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Behavioural assessment of dental pain in captive Malayan sun bears (Helarctos malayanus)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

M Fleming  and
CC Burn
M Fleming
Affiliation:
Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London NW1 4RY, UK
CC Burn*
Affiliation:
Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Herts AL9 7TA, UK
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: cburn@rvc.ac.uk
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Abstract

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Captive bears are prone to developing dental pathology for reasons including longevity in captivity, inappropriate diet, trauma, and stereotypical bar biting. If not detected, this can cause pain and suffering, with negative welfare consequences. As animals cannot verbally express feelings, objective methods are required to detect pain. Some methods of pain assessment can be invasive and impractical but behavioural observations offer a non-invasive alternative. Behavioural assessment for the detection of pain has been described in some domestic species but little published research has applied this to wild animal species. Eight Malayan sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) required dental extractions under anaesthesia. Their behaviour was observed, alongside a control cohort with no visible disease, pre-operatively and at one, two and four weeks post-operatively, when it was assumed the pain had resolved from the original pathology and surgery performed. Behavioural indices measured included general activity, social behaviours, stereotypies, eating-related behaviours and oro-facial behaviours hypothesised to be affected by dental pain. Bears that had received treatment took significantly longer to eat hard sugarcane pre-operatively compared to four weeks post-operatively, and took longer to eat soft porridge one week post-operatively compared to four weeks post-operatively. Untreated bears tended to be more active outdoors one week postoperatively compared to the treatment cohort. Results suggest that using hard foods and assessing the duration of eating behaviours could be useful to indicate dental pain in sun bears. General behavioural assessment of dental pain in sun bears is unlikely to be effective as a single diagnostic tool, but may be combined with other methods of assessment, and further research into this area is warranted.

Keywords

animal welfarebehaviourdental painpain assessmentsun bearswild animal
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 131 - 140
Copyright
© 2014 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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