30 May 1960 – 13 July 2024

Our association member Dr. Jørgen Kjær passed away on 13 July 2024 after a long and serious illness, surrounded by his family.

Jørgen Kjær was a great and passionate scientist, always driven by scientific curiosity. He began his scientific career in the early 1990s at the Danish Institute of Animal Science in Foulum, Denmark. He began his research into feather pecking in laying hens in the late 1990s. He is inextricably linked to the feather pecking lines he selected, with which he was able to gain significant insights into this serious problem. His research was not limited to the selection of lines. He also used them to investigate the various influencing factors and the underlying mechanisms. He was happy to pass on his lines to other working groups for research purposes. This resulted in numerous international co-operations, including close links with the Universities of Hohenheim and Göttingen. In this context, the lines served as a reliable basis for research into spring pecking at the genomic level.

Jørgen Kjær was always interested in utilising technical innovations for his ethological experiments. Using an antenna system, he registered the locomotor activity of hens and selected lines for high and low activity. Together with technicians at the institute, he developed a touch-screen system that allowed hens to indicate their preference for certain objects, such as feathers, by pecking.

He also became involved in the World’s Poultry Science Association (WPSA) at an early stage and was a long-standing member of Working Group 9 (Poultry Welfare and Management). In 2005, he became a member of the German group of the WPSA (Deutsche Vereinigung für Geflügelwissenschaft e.V.) and moved to the former Institute for Small Animal Breeding of the FAL and today’s Institute for Animal Welfare and Animal Husbandry of the Friedrich Loeffler Institute in Celle. He has also been a member of the supervisory board of the journal British Poultry Science (since 2005) and on the editorial board of the journals Applied Animal Behaviour Science (since 2004) and European Poultry Science (EPS, formerly Archiv für Geflügelkunde; since 2007). Since 2014, he has edited the English-language articles for EPS in an extremely well-founded manner and thus contributed significantly to the international recognition of the journal. He has also been a reviewer for more than 10 other renowned journals in the field of animal science.

As a colleague, Jørgen Kjær was an interested, open, and uncomplicated discussion and co-operation partner. His pronounced friendliness, humour, and composure made him easy to like and appreciate.

Jørgen Kjær was not only an exceptional scientist but also an exceptional person. He was out in nature whenever possible. One of his great passions was hunting with his self-trained dogs. Here he enjoyed the peace and quiet and the simple life in the forests of Denmark and Sweden. His family was an important anchor for him. He did not shy away from the long journey to Denmark so that he could spend as much time with them as possible.

The German Association for Poultry Science has lost a dear colleague in Jørgen Kjær, who rendered outstanding services to the association’s organ, European Poultry Science. We will honour his memory.

Michael Grashorn, Werner Bessei, Lars Schrader
22-10-2024