Animal Studies Commons^™

Scientists And Animal Research: Dr. Jekyll Or Mr. Hyde?, Andrew N. Rowan

Experimentation Collection

Why is the public so sensitive about the use of a few tens of millions of animals in research when they do not object to killing hundreds of millions of pigs and cows and billions of chickens for our meat diet? Why is animal research considered so bad despite the public's high opinion of science (and scientists)? Perhaps it is the image of the scientist as an objective and cold individual who deliberately inflicts harm (pain, distress, or death) on his (the public image is usually male) innocent animal victims that arouses so much horror and concern. This paper does …

Evaluation Of Animal Welfare By The Self-Expression Of An Anxiety State, M. P. Carey, J. P. Fry

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

Although mental well-being has long been accepted as an important aspect of animal welfare, the subjective feelings of farm or laboratory animals are regarded as lying beyond the scope of scientific enquiry. We now report that pharmacological conditioning of pigs with a drug, pentylenetetrazole, known to induce anxiety in man, permits investigation of the presence or absence of this psychological state during exposure to a variety of environmental stimuli encountered during normal husbandry. Such pharmacological conditioning therefore provides a valuable means to assess and improve elements of animal welfare and should be applicable to other species that show operant behaviour.

Chimpanzees In Laboratories: Distribution And Types Of Research, Martin L. Stephens

Laboratory Experiments Collection

This review presents the results of an informal 1993 survey of the distribution of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in the world's laboratories, and the types of research conducted on them. Based on the available information, there are over 2200 chimpanzees in.laboratories, most of which are located in several US facilities. Europe apparently has less than 200 chimpanzees housed in two facilities. Worldwide, an estimated 80% of the chimpanzees in laboratories are used in studies on AIDS and hepatitis. It is concluded that, if Europe terminated its use of chimpanzees in research, for either financial, moral or political reasons, the impact on …

Conflict And Cooperation: Sociobiological Principles And The Behaviour Of Pigs, David Fraser, D. L. Kramer, E. A. Pajor, D. M. Weary

Sociobiology Collection

The pig provides many examples of how principles of behavioural ecology and sociobiology can lead to insights into farm animal behaviour. According to parent-offspring conflict theory, parents should tend to give a level of parental investment somewhat below that solicited by the young. When closely confined during lactation, sows can do little to limit the amount of contact with the piglets, and the young stimulate a prolonged, high level of lactation. Certain alternative housing systems allow the sow to limit the stimulation she receives, and the resulting reduction in lactation can actually be advantageous to both parties. Communal care of …

Selective Tooth Clipping In The Management Of Low-Birth-Weight Piglets, S. Robert, B. K. Thompson, David Fraser

Farm Animal Husbandry Collection

A study was designed to test the potential benefits of selective tooth clipping (the practice of leaving the eye teeth intact in the smallest piglets of a litter to make them more competitive) under commercial conditions. A total of 346 litters were assigned to either the control treatment where all piglets had their teeth clipped, or the experimental treatment where one or more piglets of low birth weight had their teeth left intact. Piglets were weighed within 24 h of birth and at 7, 21 and 56 d. In litters of 12-14 animals, but not in smaller litters, the lower-birth-weight …

Animal Activist Urges Vets To Be Activists Too, Henry Spira

Commentaries and Editorials

No abstract provided.

Big Game, Big Bucks: The Alarming Growth Of The American Trophy Hunting Industry, Teresa Telecky, Doris Lin

Big-Game and Trophy Hunting Collection

The trophy hunting of exotic animals by American big game hunters is increasing at an alarming rate. Over 45,000 foreign animals were killed and imported to the U.S. by American trophy hunters in 1993, a 71% increase in only a four-year period. Among the imported trophies are thousands of threatened and endangered species, as well as species listed under CITES. The number of endangered and threatened species killed and imported by American trophy hunters increased by 83% in the same period. Three factors have contributed to the rising numbers of animals killed and imported by American trophy hunters: 1) The …

Mirror Use By African Grey Parrots (Psittacus Erithacus), Irene M. Pepperberg, Sean E. Garcia, Eric C. Jackson, Sharon Marconi

Sentience Collection

No abstract provided.

