Other Anthropology Commons^™

An Investigation Of Racing Performance And Whip Use By Jockeys In Thoroughbred Races, David Evans, Paul Mcgreevy

Competitive Animal Racing Collection

Concerns have been expressed concerning animal-welfare issues associated with whip use during Thoroughbred races. However, there have been no studies of relationships between performance and use of whips in Thoroughbred racing. Our aim was to describe whip use and the horses' performance during races, and to investigate associations between whip use and racing performance. Under the Australian Racing Board (ARB) rules, only horses that are in contention can be whipped, so we expected that whippings would be associated with superior performance, and those superior performances would be explained by an effect of whipping on horse velocities in the final 400 …

The Plight Of “Big Black Dogs” In American Animal Shelters: Color-Based Canine Discrimination, Amanda Leonard

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

The paper begins by describing Big Black Dog Syndrome and its effects in shelters across the United States. I then discuss the physical and environmental factors that contribute to BBD Syndrome; Western symbolism associated with the color black, historical examples of black dogs as negative entities in Western culture, and the concept of “unconscious background checking,” which negatively impacts the adoption rates of BBDs. Lastly, I offer some suggestions as to how shelters in the United States can ameliorate the negative effects of BBD Syndrome.

Philosophical Background Of Attitudes Toward And Treatment Of Invertebrates, Jennifer A. Mather

Societal Attitudes Toward Animals Collection

People who interact with or make decisions about invertebrate animals have an attitude toward them, although they may not have consciously worked it out. Three philosophical approaches underlie this attitude. The fi rst is the contractarian, which basically contends that animals are only automata and that we humans need not concern ourselves with their welfare except for our own good, because cruelty and neglect demean us. A second approach is the utilitarian, which focuses on gains versus losses in interactions between animals, including humans. Given the sheer numbers of invertebrates—they constitute 99% of the animals on the planet—this attitude implicitly …

Dairy Farmer Attitudes And Empathy Toward Animals Are Associated With Animal Welfare Indicators, Camilla Kielland, Eystein Skjerve, Olav Østerås, Adroaldo José Zanella

Societal Attitudes Toward Animals Collection

Attitudes and empathy of farmers influence human–animal interaction, thereby affecting their behavior toward animals. The goal was to investigate how measures of attitude and empathy toward animals were associated with animal welfare indicators such as milk yield, mastitis incidence, fertility index, and the prevalence of skin lesions on cows. To assess empathy toward animals, a photo-based pain assessment instrument was developed depicting various conditions that could be associated with some degree of pain in cattle and included questions aimed at assessing attitudes toward animals. Photos of painful conditions are useful in eliciting measurable empathic responses to pain in humans. A …

On-Farm Welfare Assessment For Regulatory Purposes: Issues And Possible Solutions, Jan Tind Sørensen, David Fraser

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

On-farm welfare assessment has been used mainly for non-regulatory purposes such as producer education or to qualify for voluntary welfare-assurance programs. The application of on-farm assessments in regulatory programs would require four issues to be addressed: (1) selecting criteria that are widely accepted as valid by diverse citizens, (2) setting minimum legal levels, (3) achieving the high level of fairness and objectivity required for legally binding requirements, and (4) achieving the cost-efficiency needed for widespread use of the methods. Issues 1 and 2 pose a particular problem because different citizens disagree on what they understand as good animal welfare, with …

Becoming Rabbit: Living With And Knowing Rabbits, Margo Demello

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

Rabbits, like all animals (human and non-human), have rich internal lives, as people who live intimately with rabbits can attest.1 Living with house rabbits—where rabbits live indoors, without a cage or with minimal caging, as part of the human family—is, to me, the best way to gain some understanding of the rabbit psyche. In addition,

living closely with rabbits opens up the possibilities of the humanrabbit relationship—a relationship which, until very recently, was one-sided and based on exploitation. Today, however, with the rise of the house rabbit movement, the subjectivity of rabbits has been exposed, leading to the possibility of …

Discourse And Wolves: Science, Society, And Ethics, William S. Lynn

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

Wolves have a special resonance in many human cultures. To appreciate fully the wide variety of views on wolves, we must attend to the scientific, social, and ethical discourses that frame our understanding of wolves themselves, as well as their relationships with people and the natural world. These discourses are a configuration of ideas, language, actions, and institutions that enable or constrain our individual and collective agency with respect to wolves.

