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Cages and enclosures. Are animals particularly bothered?

Okay so the story is, I studied Life of Pi as one of my novels to be examined on for my English Literature A2. At one point in the book, there is a whole rant about how people who say animals hate to be encolsed because they lose their freedom are wrong, and that they are actually much happier to be in a refined space but have the guarantee of regular feeding and no predators.

Perhaps I'm being REALLY over ambitious in asking this question, but does anyone know if there is actually any scientific basis behind that? I've always felt quite bad for hamsters being stuck in a cage, finding entertainment only in a wheel :frown: Or perhaps I'm being silly for thinking that hamsters have the same concepts of freedom and happiness as humans do haha, any ideas?


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Reply 1
Well unless Dr Doolittle was a documentary we'll never really know. You can look at animal behaviour however. I would argue that my rabbits are happier than rabbits in the wild. We have a large hutch with an outdoor run for the day time. The hutch is at least twice it recommended length for a rabbit if not larger and we sometimes bring them inside too. They have toys to keep them occupied and each other for company and cuddles. They groom each other and chase each other (playfully), When a rabbit does a quick jump/run that's meant to indicate happiness/excitement and that's what happens every morning when they come out to their run. They'll sniff about and then be like: http://i.imgur.com/zlgVY6v.gif
Reply 2
Original post by Charlottelt
Well unless Dr Doolittle was a documentary we'll never really know. You can look at animal behaviour however. I would argue that my rabbits are happier than rabbits in the wild. We have a large hutch with an outdoor run for the day time. The hutch is at least twice it recommended length for a rabbit if not larger and we sometimes bring them inside too. They have toys to keep them occupied and each other for company and cuddles. They groom each other and chase each other (playfully), When a rabbit does a quick jump/run that's meant to indicate happiness/excitement and that's what happens every morning when they come out to their run. They'll sniff about and then be like: http://i.imgur.com/zlgVY6v.gif


Ah how interesting, I've noticed my sisters rabbit doing this and thought it was just being... Well angry I guess haha, well thanks a lot!


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Reply 3
Original post by Frorde
Ah how interesting, I've noticed my sisters rabbit doing this and thought it was just being... Well angry I guess haha, well thanks a lot!


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Yeah I can't imagine them being happy any more cooped up though. Part of their nature and needs is to have room to move and have fun. An angry rabbit stomps his feet, tries to hit or bite you. My sisters rabbit hates being groomed and often tries to bat your hand away when he knows it's grooming time. They're lionheads though so that fluff needs tamed. :P
Reply 4
Original post by Frorde
Okay so the story is, I studied Life of Pi as one of my novels to be examined on for my English Literature A2. At one point in the book, there is a whole rant about how people who say animals hate to be encolsed because they lose their freedom are wrong, and that they are actually much happier to be in a refined space but have the guarantee of regular feeding and no predators.

Perhaps I'm being REALLY over ambitious in asking this question, but does anyone know if there is actually any scientific basis behind that? I've always felt quite bad for hamsters being stuck in a cage, finding entertainment only in a wheel :frown: Or perhaps I'm being silly for thinking that hamsters have the same concepts of freedom and happiness as humans do haha, any ideas?


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As soon as I saw the thread title I thought of the Life of Pi section regarding it. :smile: It seems logical enough and from a psychological perspective you can gain some insight from behavioural principles regarding their 'happiness', but ultimately it's clear that animals in captivity simply don't face the same challenges as those in the wild and have keepers dedicated to satisfying their needs. However one must then consider the many places around the world where this doesn't happen and animals are neglected or treated cruelly.
Reply 5
I think perhaps if has to do with where the animal was before being caged/penned/etc. If an animal doesn't know any other way of life than that of a domesticated nature (ie being penned in), obviously the animal would probably be happiest caged. However, take an animal straight from the wild and pop them into an enclosure and I think more often than not, you're going to have a hard time ensuring the animal remains happy and stimulated.

I think one of the main issues when it comes to caging animals is that animals need to remain mentally stimulated, need to get exercise, need company (some more than others depending on species), proper feeding, watering etc and keeping these up to a standard on par with the animal being in the wild, can in some cases, animal depending, be a challenge in itself.

Obviously you can study the animal, it's behaviours, signs of stress (eg heart rate), hormone levels etc, look at the welfare inputs (eg what is physically put there - food, water, type of enclose) and outputs (looking at the animal physically) but it really is hard to say because obviously no animal can actually right out tell us what they prefer.
Reply 6
I think it depends on the situation. When we had rabbits, I`d let them out for the whole day (keeping an eye on them at the same time as well of course), but had to keep them in their cage at night because there was a family of foxes living near our house, and they`d come out everyday. So we had to keep them there for their safety, but we did make sure we gave them the biggest cage we could find, and of course left toys inside it :smile:
All depends on the cage really - yeah if you stick a hamster in a ****ty little cage with nothing but a wheel it's going to be miserable. But give it a proper environment and mental stimulation and it'll be perfectly happy. My mice have a cage a metre long, soon to be upgraded to being nearly a metre high as well, and given the choice half the time they're not even bothered about leaving it (I sometimes make a bridge for them to get out and about into another cage, or put them on the bed). I fill it with toys, make sure they work a bit for their food, and get plenty of exercise. They are most definitely some of the most spoiled mice out there!



Some people's standards of keeping their pets leaves a lot to be desired (not just talking about cage size, cos you can still be a good owner with a smaller cage, so long as you treat the animal properly), but in principal I see nothing wrong with keeping a few animals about the house. :smile:
I don't know, I sometimes think about my dog and how he has very little to do all day, compared to the stimulation us humans receive.. no idea if he hates it or not

He loves a good wrestle though, from time-to-time :biggrin:
Reply 9
My rats all LOVE their cage. They all want to come out and play (they come straight out when I open the cage door), but after an hour or so, most choose to go back to the cage. Only 1 of my rats would happily live on my bed, and 1 likes the bed quite a lot, but the other 6 all want their cage.
If they get scared (e.g. by a noise) they run back to the cage and hide. It is their safe place.
If I take the cage away from them and they have no access to it (e.g. if I'm cleaning it) they stare at me with sad faces. A few of them have specific places where they sit and look at me when they want their cage back.

However, this may be because they have a big cage and it's where they have food and drink, can poop, and their toys are in there. Basically it's like their house - they want to come out sometimes and then they want to go home.

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