Humane Education

Relying on in depth interviews with adolescents who had witnessed violence against animals but not intervened when it was occurring, this study seeks to understand impediments to advocating and intervening for the animal. The authors find that these adolescents act much like bystanders to violence against humans--being troubled by what that they see but not intervening. However, they differ in that violence against animals is normalized in their peer group as "play" activity. Implications for humane education needs are discussed.

Researchers investigated whether the way that chimpanzees are portrayed in the media effects the accuracy of people's knowledge about the species. They found that people's understanding of the animal is strongly influenced by the how the media depicts chimpanzees. Public service announcements about chimpanzee conservation increased accurate knowledge about the endangered status of the animal and their inability to be good pets, but commercials using chimpanzees as actors decreased understanding that these animals are endangered and increased the perception that they could be good pets.

This article reviews the book Dog Sense, by John Bradshaw. The book focuses on consolidating scientific research about dogs to better understand their physical, emotional, and psychological needs.

This report summarizes results from Wave 4 of the Animal Tracker annual survey of U.S. adults regarding their attitudes and behavior toward animals. In summary, the results continue to show strong support for humane education and many other advocacy tactics. However, support for all tactics is lower than it was in 2008 and there appear to be fewer people engaging in animal-friendly behaviors, perhaps in part due to the economic downturn.

Article Summary:

"There is increasing acceptance of the links between animal abuse and aggressive or antisocial behaviours toward humans. Nevertheless, researchers and other professionals continue to call for methodologically sound empirical research amongst claims that current animal abuse research is methodologically limited. Below, I argue that current conceptualizations of antisocial and aggressive human behavior logically incorporate animal abuse. Given that the body of empirical evidence available to support of theories of antisocial and aggressive behaviour is large and sound, conceptualization of animal abuse as an aggressive behaviour rather than a behaviour that is somehow different, enables us to confidently promote putting current understanding into practice."