August was the busiest month we’ve had in a long time at the Humane Research Council. In addition to launching our new Humane Trends study and website, we also selected the first two project recipients for our Grassroots Research Fund, which provides free research services to small animal groups. Keep reading to get the details of these exciting new projects and see a round up of the most popular and important research items from the past month.
--------------------------
Check out www.HumaneTrends.com
Based on a two-year collaboration with leading animal protection organizations, HRC’s new Humane Trends study provides an essential barometer of the status of animal well-being in the U.S. We calculated scores based on a collection of 25 indicators relating to companion animals, farmed animals, animals used in science, and wildlife/exotic animals. The Humane Trends study is an important piece of work and we hope that you will take a look and give us your input.
Visit the website to view interactive charts and comment on the scores
If you prefer to read the results offline, download the report on HumaneSpot.org
We would like to thank all of those who helped make Humane Trends possible, including our sponsors, advisors, and volunteers. Three volunteers were of particular help. Thank you to Megan Galey, intern extraordinaire, for her initial work compiling the indicator data. A HUGE thanks goes to HRC board member Sharie Lesniak for her beautiful graphic design work on the new website. Finally, our deep gratitude goes to Neil Harvey for his work on the site’s interactive charts and for his general technical brilliance. We could not have launched Humane Trends without help from these wonderful advocates (as well as others).
Want to join the fun? See how you can support HRC by volunteering
Pro Bono Project Winners Announced
HRC is very excited to announce that we have selected the first two pro bono project recipients for our new Grassroots Research Fund! We received a number of excellent applications from small animal groups working on a variety of important projects and had the difficult job of selecting only two of them. The “winning” projects include working with the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies to evaluate the impact of changes in owner surrender policies at animal shelters and helping the Animal Rights Coalition gain feedback from Minneapolis-area residents to support their campaign against foie gras.
We will provide more information on these studies in the coming months, but these are exactly the kinds of focused, high-impact projects that HRC seeks to support with our Grassroots Research Fund. If you work with a small animal group, see our application and eligibility guidelines (the next deadline is January 1, 2012).
If you are a donor to animal causes or work with a foundation, please support HRC and help us “level the playing field” by providing essential research services to small animal groups.
Donate to HRC to support more grassroots research
Other HRC News
Lastly, HRC produced a few especially popular research items and blogs during the past month:
- Learn about the numbing effect that leads to insensitivity to mass suffering
- Check out the new effort to end wasteful animal experiments funded by taxpayers
- What is the most effective way to spread the spay/neuter message?
- Understand why some vegetarians and vegans resume eating meat
- Review our collection of research resources for animal advocates
Email this Blog Entry
Post new comment