Business Commons^™

After-Action Report Of Humane Society International's Emergency Response To The April 2015 Earthquake In Nepal, Nepal Earthquake Disaster Operations Team

HSI AFTER ACTION REPORTS

This report describes the timeline and extent of HSI response efforts, evaluates and assesses community (animal and human) health and medical response actions, and identifies issues and challenges faced by HSI responders during the days following the earthquake until their withdrawal, with the goal of providing HSI with practical recommendations to address those challenges.

Turning Science Into Policy: The Case Of Farm Animal Welfare In Canada, David Fraser

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

Implications

• Development of farm animal welfare standards in Canada has evolved significantly over 35 yr in terms of process, leadership, and the role of science.
• Key elements of the current process include: 1) influential producers and producer organizations that see the benefit of having science-informed standards, 2) a credible coordinating body to ensure that a well-defined process is followed in developing standards, and 3) trusted scientists who are engaged in relevant research and willing to participate.
• The process benefits from having a distinct and defined role for the scientists, specifically to analyze relevant science and identify conclusions that are scientifically …

Perceptions And Practices Of Finnish Dairy Producers On Disbudding Pain In Calves, A. -H. Hokkanen, I. Wikman, T. Korhonen, M. Pastell, A. Valros, O. Vainio, L. Hänninen

Farm Animal Husbandry Collection

Disbudding causes pain-related distress and behavioral changes in calves. Local anesthesia and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are effective for treating disbudding-related pain. Dairy producers play a key role in whether or not calves to be disbudded are properly medicated. Pain and distress related to disbudding of calves often remains untreated. Thus, we conducted this study to characterize perceptions and practices of dairy producers on disbudding and disbudding-related pain management. A questionnaire was sent to 1,000 randomly selected Finnish dairy producers (response rate: 45%). Our aim was to investigate producer perceptions about disbudding-related pain, the perceived need for pain alleviation before disbudding, …

The Foie Gras Journey, Katie Lindsay

HSU STUDENT THESES AND CAPSTONE PROJECTS

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings (Fukuoka 2009). In recent decades many countries have bettered themselves by altering farming practices to include animal welfare standards. By finding a common ground, animal agriculture and animal advocates can work together to improve animal welfare. This case study will review California Senate Bill 1520 Force-Fed Birds to examine how the stakeholders in an active legislative battle are working through the controversy to find a place where all parties can thrive. This legislation was brought to the California legislature by Senator …

A Balanced Perspective On Animal Welfare For Improved Meat And Meat Products, A. Y. Chulayo, V. Muchenje

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

Increased public concern for animal welfare in the logistics chain has led to a rise in the scrutiny of the treatment of food animals. Factors affecting the status of welfare of slaughter animals begin at the farm and occur during transportation and at the abattoir. The activities that animals pass through before slaughter are thought to have negative effects on both the animal and the product. Before or during this period, animals suffer pain, which compromises their physical, health and biochemical status, and meat quality and quantity; which leads to economic losses. Environmental impact plays a role in the behaviour, …

Ecological Agriculture. Integrating Low Input, High Productive Farming With Wildlife Conservation. Results From The Experimental Farm La Combe, Drome France, Marthe Kiley-Worthington

Ecological Impacts of Animal Agriculture Collection

Wildlife conservation must be integrated with energy and resource efficient agriculture for the human population to survive. Modern high input energy and resource inefficient agriculture does not address these problems. An efficient food producing system which marries wildlife conservation with resource and energy efficient human food production is needed. This is Ecological Agriculture, modelled on how natural ecosystems work. It is defined as: The establishment and maintenance of a diversified, self-sustaining low input farming system managed to maximize net production without causing large or long term changes to the environment. It must be economically viable, and ethically and aesthetically acceptable …

What Enables Size-Selective Trophy Hunting Of Wildlife?, Chris T. Darimont, K. Rosie Child

Big-Game and Trophy Hunting Collection

Although rarely considered predators, wildlife hunters can function as important ecological and evolutionary agents. In part, their influence relates to targeting of large reproductive adults within prey populations. Despite known impacts of sizeselective harvests, however, we know little about what enables hunters to kill these older, rarer, and presumably more wary individuals. In other mammalian predators, predatory performance varies with knowledge and physical condition, which accumulates and declines, respectively, with age. Moreover, some species evolved camouflage as a physical trait to aid in predatory performance. In this work, we tested whether knowledge-based faculty (use of a hunting guide with accumulated …