Scientific discourse is frequently privileged when it comes to wolves, on the assumption that the primary knowledge requirements are matters of ecology, cognitive ethology, and allied disciplines. Social discourse …

Assessing Animal Welfare: Different Philosophies, Different Scientific Approaches, David Fraser

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

Attempts to improve animal welfare have commonly centered around three broad objectives: (1) to ensure good physical health and functioning of animals, (2) to minimize unpleasant ‘‘affective states’’ (pain, fear, etc.) and to allow animals normal pleasures, and (3) to allow animals to develop and live in ways that are natural for the species. Each of these objectives has given rise to scientific approaches for assessing animal welfare. An emphasis on health and functioning has led to assessment methods based on rates of disease, injury, mortality, and reproductive success. An emphasis on affective states has led to assessment methods based …

Characteristics Of Six Recent Animal Hoarding Cases In Manitoba, Amanda I. Reinisch

Passive Cruelty to Animals Collection

Six recent cases of animal hoarding in Manitoba were compared to the relevant literature. Cases were similar to previous reports in age and demographics of hoarders. Five cases involved small mammals and 1 case involved horses. Understanding this phenomenon would be enhanced by consistent investigative format and reporting and closer working relationships with public health.

People And Animals, Kindness And Cruelty: Research Directions And Policy Implications, Frank R. Ascione, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Animal Welfare Collection

This article addresses the challenges of defining and assessing animal abuse, the relation between animal abuse and childhood mental health, the extensive research on animal abuse and intimate partner violence, and the implication of these empirical findings for programs to enhance human and animal welfare. Highlighted are recent developments and advances in research and policy issues on animal abuse. The reader is directed to existing reviews of research and areas of focus on the expanding horizon of empirical analyses and programmatic innovations addressing animal abuse. Following a discussion of forensic and veterinary issues related to animal abuse, we discuss policy …

The “Babe” Vegetarians: Bioethics, Animal Minds And Moral Methodology, Nathan Nobis

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

Here I discuss the role the film “Babe” has played in helping people address these challenges and make this moral progress. It is thought that a significant number of young people (mostly girls, now young women) became vegetarians due to their seeing “Babe.” These people are often called “Babe Vegetarians,” influence by what has been called “The Babe Effect.” Many of their stories are found on the internet.

Politics Or Metaphysics? On Attributing Psychological Properties To Animals, Kristin Andrews

Sentience Collection

Following recent arguments that there is no logical problem with attributing mental or agential states to animals, I address the epistemological problem of how to go about making accurate attributions. I suggest that there is a two-part general method for determining whether a psychological property can be accurately attributed to a member of another species: folk expert opinion and functionality. This method is based on well-known assessments used to attribute mental states to humans who are unable to self-ascribe due to an early stage of development or impairment, and can be used to describe social and emotional development as well …

Animal Welfare: Review Of The Scientific Concept And Definition, Corrado Carenzi, Marina Verga

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

The aim of this paper is to present a review of the current scientific viewpoints about the concept and definition of animal welfare. The need of interaction among different disciplines is stressed, as well as the need to scientifically assess welfare, using validated indicators. The role of applied ethology in animal welfare science is stressed.

The paper provides a brief overview of the historical steps in the development of the concept and presents scientific viewpoints, briefly explaining their theoretical foundation.

The possibility of defining welfare on a scientific basis is explained, identifying the main problems according to the scientific, cultural …

Increasing Our Compassion Footprint: The Animals’ Manifesto, Marc Bekoff

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

Our relationships with animals are wide-ranging. When people tell me that they love animals and then harm or kill them I tell them I’m glad they don’t love me. Many individuals, including scientists, ignore their responsibility when they interact with animals and fail to recognize that doing something in the name of science, which usually means in the name of humans, is not an adequate reason for intentionally causing suffering, pain, or death. “Good welfare” usually is not “good enough.” Existing regulations allow animals to be treated in regrettable ways that demean us as a species. Compassion is the key …

Developmental Toxicity Testing: Protecting Future Generations?, Jarrod Bailey

Experimentation Collection

A recent editorial is discussed, which implied that animal-based developmental and reproductive toxicology tests will continue to be crucial, that the thalidomide disaster could have been prevented by more animal testing, and that tests on juvenile animals would help to protect children (as developing adults) from the adverse effects of pharmaceuticals. It is argued that animal tests in these scientific areas do not provide reliable data that are predictive for human responses and, even if they did, the tests are too expensive and time-consuming for application to the very large number of substances that need to be tested. It is …

