Ep51 Clive Wynne on helping shelter dogs, canine cognition and human-dog relationships
Clive Wynne is the founding director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University. He is also the Director of Research at Wolf Park in the USA and the author of many books, including his latest ‘Dog is Love’.
Clive is from Britain and he was inspired to study animals while he was studying in London. Later, he went to University of Edinburgh to study for a PhD and further studied animal behaviour and minds, psychology and cognition.
Afterwards, Clive had the opportunity to study the behaviour of marsupials in Australia. Then, he went to University of Florida, where he developed a keen interest in animal-human relationship, especially that of dogs and humans, and he then expanded this context to other canines.
When speaking of his past and current research interests, Clive starts by talking about the issues of animal shelters in the US, and in particular dogs. As the number of euthanasia cases in shelters have decreased in the past few...
Ep50 Marek Špinka on animal welfare, agency, and play behaviour
Dr Marek Špinka is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Animal Science in Prague and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Charles University in Prague. Marek Špinka shares how he began his career studying animals. He wasn’t like many others who knew that they wanted to study animals at a young age. During his university years, he was inspired by his biology professor who always had thought-provoking questions for the class.
Marek then discusses how his original interests in ethics, philosophy, and human psychology still intersect with comparative psychology and animal ethics, which he teaches at university. He mentions that it is enriching to stop considering animals and humans as separate because we are all animals, just different. During his ethics course, he encourages students to think about their ethical judgements and to consider the other sides of arguments before making these judgements.
Marek moves on to discuss his experiences...
2021 Zoo and Aquarium month
Happy Zoo and Aquarium Month!
In June, we celebrated Zoo and Aquarium Month, including some news and care tips from different institutions in an interactive PDF. Learn more and explore the links about care, welfare, and conservation. You can download the PDF HERE
Access to all our webinars, resources and materials, become a member of PAWS HERE
Ep49 James Fischer on the importance of light in animal welfare monitoring and through the lens of the Five Domains
Dr. James Karl Fischer operates the Zoological Lighting Institute (ZLI), a charity dedicated to supporting and advocating for photobiology research in wildlife conservation and animal care.
Dr. Fischer completed advanced degrees in physics and architecture at Wesleyan University and began his career as an architect, serving as a liaison to architects around the globe. He was inspired to found ZLI after a conversation with a zookeeper who wanted to study the effect of lighting on seahorse colouration, when he realised that there was a huge need to provide animal keepers with the necessary support and funding to conduct more comprehensive studies on light and animal behaviour and physiology.
James tells us about how light is central to various aspects of animal life, and how the ZLI supports research into topics including photobiology, sensory ecology and the impact of light on ecosystems. He discusses the way that light influences behaviour and ecology not only in the context of...
Webinar with Omuta City Zoo in Japan on 'Animal welfare is a goal and an end in itself'
Media contact: Sabrina Brando
Founder and Director
AnimalConcepts
+34644805737
Press Release
AnimalConcepts is delighted to share an event in collaboration with Omuta City Zoo that is now available online as a recording on YouTube. This event was held live on 16 June 2021. We would like to thank Omuta City Zoo again for the invitation!
The webinar titled 'Animal welfare is a goal and an end in itself' invited the audience to consider an animal's life 24/7 across lifespan. To think about animal wellbeing connected to, but also independent, from other the goals. It highlighted that while other goals such as e.g., conservation, education, and research are important - sometimes called 'greater goals', focusing on the animals and their wellbeing is a goal in itself and it is a greater goal in itself too.
The webinar was fully booked, attracting 50 participants and more views are expected via the online...
2021 World Giraffe Day
Happy World Giraffe Day!
On June 21st, we celebrated World Giraffe Day, including some care tips for giraffes in an interactive PDF. Learn more and explore the links about giraffe care, welfare, and conservation. You can download the PDF HERE
Access to all our webinars, resources and materials, become a member of PAWS HERE
Ep48 with Craig Saffoe on the Association of Minority Zoo and Aquarium Professionals
Craig Saffoe is the Curator of Large Carnivores at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park located in Washington DC. Overall, he has over 27 years working with animals within zoos.
Craig started his career thinking that the only career available in the animal industry, is to become a veterinarian. As such he went to get a degree in Animal Science with a pre-vet track at North Carolina State University. Whilst there he was inspired by a single professor to explore animal husbandry careers. She also helped him to get an internship at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Zoo in 1994. From here, he got hired as an animal keeper and moved through the ranks becoming a curator. Throughout this process, Craig says he “cannot stress enough to the people with whom I work that the most fun part of this career field in my mind is that I feel like I have never stopped learning”.
Craig highlights that during his career he has noticed that the zoological and aquatic...
Ep 47 Luke Harding on the importance of reptile welfare, cooperation in conservation and Blue Iguana (Cyclura lewisi) conservation
Luke Harding is the Blue Iguana Conservation Programme Manager at the National Trust for the Cayman Islands. He is a conservation biologist with over 14 years of experience in the conservation sector.
Luke shares with us how his family and early life experiences kindled his particular interest in the conservation breeding and captive management of amphibians and reptiles. Critically, he references his BTEC at Sparsholt College Hampshire as key in kindling his passion for animals. Furthermore, he participated in a two-week work experience at Chester Zoo which increased his passion for Herpetology.
Luke went on to get a degree in Zoology / Animal Biology at Nottingham Trent University, which he completed whilst working in the industry to gain more experience. In doing so, Luke has worked within some of the some of the largest zoos in the UK and gained extensive in situ field experience with flag ship species such as the Mountain Chicken Frog (Leptodactylus...
Ep46 Jon Coe on activity-based design, monkeys running the monkey house, and asking 'what is the message'?
Jon has almost 60 decades of experience, and completed over one hundred sixty planning and design projects for eighty-two zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, theme parks, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in thirteen nations on six continents.
Jon shares with us about how fighting elephants at Boston Zoo sparked his thesis idea which would be on Artificial Habitats for Captive Animals. After receiving his undergraduate degree and his master’s degree, it still took Jon 7 years before getting his first project. Jon’s first project was working with Jones & Jones in Seattle, between 1973 – 1983. Together they invented the landscape immersion design at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle with the idea being ‘back to nature’.
Jon went on to found CLR design in Philadelphia, from 1984 – 2004. CLR Design allowed the client to choose the subject of innovation while creating projects and designs. Jon highlights how they work FOR animals WITH...
Ep 45 Dr Francis Cabana on zoo nutrition, the importance of body condition scoring research and sharing knowledge
Francis shares how his love for animals started at an incredibly young age, and how his “best mistake” in his life was not having high enough grades to attend vet school. He went on to get his degree in zoology before moving between different zoos and obtaining his MSc and PhD in the UK.
Francis was soon offered an internship in zoo nutrition at Paignton Zoo with his mentor Dr Amy Ploughman. Francis notes that this internship was amazing and that he got to use his knowledge and experiences from research in the wild. Eventually, he became involved with the zoological community and zoos associations.
Francis shares how important bi-weekly body condition scoring is and to weigh...
