WBI Studies Repository (WellBeing International)
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Wildlife Fertility Control: An Alternative to Lethal Management of Wildlife
Get PDFThe first international conference on wildlife fertility control was held in Philadelphia in 1987. Subsequently, approximately one such event has been organized every four years (the 9th conference being held 35 years after the first). In 2017 and 2022, the Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control (Institute) organized the most recent two meetings. The Institute is a new initiative of the Botstiber Foundation in Philadelphia, whose trustees decided to establish a specific program on wildlife fertility control. They founded the Institute in 2016 in partnership with the Humane Society of the United States. While the conference featured the customary talks on wild horse contraception and urban deer, it also included more diverse discussions. For example, topics included pigeon control, contraception attempts of hippopotami in Colombia (escapees from a zoo set up by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar), grey squirrels in the UK, kangaroos in Australia, and baboons in South Africa
Sentience in decapods: an open question
Get PDFCrump et al.’s framework is a powerful tool designed to assist decisions on the ethical treatment of decapod crustaceans. However, the question of whether decapods are sentient (i.e., whether they feel), remains open, perhaps indefinitely. More optimistically, we might design experiments that distinguish among different levels of awareness, sometimes viewed as components of sentience. We should strike a balance between assuming that all organisms are sentient and making unnecessary anatomical assumptions about sentience. Refining current experiments may provide concrete insights about awareness in Decapoda and other taxa
Integrating evolution into the study of animal sentience
Get PDFLike many others, I see Crump et al. (2022) as a milestone for improving upon previous guidelines and for extending their framework to decapod crustaceans. Their proposal would benefit from a firm evolutionary foundation by adding the comparative measurement of life-history complexity as a ninth criterion for attributing sentience to nonhuman animals
New Technology, Better Science, and Fewer Animals
No full textNew technology is helping to replace the use of animals in safety testing, risk evaluation, and even basic biomedical research
Plastics – Challenges for Life Below Water and Life on Land
Get PDFThe Challenge
The plastics revolution launched in the 1950s has led to the cumulative production of 8,300 million tonnes (MT) of plastic products and vast quantities of plastic waste (6,300 MT). According to a Pew Trust report (pg. 25), around 59% of the plastic waste generated in 2016 is “managed” (that is recycled, incinerated, or placed in reasonably well-managed landfills)[1]. The remaining plastic waste can be observed scattered across the globe. Some plastic (an estimated 3-5% annually) leaks into the world’s oceans, where it has become ubiquitous and is now a global environmental focal point. Plastic waste penetrates every marine habitat and is widely consumed by marine animals. Marine mammal and turtle entanglement in plastic debris, mainly discarded or lost fishing gear, has produced iconic images of the dangers of plastic pollution. Meanwhile, the effect of plastic waste on human health is still being debated, but it is clear that humans are consuming microplastics via seafood. Even more worrying, forecasts indicate that new plastic production (and the resulting waste) will double by 2040 if no action is taken
Defending human difference by raising the bar
Get PDFChapman & Huffman (C&H) offer a theory of why we humans want to believe that we are different: to justify our cruelty to animals. This commentary offers further supporting evidence of this and examines more closely what the claim that humans are ‘different’ amounts to. It also considers some methodological issues in animal psychology closely related to C&H ‘s theory. These problems result from a common strategy for defending hypotheses about human difference
Time to stop pretending we don’t know other animals are sentient beings
Get PDFRowan et al.’s target article is an outstanding review of some of the history of the science of sentience, but one would have liked to see a much stronger “call to action.” We don’t need any more data to know that many other animals are sentient beings whose lives must be protected from harm in a wide variety of contexts. It is not anti-science to want more action on behalf of other animals right now
Overcoming inertia to deliver sentience policy commensurate with sentience science
Get PDFRowan et al’s target article makes clear that meaningful change in policy and practice to protect animals has failed to progress in lockstep with scientific understanding of their sentience and needs. The underlying causes for inertia in political and practical progress for animals in the UK context are multi-faceted and complex, including economic forces; lack of cross-departmental accountability for animal welfare; and challenges where it suits conservation scientists to dismiss or downgrade the impacts of management decisions on individual animals. All of these influences and more must be understood and addressed if we are to deliver meaningful and timely protections for sentient animals
Extending the null hypothesis to invertebrate pain sentience
Get PDFIn 1985 Macphail proposed his Null Hypothesis that there were no qualitative differences in intelligence across vertebrate species. A recent review of the literature has found overwhelming support for his view. Studies also suggest that, with respect to cognition and the neural mechanisms that support it, the Null Hypothesis should be extended to invertebrates. We suggest, on the same premise, that the Null Hypothesis should be extended to pain sentience in invertebrates. Although few studies have been conducted, behavioural and neural evidence for pain sentience has been found in various representative invertebrate species
Advocacy & Funding for Farmed Animal Welfare
Get PDFCampaigns focusing on farmed animal welfare are relatively recent events of global animal advocacy, even though the UK animal protection movement is frequently identified as being launched when Richard Martin introduced his Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act in 1822. However, farmed animal advocacy only began following the 1964 publication of Animal Machines, a book by Ruth Harrison. In her book, she describes how farm animals were suffering in new systems of industrialized animal agriculture (dubbed “Factory Farming”) and were mostly viewed as units of production rather than sentient animals. From 1950 to 1990, the movement primarily addressed companion and laboratory animal welfare, even though the Humane Slaughter Act was passed and revised in the US during this period. It should be noted that the first organization to focus specifically on farmed animal welfare was Compassion in World Farming, founded in the UK in 1967, even though campaigning on behalf of farmed animals was not widespread in the animal movement at that time