The Animal Guide for Curious Humans Maureen Armstrong

Today we are focussing on one of most intelligent, socially complex, and inspiring animals on the planet; elephants.  While being indigenous to just two continents Africa and Asia, elephants are easily one of the most recognizable mammals on earth.  While mainly living in the wild, for millennia humans have captured elephants for use as labor, for war and most significantly in recent centuries, for entertainment –circuses, zoos or in television and movies.  Thankfully, we are developing a better understanding of and appreciation for these smart, thoughtful creatures, the need to protect them in the wild and to properly care for them when in captivity.  Our guest today is Margaret Whittaker, Executive Director of Wild Welfare U.S., a new American branch of the international organization Wild Welfare based on the United Kingdom.  Margaret has spent many years working with elephants and understanding their habits and behaviour and she shares her knowledge with us today.
Links:
Contact Info: margaret@wildwelfare.org
Website: https://wildwelfare.org
North Carolina Zoo: https://www.nczoo.org
The Elephant Sanctuary of Tennessee: https://www.elephants.com

Today we will be exploring some interesting studies relating to the welfare of farmed animals.  As we have discussed before, billions of farmed animals around the world endure significant suffering and inhumane treatment to feed humans, largely in industrial farming. And yet, like other animals, cows, pigs and chickens, are sentient with clearly documented evidence of emotions, personality differences, kinship with others, etc.  For those of us who consume animal products, we can make a real difference in the lives of animals by insisting upon better animal welfare in the human food system.  There are many factors that need to be addressed (nutrition, health, environment, behaviour, and mental state) and much work needs to be done.  And our guest today is one of the people involved.
 Dr. Maria Camila Ceballos Bettancourt, is an assistant professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Calgary in Alberta Canada.  She has a specialization in beef cattle welfare but, as you will hear, she has been involved in a number of really interesting studies involving pigs and chickens also.  She will talk about music and its impact on pigs, the positive benefits of silvopasturing on cattle and how different practices of handling chickens can have a big impact on their welfare.

Links:
 Contact Info: mariacamila.ceballos@ucalgary.ca
U of C: https://vet.ucalgary.ca/contact-us/maria 
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=z85KvpwAAAAJ&hl=es&oi=ao
 
Social Media links: 
X: @mariaceballosb    
Mastodon: @mariacceballos
Instagram: @animalwelbe 
 
Academic Collaborators Mentioned:
Dr. Berardo Rodriguez, Ph.D.  Professor, Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia 
Dr. Juliana Zapata, Ph.D. Professor, Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
The late Dr. Ariel Tarazona, Professor of animal welfare and behaviour, Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
MSc Victor Lima, Animal Welfare Consultant
 
Additional Resources:
Ceballos MC, Sant’Anna AC, Boivin X, Costa FO, Carvalhal MVL, Paranhos da Costa MJR (2018) Impact of good practices of handling training on beef cattle welfare and stockpeople attitudes and behaviors. Livestock Science. (216): 24-31. http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2018.06.019 
Ceballos MC, Sant’Anna AC, Gois KCR, Ferraudo AS, Negrao JA, Paranhos da Costa MJR (2018) Investigating the relationship between human-animal interactions, reactivity, stress response and reproductive performance in Nellore heifers. Livestock Science. (216): 65-75. http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2018.08.001 
Tarazona AM, Ceballos MC, Broom DM. Human Relationships with Domestic and Other Animals: One Health, One Welfare, One Biology. Animals. 2020; 10(1):43. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10010043
Zapata-Cardona J, Ceballos MC, Tarazona Morales AM, Jaramillo ED, Rodríguez BJ (2023). Spectro-temporal acoustic elements of music interact in an integrated way to modulate emotional responses in pigs. Scientific Reports: 13, 2994. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30057-5 

When you think about medicine and animals, what comes to mind?  For a lot of us, we first think of animal testing; clinical trials, lab mice, etc.  But we don’t tend to think so much about the ingredients in our medicines and what animals they come from.  Many common drugs and medicines like blood thinners, treatments for menopause and even vaccines contain pig, horse or chicken byproducts.  In some countries such as several in Asia, some medicines contain products from animals that are endangered such as tigers and rhinos.  Others involve extractions from live animals that can involve considerable pain to animal, damage to its health, and quite horrendous living conditions.  Use of bear bile is one example of this latter category.
 Today, we are going to devote a lot of time to the subject thanks to our guest Dr. Mandala Hunter-Ishikawa.  Mandala is a veterinarian with Animals Asia which is a charity headquartered in Hong Kong that has been working for decades to rescue and rehabilitate bears from the bear bile trade in China and Vietnam.  It aims to end the bear bile trade through awareness, education and rescue efforts.  
 