Get The Facts On Cats

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

The New Ethic For Animals And The Dairy Industry, Bernard Rollin

Morality and Ethics of Industrial Farming Collection

There is an unfortunate tendency on the part of those who use animals to dismiss the new social concern with animal treatment as the irrational ravings of tofu-eating, ginseng-guzzling, urban wimps and bunny-hugging extremists.“Animal welfare is what we already do; animal rights if what they want us to do,” one animal scientist said, neatly summarizing the situation. However, what is of paramount importance is that “they” are not just a band of radicals; the new ethic for animals has taken root among society in general. As one cowboy in Kingsville, Texas put it to me:“Hell, Doc, if it were just …

Indicating Acts During Counting By A Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes), Sarah T. Boysen, Gary G. Berntson, Traci A. Shreyer, Michelle B. Hannan

Sentience Collection

A chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) experienced in counting arrays of 0-7 items and trained for comprehension of number symbols, spontaneously displayed a variety of indicating acts (e.g., pointing, touching, and rearranging items) during counting. Twenty-five sessions were videotaped, and all trials were evaluated for the relations among number of items presented, number of indicating acts displayed, and the Arabic number selected to represent the array. Significant correlations included the relations between number of items and the cardinal number selected by the animal, between the number of items and indicating acts displayed by the chimpanzee, and between the number of indicating acts …

Wildlife Wins At The Polls

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

The Animal Research Controversy: Protest, Process & Public Policy, Andrew N. Rowan, Franklin M. Loew, Joan C. Weer

Experimentation Collection

The controversy today regarding the use of animals in research appears on the surface to be a strongly polarized struggle between the scientific community and the animal protection movement. However, there is a wide range of opinions and philosophies on both sides. Mistrust between the factions has blossomed while communication has withered. Through the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, the animal movement grew in numbers and financial resources, and developed much greater public recognition and political clout. The research community paid relatively little attention to the animal movement for much of this period but, alarmed by several public relations coups …

How The Rat Turned White, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Experimentation Collection

This is the first in a three-part series on the use of animals in psychological research. In it, I describe how animals got into laboratories in the first place, and their purpose and life there. In the second, I will describe animal model research, the strategy whereby psychologists' develop nonhuman animal models to study human psychopathology. In the concluding piece, I will present a critique of this enterprise, using original data I gathered. The three articles are based on a forthcoming book, Animal Models of Human Psychology: Science, Ethics, and Policy.

Science, Values And Animal Welfare: Exploring The ‘Inextricable Connection’, D. Fraser

Animal Welfare Collection

In conceptualizing animal welfare, it is useful to distinguish among three types of concepts. 'Type l' are single, measurable attributes. 'Type 2' are single attributes that cannot be measured directly but can be estimated by correctly combining various contributing attributes. 'Type 3' are concepts involving multiple attributes which are grouped together because they serve some common function, and whose relative importance cannot be established in an entirely objective way. Individuals who treat animal welfare as a type 1 concept may propose single, objective measures of welfare, such as longevity or levels of stress-related hormones; however, this approach rests on judgements, …

Comprehension Of Cause-Effect Relations In A Tool-Using Task By Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Luca Limongelli, Sarah T. Boysen, Elisabetta Visalberghi

Sentience Collection

Five chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were tested to assess their understanding of causality in a tool task. The task consisted of a transparent tube with a trap-hole drilled in its middle. A reward was randomly placed on either side of the hole. Depending on which side the chimpanzee inserted the stick into, the candy was either pushed out of the tube or into the trap. In Experiment 1, the success rate of 2 chimpanzees rose highly above chance, but that of the other subjects did not. Results show that the 2 successful chimpanzees selected the correct side for insertion beforehand. Experiment …

Responses To Quantity: Perceptual Versus Cognitive Mechanisms In Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Sarah T. Boysen, Gary G. Berntson

Sentience Collection

Two chimpanzees were trained to select among 2 different amounts of candy (1-6 items). The task was designed so that selection of either array by the active (selector) chimpanzee resulted in that array being given to the passive (observer) animal, with the remaining (nonselected) array going to the selector. Neither animal was able to select consistently the smaller array, which would reap the larger reward. Rather, both animals preferentially selected the larger array, thereby receiving the smaller number of reinforcers. When Arabic numerals were substituted for the food arrays, however, the selector animal evidenced more optimal performance, immediately selecting the …

Play Signals As Punctuation: The Structure Of Social Play In Canids, Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Actions called play signals have evolved in many species in which social play has been observed. Despite there being only few empirical demonstrations, it generally is accepted that play signals are important in the initiation ("I want to play") and maintenance ("I still want to play") of ongoing social play. In this study I consider whether a specific and highly stereotyped signal, the bow, is used to maintain social play in adult and infant domestic dogs, infant wolves, and infant coyotes.

To answer this question the temporal placement of bows relative to actions that are also used in other contexts …

Vigilance, Flock Size, And Flock Geometry: Information Gathering By Western Evening Grosbeaks (Aves, Fringillidae), Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Vigilance (scanning) and other behavior patterns were studied in free-ranging Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) at feeders to assess how flock size and flock geometry influenced the behavior of individual birds. The present results indicate that the way in which individual grosbeaks are positioned with respect to one another effects many aspects of their behavior, especially when a flock contains four or more birds. Birds in a linear array who have difficulty seeing one another, when compared to individuals organized in a circle who can easily see one another, are (1) more vigilant, (2) change their head and body positions more …

Calling By Domestic Piglets: Reliable Signals Of Need?, Daniel M. Weary, David Fraser

Communication Skills Collection

Two manipulations were performed on domestic piglets to determine whether differences in calling during periods of separation from the mother can indicate differences in need. In both cases, the aim was to manipulate the piglet's need for the sow's attention. In the first manipulation a 'thriving' piglet (i.e. the piglet with the heaviest weight and most rapid weight gain) and a 'non-thriving' one (lightest and slowest weight gain) were selected from each of 15 litters. The two piglets were removed from the sow and litter and recorded for 13 min in separate isolated enclosures. For the second manipulation, two piglets …

Take An Activist To Breakfast?, Henry Spira

Commentaries and Editorials

No abstract provided.

