This paper will attempt to show the marked improvement in behaviour of a small group of female cynomolgus monkeys, after a period of routine training and human interaction.
Each year, using taxpayer dollars and very cruel methods, the USDA’s Wildlife Services program kills anywhere from 1.5 million to more than 5 million animals. What is especially frightening about the program is its lack of transparency; many members of the public have no idea that Wildlife Services even exists—or that it kills so many wild animals in an effort largely to protect private interests.
With meat recalls due to bacterial contamination and the horrific handling and slaughtering of downer cows making headlines in recent months, consumers are increasingly aware of some of the problems occurring behind slaughterhouse doors.
An important but underacknowledged barrier to reducing and replacing the use of animals in research and testing is that few researchers are trained in how to use non-animal methodologies.
The provisioning of foraging opportunities to Primates has been shown to be an effective means of enriching the laboratory environment. In this study artificial turf was used as the substrate for a particulate food given to the subjects as an environmental enrichment technique.
The well-being of captive nonhuman primates is fostered by living in complex environments and by having a certain degree of control over it. There are many different techniques that can be used to achieve this goal.
So far, nine schools in California and Maine have agreed to end animal dissections in response to a challenge issued by AWI, Save the Frogs! and Digital Frog International.
In the Wizard of Oz there is a scene in which Dorothy is in her house as it swirls in the tornado. She stands before her window and a cast of characters, friends and foes, whiz by outside the window as she begins a bizarre adventure. Siebert’s newest book The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward a New Understanding of Animals reminds me of this scene.
This thought-provoking documentary by Tom Weston takes viewers to the beautiful island of Bequia, one of several islands making up the country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in the southeastern Caribbean. There has been humpback whaling on Bequia dating back to 1875, when it was principally a commercial activity linked to the Yankee whalers of New England.
Performing noninvasive studies of wild animals can be tricky. The task becomes even more challenging when the subject of the study mainly lives in the canopy of the rainforest—nearly 100 feet above ground. The Woolly Monkey Mysteries takes readers on a journey to Manu National Park in the Amazon Basin, where camera traps are installed to learn more about an elusive species: the woolly monkey.
The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs, by Dr. Richard Smith, is a fascinating description of the aquatic life in coral environments. Smith’s engaging narratives concerning a multitude of species are only surpassed by his amazing photos.
Anticoagulent rodenticides (ARs) are used to control rodent populations in urban and suburban areas. These toxins kill target species by interfering with an animal’s blood-clotting system, causing the animal to bleed to death.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is a wildlife haven located in northern Alaska that encompasses one of the world’s last remaining intact arctic tundra landscapes.
A formal diplomatic protest, known as a démarche, was today delivered to the Icelandic government in Reykjavik. The top-level protest registered countries’ “strong opposition” to Iceland’s continued whaling, particularly of endangered fin whales.
The life and career of Dr. Thomas Lovejoy—who coined the term “biological diversity”—was dedicated to the protection of the planet. After Lovejoy obtained a bachelor’s degree and PhD from Yale, an interest in birds led him to the Amazon, a fateful decision. For over 40 years, he would study the adverse impact of deforestation and habitat fragmentation on rainforest ecology and biodiversity.
Carol Brown and her husband Don own a small Thoroughbred farm in Kentucky. Her horses may never earn a garland of roses at Churchill Downs, but she’d hoped, at least, to give them a rosy future and a green pasture retirement when she sent several of them this past January to a nearby riding camp for kids.
State wildlife officials in California declined to call off a coyote-hunting contest in Modoc County this weekend but, in response to public outcry, agreed to take steps to clarify the scope of the hunt and protect OR-7, the first wild wolf in California in nearly nine decades. The precautionary steps were recommended by a coalition of conservation groups representing more than a million Californians, including the Animal Welfare Institute, Project Coyote and the Center for Biological Diversity.
More than 8,800 people have joined a popular campaign on Change.org calling on the city council of Calabasas, California, to adopt a coyote management plan that favors coexistence instead of killing.
Approval is being rescinded for three of four arsenic-based drugs that had been used in animal feed. Of the 101 drug products derived from these four drugs, 98 will have their approval withdrawn by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Scientists recently shared a small bit of positive news that the remaining number of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales (NARW) may be slightly higher than previously believed.
While it has been necessary to fend off numerous attacks on animal welfare in state legislatures this year (See Spring 2011 AWI Quarterly), there have also been positive developments benefitting animals.
