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Updates via emailAnimal Cruelty and Domestic Violence: Making the Connection to Protect Animals and People
This week Advocacy for Animals presents an article by Randall Lockwood, Ph.D. Dr. Lockwood is senior vice-president of Anti-cruelty Field Services at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). He writes this week on domestic violence and the strong correlation between violence against humans and against animals in situations of domestic abuse.
Part of my daily routine is to review a summary of the previous day’s media stories reporting on instances of animal cruelty. Nearly every day there is an account of an incident in which a companion animal has been injured or killed in the context of a domestic dispute. Usually the perpetrator has been arrested and is facing serious charges that may include both animal cruelty and domestic violence. The following are some recent incidents:
- A 20-year-old New Jersey man was charged with animal cruelty after he slit the throat of his girlfriend’s pet ferret from ear to ear, during an argument. The ferret was treated and returned to its owner.
Should Neutering Pets Be Mandatory?
Advocacy for Animals would like to hear our readers’ thoughts on this issue, whether you agree or disagree with the position our writer takes. Add your comments in the space provided at the end of this article.
One of the hottest local legislative issues (right after breed bans) is the mandatory spay and neuter ordinance for cats and dogs. In general, these laws require the spaying or neutering of a cat or dog by a cut-off date, often four or six months of age. These laws sometimes have limited exceptions for certain types of animals (show dogs, stock kept by professional breeders) but often these exceptions come at a price in higher licensing fees. Penalties for failing to neuter pets can result in fines, confiscation, and sometimes killing of the pet. […]
Life and Death in a Cup
This week Advocacy for Animals welcomes a new writer to the blog: Richard Pallardy, a research editor at Encyclopædia Britannica.
There are some organisms that, by their very ubiquity, are prone to cause the human mind to perceive them collectively, rather than as individuals (think grass); thus they are reduced to object status. Even some higher life forms manifest to the human eye as infinitely interchangeable icons, one indistinguishable from the next. No better example of this phenomenon is there than the betta, or Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). […]
The Cleverness of Crows
As researchers explore the nature of the intelligence of animals, the corvid family presents some arresting examples of brainy birds. The most common corvids are crows, ravens, and jays; other relatives are the rooks, magpies, choughs, nutcrackers, and jackdaws. The familiar corvids are large, noisy, and social, and they are not shy in the presence of people. They play pranks, tease other animals, and engage in aerial acrobatics for fun. Crows live happily in human settlements and have found many ways to exploit the curious human trait of discarding food. […]