Making A Difference: Part One: An Interview With Henry Spira, Joan Zacharias

Interviews

Henry Spira is Coordinator of Animal Rights International. An activist for more than 50 years, he has fought for union democracy in the maritime industry, marched for civil rights and won major battles to reduce animal suffering. He was instrumental in persuading Revlon to stop testing cosmetics on animals and has convinced major companies like Procter & Gamble to invest millions in research for alternatives to animal testing. In recent years he has focused on the plight of seven billion farm animals, including a successful campaign to get the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to end its policy of face-branding …

Henry Spira: A Fighter Who Makes Things Happen For Animals, Robert Davey

Interviews

No abstract provided.

Making A Difference: Part Two: An Interview With Henry Spira, Joan Zacharias

Interviews

Henry Spira, Coordinator of Animal Rights International, is considered by many to be one of the most effective animal activists around. “Through his work,” remarked Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation, “millions of animals have escaped acute pain and suffering ...” In Part One (Satya 2:1), Spira discussed his evolution to animal advocacy and his ongoing campaign on behalf of farm animals. In Part Two, the focus is on Spira's strategy; developed over a half century of struggle in the trade union, civil rights and animal rights movements.

Do Animal Protection Laws Dupe The Public?, Henry Spira

Farm Animal Campaign

As outlined by Wolfson, laws give the perception of protecting farm animals but, in reality, provide little or no protection. Federal law fails to provide any protection to farm animals on the farm. Moreover, while many state cruelty laws still cover farm animals in theory, they are rarely if ever applied. And most disconcerting is the trend of farm animals being increasingly excluded from the reach of state cruelty laws.

Animal Well-Being In Zoos, Conservation Centers And In-Situ Conservation Programs, John Lukas

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

Well-being, as defined in reference to one's welfare, is the condition of happiness, prosperity and good health. In dealing with an animal's well-being, there are two frames of reference to consider. First, biological well-being which encompasses the spacial, social, nutritional, behavioral and reproductive needs of a species. Secondly, cultural well-being of animals concentrating on their perception of happiness, cleanliness, safety and the way the animals are treated by the people who care for them.

In this paper, we are not addressing freedom as a condition of well-being, only happiness, prosperity and good health. Free-ranging wild animals are not free but …

Preserving Individuals Versus Conserving Populations: Is There A Conflict?, Donald G. Lindburg

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

Summarized briefly, animal liberation/animal rights' valuation of the individual about its zoological taxon or associates in a community is an extension of ethical theory to animals, using the criterion of sentience rather than rationality for ascribing to the individual the right to an existence free of human-imposed pain and suffering. Humans are not entitled to inflict pain of any purpose, according to this view, including the utilization of animals for food or clothing, for scientific and medical experimentation, for recreation, or even for the animals' own survival as a zoological entity. Insofar as the have written on the subject, the …

Wild / Captive And Other Suspect Dualisms, Dale Jamieson

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

Dualisms have had a hard time in recent years. Philosophers used to think that facts and values were distinct, and that philosophy and science were radically different enterprises. While scientists employed empirical methods to discover the way the world happens to be, the job of philosophers was to use conceptual analysis to reveal how the world necessarily is. In the wake of the revolution unleashed by Quine in the early 1950s, philosophers either had to learn some science, find another job, or fight an irredentist action on behalf of conceptual analysis that is mainly of interest only to a few …

The Wild And The Tame, Juliet Clutton-Brock

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

The Western belief that the world is divided into the "human" and the "natural" stems from the philosophy, first propounded by the ancient Greeks, notably Aristotle, that all living organisms could be placed in a Scale of Nature or Great Chain of Being with "primeval slime" at its base and "Man" at its summit. This belief, which is imbued in Christianity and in all aspects of western civilization, has led to a great divide with "the wild" on one side and "the tame", that is all the animals and plants that are exploited by human, on the other.

Animal Well-Being In The Wild And In Captivity, Stephen Bostock

Zoo and Aquarium Animal Populations Collection

I want to compare wild and captivity. This isn't a straight comparison of good with bad. Animals do suffer in the wild, and they are protected in good captivity. I will fill out the details of this in the following sections, before discussing how captivity can be more benign, whether or not it can ever strictly be regarded as better than life in the wild.