Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Industrialized Animal Agriculture On Rural Communities

Agribusiness Reports

Industrialized animal agriculture production practices and systems not only jeopardize the welfare of farm animals and the environment, but also negatively impact public health, independent family farmers, and quality of life in rural communities. The tolls exacted on rural communities necessitate dramatic and immediate changes in animal agriculture.

The Impact Of Animal Agriculture On Global Warming And Climate Change

Agribusiness Reports

The farm animal production sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, contributing to soil degradation, dwindling water supplies, and air pollution. The breadth of this sector‘s impacts has been largely underappreciated. Meat, egg, and milk production are not narrowly focused on the rearing and slaughtering of farm animals. The animal agriculture sector also encompasses feed grain production which requires substantial water, energy, and chemical inputs, as well as energy expenditures to transport feed, live animals, and animal products. All of this comes at a substantial cost to the environment.

One of animal agriculture‘s greatest environmental impacts is its …

The Impact Of Industrialized Animal Agriculture On The Environment

Agribusiness Reports

The continuous confinement of chickens, pigs, turkeys, cattle, and other animals raised in industrialized agricultural systems jeopardizes the animals’ welfare and degrades the environment. Factory farms produce immense quantities of animal waste and byproducts, which threaten water and air quality and contribute to climate change.

Human Health Implications Of Non-Therapeutic Antibiotic Use In Animal Agriculture

Agribusiness Reports

For decades, the U.S. meat industry has fed medically important antibiotics to chickens, pigs, and cattle to accelerate their weight gain and prevent disease in the stressful and unhygienic conditions that typify industrialized animal agriculture production facilities. A strong scientific consensus exists, asserting that this practice fosters antibiotic resistance in bacteria to the detriment of human health. In response to this public health threat, the European Union has banned the non-therapeutic feeding of a number of antibiotics of human importance to farm animals. Given these serious concerns as well as recent data that suggest an overall lack of financial benefit, …

Factory Farming In America

Agribusiness Reports

The True Cost of Animal Agribusiness for Rural Communities, Public Health, Families, Farmers, the Environment, and Animals

Food Safety Concerns With The Slaughter Of Downed Cattle

Agribusiness Reports

Nonambulatory cattle may be at higher risk of harboring foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and, very rarely, the infectious agent that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy, colloquially known as “mad cow disease.” The exclusion of nonambulatory cattle from slaughter for human consumption may strengthen the safety of the food supply and is a prudent measure already in place throughout the European Union.

Human Health Implications Of Live Hang Of Chickens And Turkeys On Slaughterhouse Workers

Agribusiness Reports

Nonambulatory cattle may be at higher risk of harboring foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and, very rarely, the infectious agent that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy, colloquially known as “mad cow disease.” The exclusion of nonambulatory cattle from slaughter for human consumption may strengthen the safety of the food supply and is a prudent measure already in place throughout the European Union.

Animal Care

HSUS Annual Reports 2005-18

No abstract provided.

Legislation & Litigation

HSUS Annual Reports 2005-18

No abstract provided.

Education, Engagement, & Outreach

HSUS Annual Reports 2005-18

No abstract provided.

The Hsus By The Numbers

HSUS Annual Reports 2005-18

No abstract provided.

Animal Cruelty

HSUS Annual Reports 2005-18

No abstract provided.

Companion Animals

HSUS Annual Reports 2005-18

No abstract provided.

Financial Operations Report

HSUS Annual Reports 2005-18

No abstract provided.

Humane Society International

HSUS Annual Reports 2005-18

No abstract provided.

What Is A Humane Wildlife Control Service?, John Griffin, Lori Thiele, Pamela Lough, Janet Snyder, Maggie Brasted, John Hadidian

Wildlife Population Management Collection

In May 2007, The Humane Society of the United States launched a for-fee business called Humane Wildlife Servicessm to engage in wildlife control jobs in the Washington, D.C. metro area. We had several purposes in launching this service. First, we felt it necessary to offer a service to customers in our home base area that allowed them to choose a wildlife removal company that did not trap and relocate, or trap and kill, animals. Second, we wished to directly experience and test the operational and conceptual challenges associated with this sort of service. Third, we wished to develop a model …

Farm Animals

HSUS Annual Reports 2005-18

No abstract provided.

