Join Us for a special webinar commemorating the 40^th Anniversary of the Animals & Society Institute! We are delighted to invite you to a special online colloquium commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Animals & Society Institute, a milestone we couldn't have reached without your invaluable support. You’ll hear from some of us here at ASI, and two featured guest speakers: Dr. Erica Fudge and Zane McNeill. This webinar is not just a celebration of our past achievements but also a call to action for the future. Together, let's celebrate and continue striving for a world where we advance and share knowledge to improve human and nonhuman animal lives. The event takes place Thursday, June 20, 11:00 am to 12:30 pm US EDT. Find out more and register here!

It's time to list your Human-Animal Studies program on the ASI website before the new semester starts in September! Last year, ASI competed a functional redesign of our website’s Degrees and Programs in Human-Animal Studies page, one of the most visited on our website. (Note that due to the proliferation of HAS-related degree programs, we are no longer posting courses, only programs.) If you would like to see your program on our list or have additions or changes to one already up, please let us know by emailng hasdegreesandprograms@animalsandsociety.org. To be included in this biannual wave of updates and additions please send them to us by July 15. When doing so please include the following information:

·       Name of university, organization, or other provider

·       Name of program, degree, certificate, etc.

·       Location of program: City, State/Province, Country 

·       URL link to program webpage

The recording of our last Human-Animal Studies Series Colloquium Event, of the school year is now available. Co-sponsored by ASI and the Animals and Society Section of the American Sociological Association, this talk features Sandra Swart, Professor and Chair of the Department of History, Stellenbosch University, on “Talking to Lions: human-animal cultures and the power of stories.” Dr. Swart discussed how contact between humans and lions has sometimes shown evidence of mutual comprehension that has been co-created by the changes in human and lion lifeways. The series will resume in September after a summer hiatus.

A new study by Faunalytics, Pathways To Impact: An International Study Of Advocates’ Strategies And Needs, surveyed nearly 200 animal advocacy groups in 84 countries explores the diverse approaches taken by farmed animal advocates, focusing on how and why organizations pursue different strategies. The study includes recommendations for funders, advocates and researchers. Download the full report here.

The Bezos Earth Fund Grant has launched a sustainable protein research hub, the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein, at North Carolina State University, where Tom Regan taught and which now houses a major animal issues archive. Funded by the Bezos Earth Fund, the grant provides $30 million over five years to lead a center of excellence to create a biomanufacturing hub for dietary proteins that are environmentally friendly, healthy, tasty and affordable. The Earth Fund has committed $100 million to establish a network of open-access research and development centers focused on sustainable protein alternatives, expanding consumer choices.

The ASI-managed journal Society & Animals, 32(3) is now available with the following articles:

Research Articles

Cat-Poo-Chino and Captive Wildlife: Tourist Perceptions of Balinese Kopi Luwak Agrotourism

Author: Jes Hooper

Human-Animal Studies in Israel: A Field in the Making

Authors: Orit Hirsch-Matsioulas, Anat Ben-Yonatan, Limor Chen, Yaara Sadetzki, and Dafna Shir-Vertesh

Dogs in the Islamic Tradition: A Revisionist Examination

Author: Sheridan Polinsky

“The 21st Century Rabbit Paradox” Attitudes Toward and Experiences with Rabbits in the United States

Author: Carol L. Glasser

The Impact of Therapy Dogs on Graduate-Level, Military-Affiliated Students

Authors: Diane M. Stutey, Abigail E. Solis, Lori Notestine, and Joseph Wehrman

Book Reviews

Advancing Veganism in a “Post-Vegan Society”: A Review of Veganism: Politics, Practice, and Theory

Author: Corey Lee Wrenn

Unapologetically Black: a Liberatory Theory of Anti-Racist Vegan Intersectionality

Author: Victoria Brockett

Tracking the Wolf

Author: Dominic O’Key

The ASI-managed Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 27(3) is now available with the following articles:

Comparison of the Welfare of Gestation Sows Raised in Different Production Systems in North Vietnam

Han Quang Hanh, Nguyen Thi Phuong Giang, Vu Tien Viet Dung & Vu Dinh Ton

Health-Based Welfare Indicators and Fear Reaction of Slower Growing Broiler Compared to Faster Growing Broiler Housed in Free Range and Conventional Deep Litter Housing Systems

İbrahima Mahamane Abdourhamane & Metin Petek

Ordinal or visual analogue scales for assessing aspects of broiler chicken welfare?

