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Join Our new Human-Animal Studies Facebook Group We are pleased to announce the launch of our new, public,  Human-Animal Studies Facebook group . Almost 500 people have joined within the two weeks since going live, and members have already populated the group with relevant and interesting posts and discussion.    Because interest in social media has edged out the email listserves popular ten years ago, this new group replaces and extends as an interactive space our HAS Yahoo listserve, which we closed early this year. The group is designed to fill the need for a network for sharing information and promoting research, accomplishments, jobs, events and activities related to the multifaceted and complex relationships that exist between human and other animals.   The scope of the group is global. We recognize that human-animal relationships vary widely around the world, and that people in the group will hold very different personal beliefs about these intersections. This group welcomes a range of posts from its members. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged! At the same time, we recognize that human-animal relationships are complex and rooted in particular historical and spatial contexts. Because of this our concern there is not with judging other cultures’ practices by our own personal or cultural standards, but rather with investigating the broad contexts in which they exist.    Please  join us there , share HAS-related information, and spread the word!

Co-Sheltering Study Findings Now Available

The Animals & Society Institute in collaboration with My Dog is My Home used a generous grant from Maddie’s Fund® to explore and describe current approaches to “co-sheltering” of people experiencing homelessness with their companion animals.  The lack of animal-friendly policies and practices in many shelters and social service agencies means people experiencing homelessness are often asked to choose between their companion animals and shelter. The goal of this qualitative study was to better understand how service providers are accommodating homeless clients who have companion animals. Using a comparative case study approach, we conducted individual interviews with staff and focus groups with clients with and without animals at four homeless shelters in the U.S. and Canada.  The study assessed animal-friendly homeless shelters’ current approaches to handling animals accompanied by people experiencing homelessness, documenting challenges, key issues, and lessons learned. Project findings will inform development of animal-friendly policies and practices in homeless shelters nationwide, reducing the likelihood that animals will be relinquished simply because their caregivers are experiencing a period of homelessness. Further, the project lays the groundwork for more intensive outcome-based research on the effects of such policies and practices on the well-being of pets and people alike.  Check out the summary of study findings here or you can read the report here.

THE POLICY CORNER

What Changes in Policies and Practices May Result From COVID-19? A Reflection by Ken Shapiro ASI Board President

Although we are still in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic and it is unknown when it will cease being a threat, it is not too early to think about a post-pandemic world. What changes in policies and practices will result from this tragic experience? Will we return to business as usual or will covid-19 force a reexamination of how we share this planet with the other millions of forms of life?   One possible change is in the current form of production of protein for human consumption -- factory farming. Two prominent thinkers with access to the mainstream media, Fareed Zakaria and Jonathan Safran Foer, both make the case that the conditions inherent in factory farming make the future transmission of diseases from animals to humans (zoonosis) inescapable. See Fareed Zakaria. "The real scandal isn’t what China did to us. It’s what we did to ourselves." Washington Post ( https://tinyurl.com/y73c2ega ) and Jonathan Safran Foer. “Meat is not essential. Why are we killing for it?" Washington Post ( https://tinyurl.com/yb9hn66o ).  Although one cannot overstate the enormity of the human suffering resulting from the pandemic, even this global cloud may have its silver lining. (It is important to note that animals are suffering as well as the closing and downsizing of meat processing plants have forced farmers to slaughter hundreds of thousands of animals. See "With Closure of Meat Plants, Pig Farmers Face a Wrenching Task.,"  New York Times , May 15). While only emerging as the dominant form of production since World War II, factory farming has had major impact on domesticated and wild animals alike, as habitat for the latter has shrunk with use of arable land to feed the former. It may be that at least in the medium term a number of developments will combine to make its history a brief one: 1. The pandemic has made the problem of “zoonosis” common knowledge; 2. The availability of plant-based protein; 3. The development of technology that will produce cultured meat; 4. Studies showing dramatic decline in wildlife. Hopefully these developments will force all of us to reexamine how we share our lives with animals and people alike within our communities and beyond. 

ASI 2019 Annual Report is Here

We are pleased to announce the release of the 2019 ASI Annual Report . In this report you will find a summary of our program achievements for 2019 and a look to the future from our Executive Director.

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