Understanding The Human Aspects Of Animal Hoarding, Amanda I. Reinisch

Passive Cruelty to Animals Collection

The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium reviewed the case records of 71 incidents from across the United States and Canada to determine what characterizes a typical animal hoarding case (5). Of the cases reviewed, 83% involved women (71% involved individuals, who were widowed, divorced, or single); 53% of the animal hoarding residences were home to other individuals including children (5%), elderly dependents and disabled people (21%). Often essential utilities and major appliances such as showers, heaters, stoves, toilets, and sinks were not functional. Residential home interiors were usually unsanitary, 93%; 70% had fire hazards; and 16% of residences involved in …

On Measuring Progress In Animal Welfare, James A. Serpell

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

Improvements in the welfare of animals arise from two primary sources: Changes in public attitudes and beliefs regarding what constitutes acceptable treatment of animals, and mandatory changes in behavior toward animals imposed by governments and regulatory authorities. During the last 30-40 years, public and political support for improvements in animal welfare has increased dramatically in many countries. Funding from both governmental and non-governmental sources continues to grow, and the relatively new field of animal welfare science has emerged and expanded to support and inform these efforts. Many experts in the field recognize, however, that there is still a distinct gap …

Understanding Animal Welfare, David Fraser

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

In debates about the welfare of animals, different people have tended to emphasize different concerns. Some emphasize the basic health and functioning of animals, especially freedom from disease and injury. Others emphasize the "affective states" of animals – states like pain, distress and pleasure that are experienced as positive or negative. Others emphasize the ability of animals to live reasonably natural lives by carrying out natural behaviour and having natural elements in their environment. These concerns constitute different criteria that people use to assess animal welfare. The criteria overlap substantially but are sufficiently independent that the single- minded pursuit of …

Factors Associated With Success In Guide Dog Training, Lara S. Batt, Marjolyn S. Batt, John A. Baguley, Paul D. Mcgreevy

Service and Support Animals Collection

Tests of motor laterality and behavioral reactivity, as well as salivary cortisol concentrations, were examined in this pilot study to identify dogs best suited to guide dog work. Over a 14-month period, lateralization tests were conducted and cortisol concentrations were determined on 3 separate occasions, and temperament testing was performed on 2. Potential guide dogs (N = 43) involved in this study were 5 golden retrievers (4 males, 1 female) and thirty-eight Labrador retrievers (8 black males, fifteen yellow males, 5 black females, and ten yellow females). Results from these tests were then compared with the ultimate success of the …

Why “Good Welfare” Isn’T “Good Enough”: Minding Animals And Increasing Our Compassionate Footprint, Marc Bekoff

Animal Welfare Collection

In this brief essay I take a broad perspective on the notion of unraveling welfare and consider animals living in different conditions ranging from caged individuals in laboratories and zoos to free-living or almost free-living wildlife. I’ll step outside of the laboratory because billions of animals are slaughtered for food in an industry that tortures them on the way to their reprehensible deaths and at the places at which they are slaughtered. Furthermore, government agencies around the world kill millions of free-living and wild animals because they’re supposedly “pests”. This is a different sort of essay but I hope it …

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.

Animal Welfare Perspectives On Recreational Angling, Steven J. Cooke, Lynne U. Sneddon

Animal Welfare Collection

Fish captured by recreational anglers are often released either voluntarily or because of harvest regulations in a process called ‘‘catch-and-release’’. Catch-and-release angling is thought to be beneficial for the conservation of fish stocks based on the premise that most of the fish that are released survive. However, expanding interest in animal welfare has promoted debate regarding the ethics of catch-and-release angling. There is a growing recognition that fish can consciously experience nociception and that they have some capacity to experience pain and fear. Indeed, empirical anatomical, physiological, and behavioural evidence supports the notion that fish could experience these two forms …

The Question Of Animal Selves: Implications For Sociological Knowledge And Practice, Leslie Irvine

Anthropomorphism and Anthropocentrism Collection

The question of whether sociologists should investigate the subjective experience of non-human others arises regularly in discussions of research on animals. Recent criticism of this research agenda as speculative and therefore unproductive is examined and found wanting. Ample evidence indicates that animals have the capacity to see themselves as objects, which meets sociological criteria for selfhood. Resistance to this possibility highlights the discipline’s entrenched anthropocentrism rather than lack of evidence. Sociological study of the moral status of animals, based on the presence of the self, is warranted because our treatment of animals is connected with numerous “mainstream” sociological issues. As …

