze the elements of a crime in two cases where children were objects of canine aggression, and show how the courts constructed the issue of dog owners’ negligence. In Case 1 the Court of Appeal found that a foster parent was not negligent when leaving a boy with specific needs alone with a heavily built dog that then repeatedly bit the boy to death despite the owners attempt to pull away the dog. The court also ignored the signs of substandard animal husbandry including previous severe incidents where the dog owner also was injured. In Case 2, the Court of Appeal instead found that the breed of the dog also matter, and that not even adult presence is enough to protect a child from dog attack. Because both the child and the dog could behave unpredictably, continuous observation and supervision was required. In both cases, measures to prevent the incident were available and would have been easy to carry out.

Antimicrobial resistance is threatening humans and animals worldwide. Biosecurity and 1-year usage of antibiotics on a dairy concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in NY State, USA, were mapped: how much antibiotics were used, for what purpose, and whether any decrease could be warranted. Approximately 493 kg antibiotics was used, of which 376 kg was ionophores (monensin and lasalocides), 79 kg penicillin, 16.5 kg lincosamides, 8.0 kg aminoglycosides, 7.7 kg sulfamides, 3.4 kg cephalosporin, 2 kg macrolides, 0.7 kg amphenicols, and 0.1 kg fluoroquinolones. Usage reduction by 84% was realistic without compromising the animal welfare. Further reduction could be possible by improving the biosecurity and by utilizing antibiotic sensitivity testing.Keywords: antibiotic usage; dairy CAFO; biosecurity; ionophores; mastitis(Published: 23 May 2014)Citation: Infection Ecology and Epidemiology 2014, 4: 24259 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/iee.v4.24259

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) allows rope casting and the tying of legs for nonhuman animal slaughter without stunning. The handling and welfare of bovine livestock (Bos indicus and Bubalus bubalis) were studied in 8 local abattoirs in 5 districts of Bangladesh. A total of 302 animals were evaluated. At the local abattoirs, approximately 1/3 of the cattle and water buffalo were either emaciated or injured/sick. The size and vigor of the animals determined the casting method. Small and weak animals were cast on concrete floors by lifting a foreleg followed by pushing, or simply by twisting the head of the animal and then binding the legs with rope. Vigorous animals such as buffalo were cast using ropes and human force. Bleeding was slow and flaying was sometimes initiated before the animals were unconscious. Pulling and tearing of the trachea and pouring of water into the exposed trachea shortly after cutting were also observed in some cases. The overall animal handling was unnecessarily rough and the OIE standards were not implemented. Animals are subjected to considerable mistreatment, and there is an urgent need for the training and education of the staff in abattoirs concerning humane slaughtering practices as well as a need to build modern slaughtering plants in Bangladesh.