Whaling

I know October is supposed to be a scary month, but at HRC everything is looking great and we have nothing but excitement for the rest of the year. Here is a list of all the great stuff that happened this month...

We're getting ready to launch year four of HRC's Animal Tracker annual survey of the public opinion and behavior of adults in the U.S. This year's survey, which will field in March, addresses specific behaviors that people change (or not) due to their concern for animals, perceived importance of humane education, and support for various advocacy tactics. We asked the exact same questions in 2008 and will be able to analyze changes over time. When the results are available in April, we’ll also refresh the Animal Tracker graphing tool that we launched in 2010.

2010 was the biggest year yet for HumaneSpot.org, with more users and more research content to help advocates help animals. The website is the Humane Research Council's primary means of sharing new research and we're excited to see that so many of you are making use of HumaneSpot.org and finding it valuable in your work for animals!

In a nutshell, the Humane Research Council (HRC) does three things: 1) Help our clients by designing -- and analyzing results from -- a wide variety of research projects; 2) Make resources like HumaneSpot.org available to both animal groups and individual advocates; and 3) Produce independent research to inform advocates and help them be more effective. However, some readers may not be aware of HRC's independent research; the full reports are free and available online, so here's a quick overview.

When fellow animal advocates ask me questions about research on animal protection issues, I typically ask them if they have looked at our research primers. In response, I usually hear "Research what? Where?" I am guessing that many advocates, even those of you who follow our work, are not aware of the full wealth of free data we have available. Here I want to highlight HRC's research primers, since they are a free resource that can help all advocates better understand the issues on which they are working. So let me tell you a little about them.

Today animal protection advocates will gather on beaches along the California coastline to ask President Obama to oppose a new whaling regulation proposed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The proposed law would lift the ban on commercial whaling that it originally instituted in 1986, introducing instead a law allowing countries to hunt whales for commercial purposes, within the limits of specified quotas.

Written by Diane Venberg, one of HRC's 2010 interns, this wonderful overview of HumaneSpot.org shows the breadth of our research database and highlights a number of important studies. Be sure to give this blog a read if you've been wanting a taste of what HumaneSpot.org has to offer before applying for access. And if you have any research that you think should be included in our database, be sure to let us know.