The Long Haul: Risks Associated With Livestock Transport, Michael Greger

Agribusiness Collection

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations describes live animal transport as “ideally suited for spreading disease,” given that animals may originate from different herds or flocks and are “confined together for long periods in a poorly ventilated stressful environment.” Given the associated “serious animal and public health problems,” the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe has called for the replacement of the long-distance transportation of live animals for slaughter as much as possible to a “carcass-only trade.”

In the United States, more than 50 million live cattle, sheep, and pigs and an unknown number of the more …

Neuroanatomy Of The Subadult And Fetal Brain Of The Atlantic White-Sided Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus Acutus) From In Situ Magnetic Resonance Images, Eric W. Montie, Gerald E. Schneider, Darlene R. Ketten, Lori Marino, Katie E. Touhey, Mark E. Hahn

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

This article provides the first anatomically labeled, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) -based atlas of the subadult and fetal Atlantic white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus) brain. It differs from previous MRI-based atlases of cetaceans in that it was created from images of fresh, postmortem brains in situ rather than extracted, formalin-fixed brains. The in situ images displayed the classic hallmarks of odontocete brains: fore-shortened orbital lobes and pronounced temporal width. Olfactory structures were absent and auditory regions (e.g., temporal lobes and inferior colliculi) were enlarged. In the subadult and fetal postmortem MRI scans, the hippocampus was identifiable, despite the relatively small size …

Systematic Reviews Of Animal Experiments Demonstrate Poor Human Clinical And Toxicological Utility, Andrew Knight

Experimentation Collection

The assumption that animal models are reasonably predictive of human outcomes provides the basis for their widespread use in toxicity testing and in biomedical research aimed at developing cures for human diseases. To investigate the validity of this assumption, the comprehensive Scopus biomedical bibliographic databases were searched for published systematic reviews of the human clinical or toxicological utility of animal experiments. In 20 reviews in which clinical utility was examined, the authors concluded that animal models were either significantly useful in contributing to the development of clinical interventions, or were substantially consistent with clinical outcomes, in only two cases, one …

Heritable And Experiential Effects On Boldness In A Tropical Poeciliid, Culum Brown, Fiona Burgess, Victoria Braithwaite

Sentience Collection

Consistent differences in human behaviour are often explained with reference to personality traits. Recent evidence suggests that similar traits are widespread across the entire animal kingdom and that they may have substantial fitness consequences. One of the major components of personality is the shyness–boldness continuum. Little is known about the relative contributions of genes and the environment in the development of boldness in wild animal populations. Here, we bred wild-caught fish (Brachyraphis episcopi) collected from regions of highand low-predation pressure, reared their offspring in the laboratory under varying conditions and tested boldness utilising an open-field paradigm. First-generation laboratory-reared fish showed …

Correlation Between Boldness And Body Mass In Natural Populations Of The Poeciliid Brachyrhaphis Episcopi, C. Brown, F. Jones, V. Braithwaite

Sentience Collection

The boldness of individual Brachyrhaphis episcopi, collected from regions of high and low predation, was investigated using two independent assays: (1) the time to emerge from cover and (2) the propensity to leave shoal mates and investigate a novel object. A strong correlation between the two assays was revealed such that fish that emerged from shelter sooner were also more likely to approach a novel object. This is indicative of a boldness personality axis acting across both behavioural contexts. Fish from high-predation areas were bolder than those from low-predation areas and males were bolder than females. A significant correlation between …

Farmers' Relationship With Different Animals: The Importance Of Getting Close To The Animals. Case Studies Of French, Swedish And Dutch Cattle, Pig And Poultry Farmers, B. B. Bock, M. M. Van Huik, M. Prutzer, F. Kling Eveillard, A. Dockes

Human-Animal Relationships Collection

No abstract provided.

Distribution And Habitats Of Mosquito Larvae In The Kingdom Of Tonga, Jon S. Harding, Culum Brown, Felicity Jones, Russell Taylor

Ecology Collection

Mosquitoes are a significant pest and human health issue in the Kingdom of Tonga. The occurrence of species and habitats used by mosquito larvae were investigated to determine the potential for control through larval habitat management. Forty-two sites, including 22 villages and 20 farm plantations on the six islands of Tongatapu, Pangaimotu, Vava’u, Pangaimotu (Vava’u group), ‘Utungake and Nuku, were surveyed in April 2006. A total of eight mosquito species were collected: Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus), Ae. horrescens (Edwards), Ae. nocturnus (Theobold), Ae. tongae (Edwards), Culex albinervis (Edwards), Cx. annulirostris (Skuse), Cx. quinquefasciatus (Say) and Cx. sitiens (Wiedemann). Several species were …

