Human-Animal Studies Corner |
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Summer Human-Animal Studies Institute
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ASI president Ken Shapiro and human-animal studies program director Gala Argent have just completed the 2020-2021 ASI-University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Summer Human-Animal Studies Institute for doctoral and early career scholars. This year’s Institute—which was put off last year due to the pandemic—was conducted virtually, with no loss of enthusiasm. We at ASI want to thank our UIUC resident director Jane Desmond and co-director, Kim Marra, and congratulate this year's fellows! The week spent discussing the fellows’ work and getting to know one another was inspiring, and the connections built will carry forward to further the HAS field.
"Book Most Likely to Save the Planet"
We at ASI would like to send out a hats-off to ASI member Carrie Freeman and photojournalist Jo-Anne McArther. Carrie’s book promoting critical animal & media studies and environmental communication, The Human Animal Earthling Identity: Shared Values Unifying Human Rights, Animal Rights, and Environmental Movements (UGA Press, 2020), was just awarded "book most likely to save the planet" by the Independent Book Publisher Awards (IPPY Awards—it tied for this gold medal). The Human Animal Earthling Identity book was also awarded the top Environmental book in another independent book competition, the National Indie Excellence Awards for this year. (Also see below under “Podcasts…” for Carrie’s talk on the book.) Many of the photos in Carrie's book were from Jo-Anne McArthur of We Animals Media—a stock photography platform of excellent, if disturbing, photo-and video-journalism with the mission of mission to documenting the stories of animals in the human environment—those used for food, fashion, entertainment, and experimentation—and connecting those stories to the individuals and organizations who can amplify their reach. Work on the website is made available for free to anyone working to inspire compassion, conversation and change, and ASI has taken advantage of work from We Animals Media toward that goal. Jo-Anne is also the co-author of the other book that tied for the gold medal: Hidden: Animals in the Anthropocene, a photojournalism expose' of behind the scenes images of animals routinely exploited and killed for profit by human business and industry, and provided images to the book she co-created with Martin Rowe, The Animals Are Leaving Us, out this month.
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THE POLICY CORNER
Author: LeAnn Snow
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The World Animal Protection created the Animal Protection Index (API) as a tool to understand how 50 countries are performing with animal welfare legislation and animal protection standards. This tool allows interested parties to assess individual countries from a comparative perspective but the API was also designed to hold countries accountable. A precursory glance at the data for the year 2020 makes it clear that every country has significant work to do. The fact that no country received an overall A score makes this all the more evident.
The following table offers a summarized glance at how four major countries compare. Each of these countries received unique scores on the API. These countries – UK (B), India (C), USA (D), China (E) – were selected for their similar industrialized economies and presence on the world stage. As the table illustrates, while the UK scored an overall higher score, their performance is inconsistent. Recreation animal legislation and farm animal legislation are on par with the other compared countries. Recreation and farm animal protection are the weakest areas across the board.
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On the one hand, this comparative perspective can help highlight individual country performance. On the other, it makes clear that animal protection is undeniably an international challenge that will require collective efforts. Between 2007-2013, the proposed Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW) sought official adoption by the UN. As of this writing, it appears that this mission may have dissolved and individual NGOs have instead adopted the UDAW framework into their own policies. For example, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and World Animal Protection have incorporated the fundamentals of UDAW into their organizational efforts.
Back in 2013, Marc Bekoff, Ph.D also made the case for a Universal Declaration on Animal Sentience, a distinct nod to the UDAW. A quick glance back to the API table above reminds us that the average score for formal acknowledgement of animal sentience in the year 2020 across the four sampled countries is a D. The average score for this metric across all 50 countries that were evaluated by the API is also a D. Colombia was the only country awarded an A score for inclusion of animal sentience in legislation.
In Dr. Bekoff’s words, “We need to stop pretending we don't know if other animals are sentient. We also need to accept that we know what they want and need. Their minds aren't as private as some claim them to be. Surely, we might miss out on some of the nitty-gritty details but it is safe to say that other animals want to live in peace and safety and absent fear, pain, and suffering, just as we do.”
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