Ana Paula O. Souza, Frank A. M. Tuyttens, Cesar A. Taconeli, Jennifer C. Biscarra & Carla F. M. Molento

Comparison of Three Anaesthetic Options to Reduce Acute Pain Response in Kid Goats

E. L. Cuttance, W. A. Mason, J. McDermott, R.A. Laven, B. P. Ruddy, A. J. Taberner, J. W. McKeage & S. A. Turner

Equine Rolling Behavior: Thermoregulation Mechanism After Exercise and Substrate Preference

Marina Pagliai Ferreira Da Luz, Caroline Marques Maia & José Nicolau Próspero Puoli Filho

Sniffing out what Australians know and believe about Drug Detector Dogs

Jessica Lee Oliva & Mia L Cobb

A Survey of Veterinary Medical Professionals’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Experiences with Animal Sexual Abuse

Alexandra M. Zidenberg, Brandon Sparks & Mark Olver

Decision Factors Considered By Potential Dog Adopters During Shelter Visitation

Lawrence E. Minnis, Doris Bitler Davis & Kate E. Loftis

The Law and the Pussycat: Public Perceptions of the Use of Municipal Bylaws to Control Free-Roaming Domestic Cats in Canada

Annie L. Booth & Ken Otter

Understanding Canine ‘Reactivity’: Species-Specific Behaviour or Human Inconvenience?

Danielle Stephens-Lewis, Amber Johnson, Nia Turley, Rebecca Naydorf-Hannis, Laura Scurlock-Evans& Kimberley Caroline Schenke

Welfare and Management of Civets in Civet Coffee Tourism Plantations | 

Beth Lewis-Whelan, Ahmad Ardiansyah, Peter D. Roberts, Vincent Nijman, Evros Damianou, Thais Q. Morcatty, Hélène Birot, Muhammad Ali Imron & K.A.I. Nekaris

Lack of reinforcement is hard to “bear”: Assessing judgment bias in grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis)

Laura M. Bernstein-Kurtycz, Jennifer Vonk, Joseph M. Carroscia, Diana C. Koester, Rebecca J. Snyder, Mark A. Willis & Kristen E. Lukas

Husbandry Protocols for Juvenile Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta) Based on Stress Response to Stocking Density and Dry-Dock Time

Alejandro Usategui-Martín, Ana Liria - Loza, Roldán A. Valverde, Lluis Tort, Fernando Tuya & Daniel Montero

Characteristics of potential adopters of wild horses and their willingness-to-pay for wild horses

C. Jill Stowe & Hannah White

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a Useful and Low-Cost Tool for Molecular Sexing Psittaciformes under Human Care: An Example of a Collaborative Approach in Mexico

Sergio Albino Miranda, Marco Antonio Galindo Negrete, Daniela Montserrat Sánchez Pérez, Nanci Vargas Bahena, Fernando González-García & Juan Carlos Serio-Silva

Effects of Different Tank Sizes on Laboratory Rare Minnow (Gobiocypris rarus)-Under the Same Density

Chunsen Xu, Yunwen Cui, Fandong Yu, Zhijun Xia, Miaomiao Hou, Xinhua Zou, Qin Wang & Jianwei Wang

This section includes both upcoming live events, and past events that were recorded. 

The APA Human-Animal Interaction Section is hosting a webinar, Therapy Animal Training and Communication, Presented by Gina Fisher Caldwell, PhD & Taylor Chastain Griffin, PhD. This webinar will explore the importance of positive, force-free training methods when partnering with therapy and facility animals, and tactics for encouraging open two-way communication will be provided. Applied examples of animal consent will also be discussed along with the examination of approaching and avoidant behaviors. 1 CE credit is available. The webinar takes place Tuesday, June 18, 10 AM MDT.

The Interspecies Internet is hosting its next Interspecies Conversation webinar, “Can Different Species Understand Each Other's Emotions?” with Elodie F. Briefer, Associate Professor of animal behavior at the University of Copenhagen. In this lecture, Dr. Briefer will describe the results of a large comparative study that investigated similarities in the vocal expression of emotions in several species of domestic animals (horses, pigs, goats, and cattle) and wild ungulates (Przewalski's horses and boars). These findings provide interesting insights into the evolution of vocal expression of emotions and the factors that may influence cross-species perception of emotions. Find out ore and register here. The lecture is slated June 22, 2024, at 17:00 BST / 12:00 EDT / 09:00 PST.

The Society for Companion Animal Studies (SCAS) is hosting a webinar with Professor Samantha Hurn, University of Exeter, “’I'll never forget that day’: The long term impacts of childhood pet loss on adult wellbeing.” The research to be presented was performed by Exeter Anthrozoology as Symbiotic Ethics (EASE) working group members, Prof Samantha Hurn, Dr Alexander Badman-King, Dr Fenella Eason, and Dr Emily Stone which investigated how children can best be supported following the death of a companion animal. The event is Thursday, July 4 13:00 - 14:00 GMT-5.

The Life of Riley at Spring Point is holding a webinar that will feature Tim Freeman, founder and CEO of Braveheart Pets Inc. in Atlanta, who will discuss “Breeding Dogs for Profit in Urban Communities: Socioeconomic Causes and the Community-led Solutions,” including the drivers of dog breeding in economically disenfranchised urban communities and the best ways to engage communities in solutions to unchecked dog breeding. The webinar will be held on July 11 from 2-3pm US EDT. Register here.

The recording of the Cultural and Animals Foundation-funded 2024 Tom Regan Memorial Lecture is now available. The talk features Dinesh Wadiwel and Lori Gruen discussing “Animal Rights and Capitalism.”

