Design, Validation and Application of an Instrument for Assessing Animal Welfare, Public Health and Environmental Health in Non-Human Primates in Captivity

Resumen

Introduction. Currently, assessments performed on establishments where nonhuman primates (NHP) are captive are partial and their compliance is limited. At the international level, assessment instruments have been applied to zoos in a comprehensive way and just some of them have been published in scientific journals. Objective. In order to assess the animal welfare (AW), public health (PH) and environmental health (EH) in nonhuman primates (NHP) in captivity, an instrument, which could be useful as an indicator of compliance of the different assumptions evaluated, was designed. Materials and methods. For the design of this instrument the following aspects, stated in the Official Mexican Standards and in the legislation on the matter in our country, were considered: indicators of success, quality standards in shelters and assumptions about AW, PH and EH. The instrument consists of 38 items for AW, 47 for PH and 16 for EH, the measuring scale of the degree of compliance for each of the assumptions evaluated was: high, medium, low and non-existent, according to the scores obtained. The instrument was applied to a total of 63 NHP of different species in three establishments located in the State of México. Results. The instrument presented substantial agreement between establishments, resulting in Kappa index: K = 0.70, K = 0.88 and K = 0.75 for each of the assumptions assessed. Conclusions. The analysis of results in the three establishments allowed the issuing of a series of recommendations for each organization. Finally, the validated instrument was applied in the CIVS in Bacalar. Parque Loro, Puebla, had the best score in the three categories assessed, followed by the CIVS Bacalar and the last one being Zacango Zoo.