Links:
https://www.animalsasia.org
Video of Tuffy, a rescued Moon bear jumping for joy in water for the first time:  https://youtu.be/GN4svy6iGT4
 Fear Free Pets:  https://fearfreepets.com
 
Social Media links: 
https://www.instagram.com/animalsasia
https://www.facebook.com/AnimalsAsia
https://www.youtube.com/user/HKAAF?feature=watch
https://twitter.com/AnimalsAsia

Happy July everyone!  Our guest today is Dr. Heather Bacon, Dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom.  Heather has worked internationally on veterinary education and animal welfare projects for over 15 years.  Her experience with and interest in animal welfare issues is so extensive it was difficult to decide on which topic to cover with her today.  In the end, we decided to focus mainly on issues of the health and well-being of captive wildlife, specifically those in zoos and aquaria.  
 Heather will talk about the five domains of animal welfare and how they underpin several frameworks around the world for treatment of zoo and aquarium animals.  You may recall I did an episode on that subject almost a year ago.  That episode is called Feeling Groovy – the Five Domains of Animal Welfare.  If you haven’t already done so you may want to check it out.
Heather also makes some compelling comments about importance of human interaction with animals, particularly for animals in zoos and aquaria.  Enjoy!
 
Links:
https://www.uclan.ac.uk/schools/veterinary-medicine
 
Recommendations of books, publications:  
https://www.routledge.com/One-Welfare-in-Practice-The-Role-of-the-Veterinarian/Stephens/p/book/9780367904067
 https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/book/10.1079/9781789247237.0000
 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/8/7/103
 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10888705.2021.2012784

Social Media links: 
@UCLanvets (twitter), 
@AW_Vet (personal twitter), 
@UCLan Veterinary Medicine (facebook)

Today we are exploring the world of domestic cat behaviour. Chances are either you have a cat in your family or you know someone who does.  There are around 400 million cats in households around the globe.  We humans have long had a fascination with these beautiful creatures dating back to ancient Egypt.  It is estimated that cats have been domestic pets for 12,000 years.  And yet, in many respects, they remain a mystery to us.
 Our guest is going to help us deepen our understanding of cat behaviour.  Nicky Trevorrow, behaviour manager in the Veterinary Department of Cats Protection, the largest UK charity for rescuing and placing cats for adoption.  Nicky’s role at Cats Protection is to implement the charity’s strategy to promote feline behaviour and welfare. She is a registered veterinary nurse. She holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Animal Behaviour. She also undertook an Advanced Diploma in Companion Animal Behaviour Therapy from the Centre of Applied Pet Ethology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Companion Animal Behaviour Counselling from the University of Southampton. Nicky is a full member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors and a Registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist through the Animal Behaviour & Training Council (ABTC). The ABTC seeks to promote humane practices in animal training and behaviour therapy by setting and maintaining standards of knowledge and skills for practitioners in animal training and behaviour.  We will leave links to those organizations in our show notes if you would like to learn more about them.
 And please check out Cats Protection’s Youtube channel for lots of great content to help you understand the cats in your life.
Links:
Cats.org.uk
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@catsprotection
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catsprotection/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catsprotection
 
Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors: https://www.apbc.org.uk
Animal Behaviour and Training Council: https://abtc.org.uk  

Today, we are talking about the impact of non-native and invasive wildlife when they are introduced into an environment.  What effect can they have on native wildlife and the ecosystem on which they rely.  Today’s guest is Paul Evans, a Science Writer and Outreach Coordinator at Croc Docs, a University of Florida team of biologists, ecological modelers, and outreach specialists conducting research in south Florida and the Caribbean.  As you can tell by the name Croc Docs, this scientific group has a special focus on crocodilian (alligators and crocodiles).  They are doing important research on native wildlife in south Florida as well as in the Caribbean.  They are helping address the challenge of non-native species that have been introduced into the environment, usually because they were kept as pets and either escaped or were released into the wild.  Some non-native species are invasive, like the speckled Caiman which is a type of crocodile indigenous to central and south America.  These Caimans can have devastating effects on the environment and the native wildlife of Florida.  Another highly destructive invasive species is the Argentine tegu, a type of large lizard which poses a serious threat to many native species like the American alligator, sea turtles and ground nesting birds.  Paul gives us insights into how these species were introduced to the area, what the Croc Docs are doing to address the challenges they pose and he will share a little bit about what people can do to help stop the spread of these and other invasive species.
Links:
Website links:  https://crocdoc.ifas.ufl.edu 

Social Media links: 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheCrocDocs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheCrocDocs 
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/theCrocDocs 
 
Other Mentioned Links and Resources:  
I’ve Got 1 -  App for Apple or Android: https://www.eddmaps.org/florida/report/ 
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission:  https://myfwc.com.