Animal Welfare or Living Conditions

Researchers interviewed 26 women who experienced intimate partner violence while living with companion animals. All of them indicated their companion animal had been verbally or physically assaulted by their partner and most indicated they were unwilling to discuss this with the animal's vet. Of households with multiple animals, all respondents indicated that a specific animal was targeted for the majority of the abuse; the animal was most often a dog. One-quarter of the respondents indicated that their animals died as a result of the abuse and in one-third of the cases, the women were told by the violent partner if she left her companion animal would be harmed or killed.

Legislation was introduced to the US congress in January 2012 that would require egg producers to switch from conventional cages to "enriched cages." Enriched cages refer to "colony housing," which would need to be phased in over 15 to 18 years. Sponsorship of the survey and the question wording was not made publicly available.

This literature review presents research about the practice of tail docking in cows, pigs and sheep. The authors find that there is no precedence of tail docking in cows and that the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not ban the practice. They note a lack of comprehensive knowledge about utility and effects of tail docking in sheep and pigs and suggest further research in the area needs to be done. Notably, they highlight that though prevention of fly strike is the primary reason given for tail docking in sheep, there is little scientific evidence to support that it is effective.

In this study researchers test eight indicators of sheep welfare that do not require people to physically handle sheep. They find that four of the measures--cleanliness of the breech area, lameness, demeanor, and wool loss--were reliable and suggest these findings indicate that the welfare of farmed sheep can be assessed without physical intervention.

Both organic farmers and veterinarians were surveyed regarding their interaction and experiences with each other. Overall, there was little interaction between the two groups. Further, there was a disconnect between the groups in that organic farmers rarely sought veterinary help, and veterinarians tended to be unaware of organic production guidelines.

This study examined how overweight dogs have been portrayed in English-speaking media between 2000-2009. The authors find that, while the media may report on social issues leading to increased obesity, they tend to focus the solutions to the problem solely on what the dog's companion person should do to resolve the issue.

This report is the Humane Society of the United States' ranking of each US state based on laws addressing animal protection. The report is user friendly--presented as an interactive map, a listing of each state by ranking, as well as short individual reports for each state that provides detail on which laws exists in that state.

By conducting a literature review of previously published studies, this paper evaluates the role of group housing for farm animals. According to the author, past research suggests that allowing animals to be housed together will be a proactive way to increase welfare for farm animals.

This survey questioned people who live with companion animals about taking their companions to a veterinarian. Most people (80%) had taken their companions to a vet in the past year. Of those who had not, cost was cited as an important reason.

The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) investigated the reasons for high numbers of abandoned horses in the Southwestern United States. Their investigation was conducted in response to concerns that closing, what was in 2007, the last US horse slaughter plant led to unwanted horses being dumped and abandoned.