Attitudes Of Canadian Pig Producers Toward Animal Welfare, Jeffrey M. Spooner, Catherine A. Schuppli, David Fraser

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

As part of a larger study eliciting Canadian producer and non-producer views about animal welfare, open-ended, semi-structured interviews were used to explore opinions about animal welfare of 20 Canadian pig producers, most of whom were involved in confinement-based systems. With the exception of the one organic producer, who emphasized the importance of a ‘‘natural’’ life, participants attached overriding importance to biological health and functioning. They saw their efforts as providing pigs with dry, thermally regulated, indoor environments where animals received abundant feed, careful monitoring and where prospective disease outbreaks could be minimized and controlled. Emphasis was also placed on low-stress …

An Hsi Fact Sheet: The Environmental, Public Health, And Social Impacts Of Pig Factory Farming, Humane Society International

HSI FACT SHEETS

Since the mid-20th century, small, extensive farms have given way to massive, commercial pig production facilities. In 2009, more than 1.3 billion pigs were raised and slaughtered globally. Between 1980 and 2000, though world pork production nearly doubled, there was a decrease in the total number of farms. Large industrial farm animal production facilities, or factory farms, that often confine thousands of pigs indoors, are becoming more widespread throughout the world, particularly in developing countries. Factory farms are now responsible for more than half of all global pork production.

A significant implication of the shift toward factory farms has been …

An Hsi Fact Sheet: Biosecurity Challenges Of Industrial Farm Animal Production, Humane Society International

HSI FACT SHEETS

Industrial farm animal production (IFAP) has become increasingly common throughout the world. Worldwide, industrial systems now account for approximately two-thirds of poultry meat production and half of egg and pig meat production, with developing countries already producing approximately half of the world’s industrial pork and poultry by 2006.

Inherent design and operational requirements of IFAP facilities can create biosecurity problems with both bioexclusion and biocontainment—efforts to prevent the respective influx and efflux of pathogens. These may help explain why large commercial flocks may be up to 10,000 times more likely to report outbreaks with pathogens such as highly pathogenic avian …

Attitudes Of Canadian Citizens Toward Farm Animal Welfare: A Qualitative Study, Jeffrey M. Spooner, Catherine A. Schuppli, David Fraser

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

As part of a larger project to determine if there are animal-welfare-related values shared by some commercial food–animal producers and non-producers in Canada, open-ended, semi-structured interviews were conducted to elicit opinions about animal welfare among 24 urban and rural residents not involved in commercial animal production. All participants possessed a self-described interest in food animal well-being and were therefore assumed to represent the views of Canadian non-producers most apt to engage in efforts to shape the animal welfare policies of governments and businesses. Participants described animal welfare in moral or ethical terms, expressed virtually unanimous support for animals having access …

Heat Stress: A Major Contributor To Poor Animal Welfare Associated With Long-Haul Live Export Voyages, Malcolm P. Caulfield, Heather Cambridge, Susan F. Foster, Paul D. Mcgreevy

Transport of Farm Animals Collection

Recent investigations by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry into high mortalities on live export voyages from Australia to the Middle East during the Northern hemisphere summer suggest that animal welfare may be compromised by heat stress. The live export industry has generated a computer model that aims to assess the risk of heat stress and to contain mortality levels on live export ships below certain arbitrary limits. Although the model must be complied with under Australian law, it is not currently available for independent scientific scrutiny, and there is concern that model and the mandated space allowances …

101 Puppy Mills: A Sampling Of Problem Puppy Mills In The United States, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL INFORMATION

The goal of the report is to inform consumers about widespread problems with puppy mills before they make an uninformed purchase that could potentially support animal cruelty. The report includes puppy mills from 22 states, but because most of the dealers sell online or to pet stores, their puppies could be available to unwary consumers in all 50 states and beyond.

