Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy
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What might decapod sentience mean for policy, practice, and public?
No full textCrump et al. provide eight criteria for evaluating sentience in decapods, with scope for for application to other taxa. Their work has attracted the interest of policymakers. This commentary discusses the limitations of conceptual and legal acknowledgement of sentience in chainging practice and public attitudes. More work is needed. Social science may be able to help
Pet Dog Supply and Demand in the United States
No full textTo the surprise of many animal advocates, discussions are taking place this year on whether there may be too few dogs to support demand in the US. The campaign that began in the 1970s to reduce dog over-supply has been very successful. In 1973, approximately 7 million dogs were euthanized in shelters when the pet dog population was around35 million. In 2021, 300,000 dogs were euthanized in animal shelters, but the pet dog population had grown to somewhere between 65 and 90 million, depending on which survey is consulted. Although 300,000 is still too many dogs, it represents more than a 95% reduction in the euthanasia of shelter dogs
Advocacy & Funding for Farmed Animal Welfare
No full textCampaigns 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
Do Kids and Adults Value Animal Lives Differently
No full textHumans have various reasons for valuing some species over others. Researchers asked adults and children of different ages to rank animals from people to worms in the order they would give them a lifesaving drug. In some ways, the children were similar to adults in how they valued the species, but in other ways they were very different. There are subtle shifts in how humans prioritize different species as we develop from childhood into adults
Do School Closures Cause a Surge In Dog Bites to Children?
No full textThe number of children being seen in hospital emergency departments with dog bites skyrocketed during the pandemic in both Colorado and the United Kingdom. Both studies attributed the increase to children staying at home and having more frequent contact with dogs during the day. When children returned to school in the UK, dog bite rates, as measured by the number of children seen in hospital emergency rooms, began to fall
Webinar Series: Invertebrate Animal Sentience
No full textWBI hosted free webinars on October 20 & 27, 2021, on the question of what invertebrates like octopi and bees feel, moderated by Animal Sentience Editor-in-Chief Stevan Harnad
The Human Footprint from the Last Ice Age to the Present
No full textHumans have had a considerable impact on the earth in the last hundred years but recent research indicates that humans may have caused substantial alteration to the biospheres starting around 5,000 years ago when the total human population was around 50 to 100 million
An End to Cages in Europe?
No full textThe European Commission has promised the biggest animal welfare legal reform in history — a ban on almost all cages and crates across the European Union (EU). If enacted, the ban would cover more than 340M caged hens, rabbits, pigs, and other animals. It could also set a new global standard for farm animal welfare. A major fight now looms. This Monday, several EU governments told the Commission that its proposal was too ambitious, and requested extensions and loopholes. Europe’s powerful farm lobby, Copa and Cogeca, is already lobbying to weaken the measure. This presents advocates with a unique opportunity: over the next five years the EU will decide the fate of cages in Europe — and perhaps beyond. So what’s being considered, why is it happening, and how can advocates ensure it succeeds
The Promise and Perils of Insect Farming
No full textInsect farming is on the rise. Recent news stories have touted insects as “a six-legged solution to world hunger” (Time), “the next sustainable food revolution” (The Independent), and “the future of food” (NY Times). Insect protein is increasingly promoted alongside plant-based and cultivated meat as a green alternative to conventional meat.
Investors have noticed. In just the last year, French insect farming startups Ynsect and InnovaFeed raised 165M respectively, more than the whole sector had raised in all prior years combined. The UK’s first industrial-scale insect farm recently secured backing from retailer Tesco, startup incubator Y Combinator, and even the British government. The industry is now building insect farms on a huge new scale. Most existing farms can only produce a few metric tonnes of insects annually, and the whole global industry produces 10K - 67K tonnes. But just two new mega-farms under construction could produce 80K tonnes annually, and Ynsect says it alone will soon be producing 230K tonnes of insects every year. Growth forecasts are even more ambitious. The industry expects to grow 10X - 300X bigger in the next decade: to 500K tonnes of insects by 2030 (Rabobank), 1M tonnes by 2027 (ADM), or even 3M tonnes in Europe by 2030 (industry survey). So is the coming of insect farming a solution to factory farming — or an extension of it
The Wolf Pendulum in the United States
No full textHumans have had a very contentious history with wolves and attitudes have varied from hatred to strong protection. It is unclear why the wolf generates such strong emotions. Since the wolf was protected under the Endangered Species Act in the early 1970s, wolf protection has been on the upswing. But, in the last decade, antipathy to wolves has again begun dominant as the wolf population in the lower 48 states reached 7,000. In the last few years, attitudes to wolves have trended negative and state authorities have instituted policies to hunt wolves and reduce the wolf populations