The Case Against Dog Breed Discrimination By Homeowners’ Insurance Companies, Larry Cunningham

State of the Animals 2007

Breed discrimination by insurance companies is on the rise in the United States. Insurers are refusing to write homeowners’ policies for people who own breeds that the insurance industry considers to be dangerous. Their decisions are based solely on the breed of the animal, not the individual characteristics of the particular dog. Dog bites are certainly a public health concern. However, the insurance industry’s approach to the problem is based on faulty assumptions and improper use of dog-bite statistics. The insurance industry has prejudged entire breeds of dogs as being “too risky,” instead of taking a more reasonable dog-by-dog approach …

Canada’S Commercial Seal Hunt, Rebecca Aldsworth, Stephen Harris

State of the Animals 2007

Like efforts to end the commercial hunting of whales, the campaign to stop the slaughter of seals in Canada has become a major focus for animal and environment protection groups and governments the world over. For decades the face of the harp seal pup has been a symbol—to many, the symbol—of environment and animal advocacy. But as much as the campaign to save the seals has become an icon for those who would protect wildlife, the campaign to continue the hunt has become a focus for those who would block the progress of the animal protection and environmental movements.

The Role Of Economics In Achieving Welfare Gains For Animals, Jennifer Fearing, Gaverick Matheny

State of the Animals 2007

The demand for animal products and services is a powerful economic force in society, and multibillion-dollar industries are organized around this demand. These industries often face increased costs by improving animal welfare and are quick to use economic arguments against proposed welfare reforms (see sidebar on page 169). These arguments, while often specious, can influence consumers, voters, and policy makers. Citizens are less likely to support animal welfare reforms they’ve been told will double their shopping bill or impoverish family farmers.

Animal welfare advocates cannot respond to these economic arguments with moral rhetoric alone. Instead, non-governmental observers (NGOs) must challenge …

Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: More Flawed Data And More Flawed Conclusions, Lori Marino, Scott O. Lilienfeld

Animal-Assisted Therapy Collection

Dolphin-Assisted Therapy (DAT) is an increasingly popular choice of treatment for illness and developmental disabilities by providing participants with the opportunity to swim or interact with live captive dolphins. Two reviews of DAT (Marino and Lilienfeld [1998] and Humphries [2003]) concluded that there is no credible scientific evidence for the effectiveness of this intervention. In this paper, we offer an update of the methodological status of DAT by reviewing five peer-reviewed DAT studies published in the last eight years. We found that all five studies were methodologically flawed and plagued by several threats to both internal and construct validity. We …

Enforcing Wildlife Protection In China, Peter J. Li

Animal Welfare Collection

Since China enacted the Wildlife Protection Law in 1988, its wildlife has been threatened with the most serious survival crisis. In the prereform era, wildlife was a neglected policy area. Serving the objective of reform, the Wildlife Protection Law upholds the “protection, domestication, and utilization” norm inherited from past policies. It establishes rules for wildlife management and protection. This law provides for penalties against violations. Yet, its ambiguous objectives, limited protection scope, and decentralized responsibilities have made its enforcement difficult. Political factors such as institutional constraints, national obsession with economic growth, shortage of funding, and local protectionism have made the …

Naturalizing Anthropomorphism: Behavioral Prompts To Our Humanizing Of Animals, Alexandra C. Horowitz, Marc Bekoff

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

Anthropomorphism is the use of human characteristics to describe or explain nonhuman animals. In the present paper, we propose a model for a unified study of such anthropomorphizing. We bring together previously disparate accounts of why and how we anthropomorphize and suggest a means to analyze anthropomorphizing behavior itself. We introduce an analysis of bouts of dyadic play between humans and a heavily anthropomorphized animal, the domestic dog. Four distinct patterns of social interaction recur in successful dog–human play: directed responses by one player to the other, indications of intent, mutual behaviors, and contingent activity. These findings serve as a …

Animal Ethics And The Law, Bernard E. Rollin

Animal Law and Legislation Collection

Everyone reading this Article is doubtless aware of the woeful lack of legal protection for farm animals in the United States. Not only do the laws fail to assure even a minimally decent life for the majority of these animals, they do not provide protection against the most egregious treatment. As both a philosopher who has helped articulate new emerging societal ethics for animals, and as one who has successfully developed laws embodying that ethic—notably the 1985 federal laws protecting laboratory animals—I will stress the direction we need to move in the future to enfranchise farm animals. I have seen …