Construction of an integrated welfare assessment system (MacWel) for Macaques (Macaca spp.) in human husbandry

The paper describes the construction procedure of an assessment protocol for Macaques (Macaca spp.). The authors have chosen an integrative approach, currently frequently used for the construction of such protocols with a clear preference for animal-based parameters to assess the welfare states of these non-human primate species in human husbandry. In collaboration with researchers of this field valid, reliable and feasible indicators were composed to a holistic assessment protocol; agreement was reached with a Delphi method. The four principles from Welfare Quality were used as definition for Animal Welfare, whereas the 12 corresponding criteria were enriched with additional attributes: Comfortable Lighting, Absence of Noise, Ease of movement and natural habitat. The authors will further proceed with using more experts in a Delphi method for the translation procedure to aggre-gated levels to be able to arrive at an overall score for each assessed facility.