The breeders and sellers on this list represent common issues with puppy mills and puppy mill brokers. This report is not a complete list of all puppy mills, nor a list of all problematic facilities. For more information on …

Welfare Of Non-Traditional Pets, Catherine A. Schuppli, David Fraser, H. J. Bacon

Wild and Exotic Animals as Pets Collection

The keeping of non-traditional or ‘exotic’ pets has been growing in popularity worldwide. In addition to the typical welfare challenges of keeping more traditional pet species like dogs and cats, ensuring the welfare of non-traditional pets is complicated by factors such as lack of knowledge, difficulties meeting requirements in the home and where and how animals are obtained. This paper uses examples of different species to highlight three major welfare concerns: ensuring that pets under our care i) function well biologically, ii) are free from negative psychological states and able to experience normal pleasures, and iii) lead reasonably natural lives. …

Estimate Of Usda Licensed Breeders 2014, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL REPORTS

A state-by-state breakdown in map format showing the number of licenses for: Class A Commercial Breeders Facilities that breed companion animals, primarily dogs, for resale into the pet trade; and Class B Brokers / Dealers Middlemen who obtain animals from breeders and then resell them.

Practical Handling Skills During Road Transport Of Fattening Pigs From Farm To Slaughterhouse: A Brief Review, Bert Driessen, Ester Peeters, Jos Van Thielen, Sanne Van Beirendonck

Transport of Farm Animals Collection

The transport of fattening pigs is characterized by a strong human-animal interaction. Consequent handling is important because of animal welfare, meat quality and matching economic consequences. During road transport, human impact can be divided in different steps: 1) driving pigs from the pens via an alley to the trailer, 2) loading, 3) actual transport, 4) unloading to the lairage, and 5) the final phase driving pigs to the stunning. An inadequate design and a poor condition of the facilities will negatively affect the ease of handling pigs. Because of the consequences, acute stress during transport and slaughter should be minimized …

An Analysis Of The Use Of Dogs In Predicting Human Toxicology And Drug Safety, Jarrod Bailey, Michelle Thew, Michael Balls

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Dogs remain the main non-rodent species in preclinical drug development. Despite the current dearth of new drug approvals and meagre pipelines, this continues, with little supportive evidence of its value or necessity. To estimate the evidential weight provided by canine data to the probability that a new drug may be toxic to humans, we have calculated Likelihood Ratios (LRs) for an extensive dataset of 2,366 drugs with both animal and human data, including tissue-level effects and Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) Level 1–4 biomedical observations. The resulting LRs show that the absence of toxicity in dogs provides virtually no …

General Principles For The Welfare Of Animals In Production Systems: The Underlying Science And Its Application, David Fraser, Ian J.H. Duncan, Sandra A. Edwards, Temple Grandin, Neville G. Gregory, Vincent Guyonnet, Paul H. Hemsworth, Stella M. Huertas, Juliana M. Huzzey, David J. Mellor, Joy A. Mench, Marek Špinka, H. Rebecca Whay

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

In 2012, the World Organisation for Animal Health adopted 10 ‘General Principles for the Welfare of Animals in Livestock Production Systems’ to guide the development of animal welfare standards. The General Principles draw on half a century of scientific research relevant to animal welfare: (1) how genetic selection affects animal health, behaviour and temperament; (2) how the environment influences injuries and the transmission of diseases and parasites; (3) how the environment affects resting, movement and the performance of natural behaviour; (4) the management of groups to minimize conflict and allow positive social contact; (5) the effects of air quality, temperature …

Nonhuman Animal Rights, Alternative Food Systems, And The Non-Profit Industrial Complex, Corey Lee Wrenn

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

No abstract provided.

Puppy Mill Closure: The Economic Impact On A Local Community, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL REPORTS

When a substandard dog-breeding facility (a puppy mill) closes, removing the dogs can drain the financial resources of a community, local animal welfare entities, and large humane organizations. Towns rarely derive any benefit from puppy mills, as they employ few staff, often don’t pay required taxes or license fees, generate much animal waste and pollution, and cause unpleasant odors and noise. Once a major puppy mill enterprise is discovered, many communities don’t have the necessary resources to handle the situation. Prevention is the key, and communities should discourage large scale breeding facilities from locating in their area.

An Hsus Report: Industrial Farm Animal Production And Livestock Associated Mrsa (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus), The Humane Society Of The United States

Impact of Animal Agriculture

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of bacterial infection and is increasingly found to be resistant to antibiotic therapy. A newly described type of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus carried by farm animals, Livestock Associated MRSA (LA-MRSA), is now causing infections in humans with and without direct livestock contact. A reduction in the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in feed would likely reduce the capacity of industrial animal agriculture to continue to create, disseminate, and perpetuate a large reservoir of LA-MRSA on a global scale, but more fundamental changes in the way animals are raised for food may be necessary forestall a …

An Hsi Report: The Public Health Implications Of Intensive Farm Animal Production In South Asia, Humane Society International

