26 Facts About Chris Sherwin

Christopher M Sherwin was an English veterinary scientist and senior research fellow at the University of Bristol Veterinary School in Lower Langford, Somerset.

Chris Sherwin specialised in applied ethology, the study of the behaviour of animals in the context of their interactions with humans, and of how to balance the animals' needs with the demands placed on them by humans.

Chris Sherwin created and chaired the Animal Ethics Committee of the International Society for Applied Ethology, and in 2003 was the lead author of its ethical guidelines.

Chris Sherwin served as secretary of the Ethical Committee of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

In 2019 the RSPCA posthumously awarded Sherwin a Special Recognition Award: according to the Head of the RSPCA's Research Animals Department, "Chris Sherwin's work influenced and assisted all of the RSPCA science departments, which deal with wildlife, research, companion and farmed animals".

Chris Sherwin was born in Bradford, England, and spent several years in Australia, where he earned his BSc in veterinary biology from Murdoch University in Perth.

Chris Sherwin became a junior research fellow at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales, where he wrote about electronic tags and ear damage in pigs before returning to England in 1990.

Chris Sherwin studied poultry in commercial facilities, mice in laboratories, elephants in zoos, insect consciousness, and the use of video to record farm animals' behaviour.

Chris Sherwin's studies included examining the behaviour of birds on farms and in laboratories.

Chris Sherwin wrote about housing for poultry used in meat and egg production.

In 2010, Chris Sherwin found a high incidence of broken bones in hens housed in a type of cage that was banned in the European Union soon afterwards.

From 2005 to 2007 Chris Sherwin was part of a team funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the RSPCA, BIAZA, and IFAW to write a report concerning captive elephants: The Welfare, Housing and Husbandry of Elephants in UK Zoos, about the 77 elephants then kept in 13 British zoos.

Chris Sherwin told the BBC that almost half the elephants engaged in behaviour not seen in the wild, such as pacing, retracing their steps, and repeatedly swaying their trunks, which "almost certainly indicates they're in an environment which is inappropriate for their needs".

Chris Sherwin told Discovery News in 2009 that whether invertebrates experience pain was "fundamental" to the laws that protect animals and regulate their use.

Mike Mendl, a colleague of Chris Sherwin's, wrote that Chris Sherwin anticipated the interest in insect emotion and consciousness by over a decade.

Chris Sherwin reasoned that insects had preferences, habits, and memories, and could experience suffering as a "negative mental state".

Chris Sherwin went on to conduct extensive studies on laboratory cage design, showing that mice kept in ordinary cages chose to drink more of an anxiety-reducing drug than mice housed in larger cages with nesting material, a nest box, and a running wheel, where they could burrow and be with other mice.

Chris Sherwin trained mice to open a lever to access cages with more space, varying how often the lever had to be pressed, and found that more space was something they were willing to work for.

Chris Sherwin found that cage colour affected mouse welfare, including body weight; the mice liked white cages most and red least.

Chris Sherwin used burrows constructed by the same mouse in an earlier part of the experiment, thereby addressing the argument that the mouse continued to burrow only because the ready-made burrows were inadequate.

Chris Sherwin wrote in 2004 that the behaviour and health of laboratory animals given standard housing and care are frequently abnormal, which may reduce the value of the data obtained from them.

From 1998 to 2001 Chris Sherwin sat on the Council of the International Society for Applied Ethology.

Chris Sherwin later chaired the ISAE's Animal Ethics Committee, and was the lead author in 2003 of its ethical guidelines.

Chris Sherwin served as secretary of the Ethical Committee of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, and sat on the editorial board of the journal Animal Sentience.

Chris Sherwin was a member of the Joint Working Group on Refinement, set up by the British Veterinary Association's Animal Welfare Foundation, FRAME, the RSPCA and UFAW, which produced a report on laboratory birds in 2001.

Chris Sherwin's team, led by Donald Broom, addressed the protection of invertebrates and animal fetuses.