Considerations For Determining Optimal Mouse Caging Density, Charmaine Foltz, Larry Carbone, David Delong, Bernard E. Rollin, Pascalle Van Loo, Julia Whitaker, Axel Wolff

Laboratory Research and Animal Welfare Collection

At the 2006 National Meeting of the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science, a panel discussed the question of what constitutes optimal or acceptable housing density for mice. Though there is a consensus that present guidelines are somewhat arbitrarily defined, scientific research has not yet been able to provide clear recommendations for amending them. Speakers explored the many factors that influence decisions on mouse housing, including regulatory requirements, scientific data and their interpretation, financial considerations and ethical concerns. The panel largely agreed that animal well-being should be the measure of interest in evaluating housing density and that well-being includes not …

Wcro Fall 2007

West Coast Regional Office

• Preparation pays dividends in huge Tahoe fire
• Animal Fighting: wins and challenges
• Oregon makes history, bans gestation crates
• Animal Agribusiness: uncaging the victims of family farming
• Top fashion designers, retailers snared
• CA campaign to protect farm animals
• Washington campaign a possibility
• Recent legislative victories
• Online debut of "A Humane Nation"
• Last roundup for U.S. horse slaughterers
• Miracle horses survive kill floor
• Standing tall against cruelty: WCRO's Eric Sakach

The Development Of New Concepts For Assessing Reproductive Toxicity Applicable To Large Scale Toxicological Programmes, S. Bremer, C. Pellizzer, S. Hoffmann, T. Seidle, T. Hartung

Experimentation Collection

Large scale toxicological testing programmes which are currently ongoing such as the new European chemical legislation REACH require the development of new integrated testing strategies rather than applying traditional testing schemes to thousands of chemicals. The current practice of requiring in vivo testing for every possible adverse effect endanger the success of these programmes due (i) to limited testing facilities and sufficient capacity of scientific/technical knowledge for reproductive toxicity; (ii) an unacceptable number of laboratory animals involved (iii) an intolerable number of chemicals classified as false positive.

A key aspect of the implementation of new testing strategies is the determination …

Animal Mind: Science, Philosophy, And Ethics, Bernard E. Rollin

Sentience Collection

Although 20th-century empiricists were agnostic about animal mind and consciousness, this was not the case for their historical ancestors – John Locke, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and, of course, Charles Darwin and George John Romanes. Given the dominance of the Darwinian paradigm of evolutionary continuity, one would not expect belief in animal mind to disappear. That it did demonstrates that standard accounts of how scientific hypotheses are overturned – i.e., by empirical disconfirmation or by exposure of logical flaws – is inadequate. In fact, it can be demonstrated that belief in animal mind disappeared as a result …

Animal Minds, Cognitive Ethology, And Ethics, Colin Allen, Marc Bekoff

Sentience Collection

Our goal in this paper is to provide enough of an account of the origins of cognitive ethology and the controversy surrounding it to help ethicists to gauge for themselves how to balance skepticism and credulity about animal minds when communicating with scientists. We believe that ethicists’ arguments would benefit from better understanding of the historical roots of ongoing controversies. It is not appropriate to treat some widely reported results in animal cognition as if their interpretations are a matter of scientific consensus. It is especially important to understand why loose references to ‘‘cognitive ethology’’ by philosophers can signal ignorance …

Nociception In Fish: Stimulus–Response Properties Of Receptors On The Head Of Trout Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Paul J. Ashley, Lynne U. Sneddon, Catherine R. Mccrohan

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

This study examined stimulus–response properties of somatosensory receptors on the head of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, using extracellular recording from single cells in the trigeminal ganglion. Of 121 receptors recorded from 39 fish, 17 were polymodal nociceptors, 22 were mechanothermal nociceptors, 18 were mechanochemical receptors, 33 were fast adapting mechanical receptors and 31 were slowly adapting mechanical receptors. Mechanical thresholds were higher in polymodal nociceptors than in either slowly adapting or fast adapting mechanical receptors, whereas thermal thresholds of mechanothermal nociceptors were higher than those of polymodal nociceptors. Polymodal nociceptors and mechanochemical receptors gave similar responses to topical applications of …