HSI REPORTS

Intensive farm animal production (IFAP) is being increasingly implemented to meet the rising demand for animal source foods in South Asia. The siting of IFAP facilities in urban or peri-urban areas leads to large proximate animal populations, increasing human exposure to pollutants and pathogens. Improperly managed wastes from IFAP facilities and abattoirs can contaminate water with excess nutrients, pathogens, veterinary pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, heavy metals, and hormones, and can release ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, volatile organic compounds, bioaerosols, and particulate matter into the air compartment. The unregulated nature of IFAP in South Asia creates a risk for zoonotic transmission, including anthrax, brucellosis, …

Environmental Impacts Of One Puppy Mill Among Many: A Case History, John A. Gill

Puppy Mills Collection

In recent decades, the animal welfare aspects of irresponsibly-managed commercial dog-breeding businesses have attracted national attention, prompting legislative and regulatory actions. However, the environmental impacts of such businesses, also known as puppy mills, have received far less attention. Most puppy mills are secretive; therefore, it is hard to get documented information about their environmental impacts. Although the former Whispering Oaks Kennels near Parkersburg, W.Va., also kept secrets, reliable environmental information regarding its operation became available because in the summer of 2008, Wood County cited the facility for violating the State’s water pollution and solid waste statutes. This report is based …

Animal Welfare And Food Safety Aspects Of Confining Broiler Chickens To Cages, Sara Shields, Michael Greger

Agribusiness Collection

In most areas of the world, broiler chickens are raised in floor systems, but cage confinement is becoming more common. The welfare of broiler chickens in cages is affected by movement restriction, poor bone strength due to lack of exercise, and prevention of key behavioral patterns such as dustbathing and ground scratching. Cages for broiler chickens also have a long history of causing skin and leg conditions that could further compromise welfare, but a lack of controlled studies makes it difficult to draw conclusions about newer cage designs. Cage environments are usually stocked at a higher density than open floor …

The Correlation Of Qualitative Behavior Assessments With Welfare Quality® Protocol Outcomes In On-Farm Welfare Assessment Of Dairy Cattle, S. N. Andreasen, F. Wemelsfelder, P. Sandøe, B. Forkman

Sentience Collection

The effort to develop methods for assessing animal welfare at farm level has grown dramatically since the end of the 1990s, culminating in the protocols developed by the European-wide project Welfare Quality® (WQ). However, these protocols are time consuming and lack transparency in how scores are aggregated into welfare outcomes. The current study investigates the potential of Qualitative Behavior Assessment (QBA), a much less time-consuming approach, to be used as a stand-alone integrative screening tool for identifying farms with compromised welfare before applying the full WQ protocol. QBA is a ‘whole-animal’ approach asking human observers to summarize animals’ expressive demeanor …

Flooring And Driving Conditions During Road Transport Influence The Behavioural Expression Of Cattle, Catherine A. Stockman, Teresa Collins, Anne L. Barnes, David Miller, Sarah L. Wickham, David T. Beatty, Dominique Blache, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Patricia A. Fleming

Sentience Collection

This study examined whether observers could distinguish between cattle that were exposed to various road transport conditions: Experiment 1 compared a manipulated flooring treatment (non-grip flooring, NG) with a control transport event (grip flooring, G) and Experiment 2 compared a manipulated driving style (stop-start driving, SS) with a control transport event of smooth, continuous (C) driving. The behavioural expression of cattle was assessed through the process of Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA), and these assessments were tested for correlation with various physiological parameters. Fourteen Angus steers were assessed. Blood samples were collected immediately before and after transport, and heart rate and …

A Horrible Hundred 2013: Problem Puppy Mills In The United States, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL INFORMATION

This report is a list of some of the nation’s dog breeding kennels that are of high concern to The HSUS due to repeated problems with animal health or animal care. It is not a list of all puppy mills, nor a list of all problematic facilities. The list does not include other problematic puppy mill dealers, such as brokers and pet stores, unless the operators are also breeding dogs.

Top 10 Global Producers (2012): Chickens & Chicken Meat, Humane Society International

HSI DATA SHEETS

No abstract provided.

Top 10 Global Producers (2012): Pigs & Pig Meat, Humane Society International

HSI DATA SHEETS

No abstract provided.

Top 10 Global Producers (2012): Hen Eggs, Humane Society International

HSI DATA SHEETS

No abstract provided.