Sylvie Cloutier, Ph.D., and Ruth C. Newberry, Ph.D., present playful handling as social enrichment for laboratory rats
When animals are used in research,there is seldom, if ever, a focus on affectionate or playful handling. However, based on what has already been proven about rats and their response to positive caregiver contact, we at the Washington State University Center for the Study for Animal Well-Being set out to explore management and husbandry factors in the laboratory that improve the welfare of the rats being studied and the outcome of the research.
Leaders from the 13 tiger range countries convened in St. Petersburg, Russia at the International Tiger Forum in November to discuss strategies to save the world’s remaining tigers.
The major players perpetuating the big cat trade in the United States are a small network of eccentric individuals who have been profiting off animal suffering for decades.
The Netflix series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness brought unprecedented public attention to the activities of roadside zoos such as Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park (GW Zoo) in Oklahoma. This zoo, formerly owned by “Joe Exotic” and later by Jeff Lowe, has long been a site of deplorable animal cruelty and exploitation.
A tiger removed from a tiny apartment in New York City by first responders after he bit his owner. Lions running down the highway after 38 big cats were released in a residential area of Zanesville, Ohio. A teenager killed in Kansas as she posed with a tiger for senior portraits. There is no shortage of drama and tragedy resulting from the exploitation of big cats in the United States.
Writing a letter to the editor or an opinion column for your local daily or weekly newspaper, magazine, or community website can help introduce important animal welfare issues to a wider audience, including policymakers.
In honor of National Horse Protection Day on March 1, a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers today reintroduced the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act to permanently protect American horses from commercial slaughter. Sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), the SAFE Act would expand the Dog and Cat Meat Prohibition Act—which passed as part of the 2018 Farm Bill—to include equines, prohibiting the commercial slaughter of horses in the United States and ending their export for that purpose abroad.
According to a study published in Nature Climate Change (Schmitz et al., 2023), policies to protect and rebuild densities of global wildlife populations would also combat climate change.
As recently as five years ago, big corporations doing business with dolphinariums (such as soft drink companies, tourism agencies, or airlines) would never have agreed to openly address the controversy surrounding captive cetacean welfare.
In an effort to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, the government of Mexico this weekend proposed a two-year ban on the use of gillnets in the northern Gulf of California. The vaquita is found nowhere else in the world and has been driven to near extinction as a result of drowning in fishing nets. Scientists predict the vaquita, which numbers fewer than 100 individuals, could be extinct by 2018 if drastic and immediate action is not taken.
Stereotypic behaviour is an abnormal behaviour frequently seen in laboratory primates. It is considered an indication of poor psychological well-being in these animals. As it is seen in captive animals but not in wild animals, attention has been focused on the situations in which this behaviour develops. However, the emphasis of research has been on reducing or eliminating established stereotypic behaviour in laboratory primates.
Trade in marine species—to satisfy our demand for pets, potions, food, ornaments and entertainment—can be a lucrative business. It can also be a very damaging one. Humans are removing marine wildlife from the oceans at an unsustainable rate, drastically altering marine ecosystems in the process. At the 2010 Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a record number of highly exploited and commercially valuable marine species were proposed for CITES listing in order to provide much needed restrictions on trade. (None of these proposals were approved, despite overwhelming scientific evidence to justify protection.)
On October 11, the Trader Joe’s grocery chain announced that it would stop sourcing shrimp from Mexico in response to a request from the Boycott Mexican Shrimp campaign, led by AWI, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Center for Biologi
Many primatological scientists, investigators, veterinarians and colony managers are over-afraid of nonhuman primates, and therefore condone that the animals be forcefully restrained during procedures requiring any form of physical human-animal interaction.
In the summer of 2008, due to a family medical emergency, Tom Siesto and Liz Raab left their beloved Rottweiler, Nitro, at the Youngstown, Ohio, kennel of well-regarded trainer, Steve Croley, who was offering a “dog summer camp.”
This study demonstrates that only a minimal time investment was needed to train a large troop of laboratory non-human primates to co-operate in the catching procedure. A group of 45 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) was trained to enter a chute system voluntarily and be caught one by one.
A training technique is described for ensuring the active cooperation of adult male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) during in-homecage venipuncture. Five single-housed and 10 pair-housed males (average age 8 years) were the subjects of the study. On average, 13 training sessions (range 2-26) were necessary to get a male to voluntarily present a leg in a specially designed opening of the door and to display no resistance during venipuncture.
It is now well accepted that acclimation to handling (or gentling) in non-humans primates can have a significant impact on the quality of data measured by reducing variance and increasing the significance level of observed changes. However, relatively few well controlled studies on this topic have been published. The use of "pre-invasive" implantable radio telemetry has revolutionized the collection of physiological data under stress-free conditions.
Many animal care facilities, such as zoos and laboratories, are beginning to view operant conditioning as a valuable management tool (Laule, 1993). Animals can be trained using positive reinforcement, a method which allows the animals to receive rewards for performing desired behaviors.
There is ample published evidence (46 reports) that nonhuman primates do not need to be forcefully restrained during common handling procedures. Twenty-six reports provide detailed information of how primates can be trained to voluntarily cooperate - rather than resist - during blood collection, injection, topical drug application, blood pressure measurement, urine collection, and capture. Such training techniques minimize distress reactions, thereby safeguarding the subjects' welfare and increasing the validity of research data collected.
For macaques and other primates in research laboratories, blood draws can be extremely stressful events. The anxiety and fear, however, may result not so much from any "phobia" involving the needle, but from the restraint often employed to enable the technician to perform the procedure.
The Primate Foundation of Arizona is home to 80 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Our chimpanzee Wellness Program (detailed in Fritz and Howell 1993) was initiated in 1970 and became a formal written Program in 1991.
