A recent archeological discovery supports the notion that humans have considered dogs part of the family - in life and in death - for a very long time. The respectful manner in which a Husky-like dog was buried 7,000 years ago in Siberia strongly suggests he was valued not just as a useful animal to have around, but as a true member of the clan.
Dr. Clive Wynne, a canine behaviorist and founding director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University in Tempe is the author of Dog Is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You. As both a skeptic and a scientist (one more at ease with emotionless terms such as “exceptional gregariousness” and “hypersociability” than “love”), Wynne questioned whether dogs could have a strong love for people. But he is willing to investigate.
According to the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), at least 647,400 raccoons were killed during the 2018–19 trapping season throughout the United States. (The data do not include statistics from 12 states, however, including Tennessee.) The vast majority were likely captured with conventional leghold traps, which are notoriously cruel—causing severe lacerations, broken bones, tendon and ligament injuries, and digit and limb amputations. Many of the others were likely captured in dog-proof traps, intended primarily to capture raccoons. Trapping raccoons with such devices is particularly cruel given their hypersensitive front paws.
For the first time in a decade, a new captive dolphin attraction has been built in the United States from the ground up, this time in Arizona. Dolphinaris, where customers pay to swim with dolphins, opened its doors on October 15.
On January 17, hundreds of bottlenose dolphins were herded to shore in Taiji, Japan—one of many dolphin drives that take place there during dolphin hunting season, which generally runs from September through March.
Domestic trade in live animals and the products made from them threatens many species with extinction. In a classic pattern, wildlife (and plants) are captured or extracted from their natural environments until they become rare. This rarity adds to their value, and in many cases, such as exotic cage birds, live reptiles, and amphibians, the rarer they become, the more they are sought after, increasing their value.
Donkeys are valued and trusted companions. As working animals, they are essential to many livelihoods. Around the globe, however, donkeys are being killed in unprecedented numbers.
A powerful symbol of the horse slaughter industry—and of the hopes some have of resurrecting it—crumbled in April with the demolition of the former Dallas Crown plant in Kaufman, Texas.
Stefan Austermühle, German biologist and executive director of Peruvian NGO Mundo Azul (Blue World), wrote in the fall 2003 edition of the AWI Quarterly of his organization’s battle against illegal dolphins hunts for human consumption in that country’s waters.
In March, a judge in the US District Court, Western District of New York, dismissed a lawsuit brought by AWI and six other animal advocacy organizations to protect the welfare of nonambulatory disabled (NAD) pigs (also known as “downed” pigs).
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case brought by the meat industry challenging California’s downed animal law (California Penal Code § 599f).
Today, Dr. Jane Goodall, UN Messenger of Peace, joined with many of the world’s leading animal protection and conservation organizations to urge the 88 member countries of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to adopt a new 50-Year Vision to save whales, dolphins, and porpoises from extinction in the face of increasing ocean threats.
With the death of Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick, we lost one of the leading advocates for humane wildlife population control. His research, development, production, and long-term use of immunocontraceptives in the field and in zoos to control reproduction benefited a wide range of animals, from horses on Assateague Island to elephants in South Africa.
Member of the Scientific Committee of the Animal Welfare Institute since 1967, Dr. Marjorie Anchel-Rackow passed away on April 29, a week shy of her 99th birthday.
If Dr. Naomi Rose, who joined AWI’s staff in September as the organization’s marine mammal scientist, ever elects to pen an autobiography, she knows where to go for the “early years” outline. All she has to do is look in the index of the book Death at SeaWorld under “Rose, Naomi.”
Dr. Samuel K Wasser, acknowledged worldwide for developing noninvasive tools for monitoring human impacts on wildlife, was honored today with the Albert Schweitzer Medal. This prestigious award, established in 1951 by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), recognizes outstanding achievement in the advancement of animal welfare.
The end of cruel confinement methods for veal calves in the United States is drawing ever closer. In 2007, the American Veal Association (AVA) pledged to transition away from solitary crates and neck tethers to group housing by the end of 2017.
Try as they might, hard-working wildlife officials cannot be everywhere at once. In remote areas, it is a depressingly familiar scenario for such officials to come upon grisly crime scenes strewn with the bodies of wantonly slaughtered animals. By the time they arrive, the killers have long since fled and the damage has been done.
AWI has been collaborating with Norway’s largest animal welfare group, NOAH, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) to oppose a dangerous experiment on wild minke whales that was to begin in late spring, last several weeks, and continue next year. The plan calls for researchers from the United States and Norway to capture up to 12 whales off Vestvågøy in the Lofoten area of northern Norway in order to study how their brains respond to ocean noise.
In today’s specialized food system, the majority of animals raised for food are transported to different locations based on their “stage of production” such as breeding or fattening. At minimum, animals are transported from the farm to the slaughterhouse, and many will be subjected to the additional stress of a livestock auction.
Born in Alabama, Dr. E. O. Wilson spent his formative years exploring forests and tidal pools, an activity that inspired a lifetime of inquiry and discovery. After completing his studies at the University of Alabama and receiving a PhD from Harvard, Wilson set off on a global expedition to study ants in Cuba, Mexico, New Guinea, and the islands of the South Pacific. His travels led him back to Harvard, where he served as an esteemed professor for 46 years, studying insects, natural selection, biological diversity, and animal behavior. Later in life, Wilson became a fierce advocate for the protection of wild places and endangered wildlife.
