Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy
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Animal Sentience: Moving Forward
No full textSpain has just passed a law declaring animals to be sentient, while the UK bill on animal sentience now includes invertebrate cephalopods and decapod crustaceans
Living with Urban Foxes
No full textThe red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the most widely distributed wild carnivore on the planet, with a natural range that spans the entire Northern Hemisphere. Below the equator, foxes have been introduced to the Falkland Islands and Australia, where they cause widespread damage to domestic livestock and native fauna. Fox predation is a common cause of fox-human conflict throughout their range, leading to a complex relationship with humanity. This relationship varies where the fox is alternatively regarded as verminous, if not demonic, but is also an object of affection and regard — a typically bipolar human-animal relationship.[i
Animal sentience research: Synthesis and proposals
No full textMost commentaries on our target article broadly support our approach to evaluating evidence of animal sentience. In this Response, we clarify the framework’s purpose and address criticisms of our criteria. A recurring theme is that a framework to synthesise current evidence of sentience is not the same as an agenda for future directions in animal sentience research. Although future directions are valuable, our framework aims to evaluate existing evidence and inform animal welfare legislation
Protecting the Oceans: Tristan Case Study
No full textLate in 2021, the Tristan da Cunha Council (the body that manages the affairs of the permanent residents) approved a measure that established a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the waters around the group of four islands constituting the Tristan archipelago (Tristan, Nightingale, Inaccessible and Gough).
The Tristan MPA is the latest in several large MPAs that have been established since 2006, totaling around 16 million square kilometers. The Pew Trusts and the National Geographic Society have been among the prominent organizations pressing successfully to establish these MPAs. The Tristan da Cunha MPA is now part of the UK’s “Blue Belt” initiative, encompassing over 4 million square kilometers of ocean.
The primary rationale behind establishing an MPA is the restoration of marine ecosystems and sustainable fisheries
Humane Management of Global Dogs
No full textIn 2000, international animal protection organizations were spending around 400 million globally on animal protection, with approximately 5 billion a year on animal protection in the USA, with perhaps 10 million annually on dog projects. In the Far East, the number of animal groups in China, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, and the Philippines has increased substantially in the past twenty years. Municipalities and states (e.g., Uttarakhand and Sikkim in India) also have devoted funds to humane dog management. While nobody knows how much is spent on dog well-being and sterilization worldwide, dog protection has accelerated substantially this century
Dog Behavior and Aggression
No full textAn extensive study of the genetics of dog behavior (including individual dog personality) and appearance (physical traits) has just appeared in the major academic research publication, Science. The research team reviewed the behavior and genes of 2,000 dogs who had had their entire genomes sequenced. An additional 16,000 dogs, including mixes and pure breeds (128 represented), were also reviewed for behavior traits. The study reported that less than a quarter of the differences in dog personality could be explained by genetics. In contrast, at least 80% of the physical traits were closely tied to the dog’s DNA. These findings are important for at least a segment of the dog-owning population and possibly some dogs, specifically those colloquially referred to as Pit Bull terriers. Early on, Pit Bulls were admired as America’s dogs, as depicted in 1914 by artist Wallace Robinson, or as family dogs such as Petey. Petey was the everpresent companion to the children in the 1930s TV show, Our Gang. Today Pit Bulls are more often regarded as dangerous intruders into safe neighborhoods
World Happiness Report 2022
No full textThis is the tenth anniversary of the World Happiness Report. From its first year, the report has had a large and growing readership – reaching over 9 million in 2021. It has been widely cited. But more important has been the message the Report has carried. The true measure of progress is the happiness of the people that happiness can be measured; and that we know a lot about what causes it. Given this knowledge, it is now possible for policy-makers to make people’s happiness the goal of their policies. And each of us can live a wiser life. We take the tenth anniversary as an opportunity to consider how far happiness research has come, where it stands, and the promising opportunities that lie ahead
Time to stop pretending we don’t know other animals are sentient beings
No full textRowan 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
COP27 - Can We Move Forward
No full textUnder the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) opened in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on November 6 and runs through the 18th. World leaders, climate campaigners, and climate stakeholders are gathered amid challenging world economic dynamics, including the global impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the resulting energy crisis in Europe, fluctuating energy prices, and ongoing extreme weather events. The individuals gathered in Sharm el Sheikh will be attempting to create a realistic path forward that has some chance of success in addressing climate change
The Puzzling Relationship Between Pet-Keeping and Happiness
No full textThe $100 billion pet products industry promotes the idea that getting a pet makes people happier. Yet, more than a dozen studies have found that pet owners are not any happier than people who do not live with a companion animal. A psychological process called hedonic adaptation explains why pet-keeping is usually not associated with an increase in overall happiness. New research, however, has found that playing and interacting with pets does result in temporary increases in the happiness of their owners