Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare

UPDATE - EBOOK IS NOW FREE! Sabrina Brando is delighted to have 2 chapters featured in this brand new textbook alongside 49 other authors, friends and colleagues in the field of animal welfare 1 on fishes and 1 on marine mammals Thank you Dr Andrew Knight & co-editors for the invitation and all the work editing this significant volume.

For more information and order your hardcopy and or download the FREE EBOOK click HERE

Another Science into Practice is available on the PAWS platform!

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Eckerd College: Liberal Arts College in Florida

We are delighted to welcome the animal behaviour class students and faculty at Eckerd College as community members to the three interconnected online platforms: Practical Animal Welfare Science (animal wellbeing), One Care (human wellbeing), and the Earth Charter & SDGs (planetary wellbeing).

Students examine human-animal relationships and learn quantitative, critical thinking, communication and research skills. Animal Studies is a truly interdisciplinary major at Eckerd, drawing from the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities to trace the history and consequences of human relationships to animals.

Founded as Florida Presbyterian College in 1960, becoming Eckerd College in 1972, with a continued focus on creative, innovative curricula in the liberal arts tradition. The waterfront campus sits on the southern tip of a peninsula surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay, a region that was inhabited by the...

Check out the podcast recording with Ryan Cartlidge from the Animal Training Academy with Sabrina Brando recorded back in 2019. You can listen to it with your favourite player, and stay tuned for a new podcast they will record together in 2023! You can also access it HERE

Another Science into Practice is available on the PAWS platform!

The article discusses the intricacies of human-animal interaction as a constant development of animal ethics. Instead of exclusively considering animals as creatures to think about, the authors highlight the importance of acknowledging their perspectives on life and communicating with them accordingly. The authors also state that it is key to communicate with different animal species in a way that they understand, this allows reciprocity as opposed to merely a one-way human-based interaction. Finally, they describe the concept of animal ‘agency’, as the manifestation of animals' capacity of choice, which has...

Getting Better All the Time: Making All the Difference in the World Starts with One Thought or Idea, One Action, and One Animal

This essay by James F. Gesualdi and Sabrina Brando originally appeared in the San Diego Zoo Global Academy Newsletter and was published on the WAZA website

To keep ahead, each one of us, no matter what our task, must search for new and better methods for even that which we now do well must be done better tomorrow. – James F. Bell

In devoting our lives to working on continuously improving animal welfare—and endeavouring to do so across the caring zoological profession (in zoos and aquariums) and throughout the world—we remain mindful of the starting place for such positive change. It always starts with one person, one thought or idea, one action, or one conversation, to make a change for one or more animals at a time. It may seem small, and the process may seem frustratingly slow to some, but it works and can be highly effective at...

Sneak peek planning 2023

You gave us feedback on topics and resources, download the 2023 planning for the overview of the monthly TOPICS HERE or click on the picture below. The overarching theme of the year is TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP. You are ready, let's go!

Catch Me a Colobus ZSL ABMA Behavior Month 2022

You can watch all kinds of presentations on the Animal Behavior Management Alliance YouTube Channel, check them out, if you feel inspired you can start with the one below or choose another from the channel's videos!

Catch me a Colobus! Habituation and training for a new development by Jim Mackie Animal Behaviour Management Officer and Jacob Winfield Senior Primate Keeper. This presentation tells the story so far…

Another Science into Practice is available on the PAWS platform!

Links to some practical examples

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Watch and listen to a zoo-focused virtual behavior chat hosted by Dr. Eduardo (Eddie) J Fernandez (Florida Tech; University of Adelaide), with Sabrina Brando (AnimalConcepts), Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Herrelko (Smithsonian's National Zoo), Nicholas (Nic) Bishop (Adelaide Zoo). It was recorded on February 26th, 2021. In this chat, we cover many topics related to the science and practice of animal training, enrichment, and general welfare of zoo animals. Some specifics include increasing and examining optimal animal-visitor interactions, training as both a means to increase husbandry/veterinary procedures as well as a form of enrichment, how we incorporate both research and practice into proper zoo animal welfare, and lots of responses to attendee questions/comments. On the YouTube page, you also find a lot of references! You can access by clicking HERE

Ongoing learning and sharing is at the core of AnimalConcepts philosophy and to continue serving our community in the human wellbeing...

There have been many advancements in zoo animal welfare and management that are present in modern, accredited zoos. These have been shaped by two major behavioural welfare advances: (a) the use of training to increase voluntary husbandry care, and (b) the implementation of environmental enrichment to promote naturalistic behaviours. Both practices have their roots in behaviour analysis, or the operant conditioning-centered, reward-based approach. The authors present key individuals and events that formed two of the advancements of the modern zoo: (1) the emergence of reward-based husbandry training practices, and (2) the engineering of environmental enrichment. This paper suggests ways in which behaviour analysis can continue to advance zoo welfare.

Links to some practical examples

Animal welfare is an ever-evolving field that practitioners keep in mind when implementing training and management practices. With this evolution, our understanding of the learning process can help provide an overall positive environment for the animals we care for. With good human-animal relationships, caregivers have the power to assess behaviour to inform how to alter practices, in order to address, prevent and treat behavioural differences seen in human care. Practitioners must remember that animals are always learning from their environment. It is crucial to understand the roles animal behaviour and learning play in animal welfare to provide them the best care.

Links to some practical examples

There is an increasing concern for improving the well-being of marine mammals held in human care for research, display, and rehabilitation. Therefore, more effort is progressively put into assessing animal stress. The ability to measure stress is indeed necessary for identifying the least stressful methods for capturing and handling marine mammals. Circulating cortisol levels are accepted as a sensitive indicator of acute stress in marine mammals, particularly in relation to capture and handling. This study presents the first long-term monitoring of cortisol levels in four harbour porpoises (an adult male, an adult female and two juvenile females) held in human care.

Links to some practical examples

While science and ethics are separate philosophical approaches, they are not mutually exclusive - ethics can and should drive science and vice versa. In other words, scientists and animal care practitioners should be involved in making ethical decisions and the ethics can be supported and facilitated by scientific observations and data. Animal training ethics are guided by a number of principles, such as any existing legislation surrounding the use of animals, training guidelines, and the opinions and experience of animal trainers. It is important that these guidelines are adaptable and flexible; as more data is collected through practice, animal welfare scientists and practitioners can continuously seek various methods of improving the living conditions of animals living in and out of human care.

Links to some practical examples