Tell your friends about ASI:
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A Message From the Executive Director-
Ivy Collier
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In communities like ours around the world, people are doing all they can to confront the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic
.
Individuals,
businesses, and organizations are working hard to enhance cleaning procedures, practice social distancing, and find solutions to reduce the spread of this deadly virus. At the Animals & Society Institute, the well-being of our staff, volunteers, members, supporters, and our global neighbors remains paramount during these difficult times.
We know COVID-19 is zoonotic, meaning it can be transferred from animals to people.
The pandemic is creating international movements to end so-called wet markets, where wild animals are slaughtered and sold as food, right on the premises, usually in an outdoor market
. We believe continued research into the role of wildlife trade in the emergence of pandemics should guide government discussions and decisions.
However, know that
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
has issued advisories asserting there is no evidence at this time that companion animals can spread the COVID-19 virus. We know the important role animals play in our physical and emotional well-being, especially in times of stress and uncertainty. Now more than ever,
companion animal relationships can help sustain us when we must reduce contact with other humans.
We know that animal shelters throughout the country have been negatively impacted. Some are closing, others are reducing hours to protect staff and the public. In these trying times, please consider adopting or fostering a homeless animal to help prevent needless companion animal euthanasia during the duration of this pandemic. Contact your local shelter for information on how you can help. In addition, the
Humane Society of the United States
is an excellent resource for questions about COVID-19 and pets.
Other sources for the latest information on COVID-19 include:
We owe a profound debt of gratitude to health professionals and those on the front lines of this pandemic. We urge you to stay informed, follow recommended precautions, and do what you can to support animal-related nonprofit organizations.
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Human-Animal Relations and COVID-19
A Reflection by Dr. Gala Argent, HAS Program Director
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Over the past few weeks, people understandably scrambled for information on pets and the coronavirus. To assist with these questions the U.S. Centers for Disease Control offered information here about
Animals and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
, with links to other information on the issue. And Colorado State University has provided a guidance on
What pet owners and veterinarians need to know about the coronavirus
.
And in a Psychology Today post, Zazie Todd shared,
COVID-19 and Planning for Your Pet: What pet owners need to know
.
Shelters held concerns over volunteer, visitor, and staffing shortages and amid lock-down orders. And while in
Seattle, Washington animal adoptions were down nearly 50%
,
other shelters have seen
an uptick in foster applications
during the recently enacted COVID-19 quarantine. Heartening examples of human-animal interactions have not been lacking, such as this one in which a
therapy dog visited quarantined seniors to let them know they're not alone
.
The pandemic has also spurred discussion of broader, and perhaps more problematic, systemic issues. Sonia Shaw in a piece in
The Nation
,
Think Exotic Animals Are to Blame for the Coronavirus? Think Again
, notes that “scientists have fingered bats and pangolins as potential sources of the virus, but the real blame lies elsewhere—with human assaults on the environment.” In an article in
The Hill
,
Coronavirus should be a wake-up call to our treatment of the animal world
, author Cyril Christo’s argues that “the coronavirus did not manifest from nowhere. Our sadistic treatment and manipulation of animals for centuries has come back to haunt us. It is time for humanity to absorb the lessons of the animal world.” Finally, looking forward to solutions Lori Marino’s commentary,
Other Animals Are Not Humans’ Sacrificial Fall Guys
, speaks to the use of animal testing to address the COVID-19 pandemic, with the conclusion that “using other animal species to solve human-made problems amounts to just more of the same hubris and human exceptionalism that spawned the COVID-19 pandemic in the first place.”
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Facing COVID-19 Together
A Reflection by Lisa Lunghofer, PhD, HAP Director
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As you’ve probably seen, animal welfare organizations are putting out desperate pleas for help in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. The challenges are daunting. Shelters have shut their doors to the public. Adoption events have been cancelled. The number of animals being surrendered is increasing in some locations due to people getting sick or out of misplaced fear that an animal could transmit the virus. Cleaning supplies are hard to find. Critical fundraising events have been cancelled.
While the struggle is real, there is also hope. Technology is being use in new and creative ways, including virtual meet-and-greets and paperless adoption contracts. Many animal welfare organizations are seeing an unprecedented increase in foster applications. According to a recent NY Times story, Animal Care Centers of NYC put a call out last week to fill 200 foster slots and received 2,000 applications. In the Washington, DC metro area, Lucky Dog Animal Rescue had to shut down all large adoption events, which had been their main source of adoptions for the past 10+ years. Incredibly, last Sunday they tallied 54 adoptions in a single day—a new record despite the shutdown. There is much to be learned from these recent successes and the adaptations we have all had to make in response to COVID-19.
Maddie’s® Fund has collected emergency protocols, shelter kits, communications and marketing guides, videos, sample press releases, and more from an array of national, regional and local experts. If you work with an animal welfare organization,
we urge you to check out these resources
to help manage the current crisis. No doubt the coming days will present new hurdles but all of us at ASI believe we are stronger when we work together and learn from one another.
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Wildlife and Animal Welfare Policy Update
Bee Friedlander ASI Board Member
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The world has certainly changed since our last update. Animals and animal welfare policy are important considerations in responding to the pandemic.
- Coronavirus has been linked to the consumption of wildlife. The root cause of this and other zoonotic diseases is the wildlife trade and habitat destruction. The Animals & Society Institute joined over 100 animal welfare and environmental NGOs in a March 24, 2020 letter to Senate and House leadership, urging Congress to designate 1% of funds in future stimulus packages to address “habitat loss, legal and illegal wildlife trade, and the protection of biological diversity here and around the world. Adding law enforcement staff, inspectors at our ports of entry, and building global capacity to address the extinction crisis are all needed if we hope to make future pandemics less likely to occur in the first place.”
- At least 17 states – and counting – including Michigan where ASI is headquartered, have issued stay-at-home orders. An important and timely action you can take is to contact both your governor and your state’s Agriculture Department, to urge them to consider animals and those who care for them, in these orders. If your state is among those already under such an order, review it to make sure it allows for individuals and organizations to continue operations.
Since Hurricane Katrina, animals have been considered in disaster
planning. These emergency orders need to have the broadest and
most flexible exemptions possible to ensure that necessary and
life-saving treatment and services to all animals continues.
- One notable bill pending in Congress is the PREPARED Act, H.R. 1042. The “Providing Responsible Emergency Plans for Animals at Risk of Emerging Disasters Act” would amend the Animal Welfare Act to require that research facilities, dealers, exhibitors, intermediate handlers or carriers develop and implement emergency contingency plans. It was introduced in February 2019 and assigned to the House Agriculture Committee and then to the Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture. There are 204 co-sponsors. Please contact your Representative to co-sponsor the bill (or thank them if they have). If your Representative sits on either the committee or subcommittee to which it is assigned, contact them to ask that a hearing be held. Find your United States senators and representative here, Agriculture Committee members here, and subcommittee members here.
We will update you on other bills we have been following in future newsletters. Meanwhile, take care of yourselves and all members of your families.
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