Thermography as a Non-Invasive Measure of Stress and Fear of Humans in Sheep

The ability to non-invasively measure fear is an essential component of animal welfare assessment. Infrared thermography (IRT) was used to obtain images from five Sarda breed ewes during restraint and immediately after two voluntary animal approach (VAA) tests. Our preliminary results suggest that IRT, combined with behavioral data, is a non-invasive technique that can be useful to assess stress and infer about negative emotions in sheep