Recordings are available for last month’s two-day “Badgering Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on Co-habitation with Other Species.” The symposium features talks from international experts in architecture, landscape architecture, history, and anthropology who explore historical and contemporary practices of designing spaces for human-nonhuman co-habitation. The sessions include a keynote presentation from Cary Wolfe, the Bruce and Elizabeth Dunlevie Professor of English at Rice University, who spoke to “What Species Is Multispecies Justice?”

Episode 33 of the Anthrozoology Podcast discusses the history and evolving future of Anthrozoology with Lynette Hart.

On Hiss and Tell Episode 30, Maya Gupta and Miranda Workman discuss “Inside the ASPCA’s Animal Behavior Research.”

A new podcast from the HistoryExtra Podcast, “Beastly Victorians: Presenting Animal Cruelty in the 19^th Century” is now available.

Following are some recent books published of interest to the field of Human-Animal Studies.

Carol J. Adams and Michael D. Wise (Eds.) (2024). Pedaling Resistance: Sympathy, Subversion, and Vegan Cycling. Foreword by Marc Bekoff. University of Arkansas Press.

Alasdair Cochrane and Mara-Daria Cojocaru (Eds.) (2024). Solidarity with Animals: Promises, Pitfalls, and Potential. Oxford Academic.

Erika Cudworth, Ruth E. McKie, Di Turgoose (Eds.) (2024). Feminist Animal Studies: Theories, Practices, Politics. Routledge.

Lee Dugatin (2024). The Well-Connected Animal: Social Networks and the Wondrous Complexity of Animal Societies. University of Chicago Press.

Eduardo J Fernandez and Sally L Sherwen (2024). Human-Animal Interactions in Zoos: Integrating Science and Practice. CABI Digital.

Lisa Kimmerer (2024). Waterways. Finishing Line Press.

Jane Kotzmann and  M B Rodriguez Ferrere (Eds.) (2024). The Legal Recognition of Animal Sentience: Principles, Approaches and Applications. Bloomsbury.

Chloë Taylor (Ed.) (2024). The Routledge Companion to Gender and Animals. Taylor & Francis.

Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy (2024). Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals.  Penguin Random House.

Peter Whitridge and Erica Hill (Eds.) (2024). Reimagining Human-Animal Relations in the Circumpolar North. Routledge.

Following are some recent articles and book chapters of interest to the field of Human-Animal Studies.

Carlier, P. (2024). Descriptive Phenomenology as an Alternative to Prevent the Theory-Ladenness of Observation in the Study of Animal Behavior: Opening towards an Etho-Phenomenology. Biosemiotics.

Katherine Compitus and Sonya M. Bierbower (2024). Cow cuddling: Cognitive considerations in bovine-assisted therapy. Human-Animal Interactions, 12(1).

Creighton, A.M. (2024). The Ecosemiotics of Human-Wolf Relations in a Northern Tourist Economy: A Case Study. Biosemiotics .

Fakfare, P., Phucharoen, C., Kim, J. J., & Han, H. (2024). Ethics for tourism: integrating Confucian harmony and ethical beliefs into animal tourism. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 41(7), 1–18. 

Lamberti M, di Pasquo F. (2024). The animal that therefore we are conserving: Conservation biology under the eyes of animality. SCT Proceedings in Interdisciplinary Insights and Innovations [Internet]. 2024 May 3.

Emily Major (2024). Slayers, rippers, and blitzes: dark humor and the justification of cruelty to possums in online media in New Zealand. Frontiers in Communication, Sec. Media Governance and the Public Sphere.

Lisel A O’Dwyer and Janette O Young (2024). SAFE – A risk management tool to protect both people and pets in residential aged care facilities. Human-Animal Interactions, 12(1).

Laura Sanchez (2024). “Lace up Your Boots and Do Something:” A Symbolic-Interactionist Analysis of Girls and Young Women Equestrian Athletes' Resilience. Symbolic Interaction.(Preprint)

Włodarczyk, J. (2023). Domestication Western-Style: Fantasies of Harmony and the Violence of Plasticity in Mary O’Hara’s My Friend Flicka. Comparative American Studies An International Journal, 21(1–2), 101–117. 

A call is out for abstracts for a Special Issue of Animals on A Nonspecisist Approach to Animal Abuse, edited by Rochelle Stevenson and Rozanne D. Hawkins. This Special Issue welcomes novel theoretical or applied works that approach animal abuse from a nonspeciesist perspective. This may include works that highlight abuse against companion animals and/or understudied or often hidden animals, research which adopts a broad and inclusive conceptualization of animal abuse, or papers exploring how such harms intersect with abuse against humans. (Please note that an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs).) Submission deadline August 31, 2024.

A call for abstracts is out for a book, “Colors in Econarratives about the Human and More-than-Human World.” Welcome are narratives of colors in Environmental Humanities, Posthumanities, Environmental Digital Humanities, Blue Humanities, Ocean Humanities, Plant Humanities, Animal Studies, Medical Humanities, Energy Humanities, Public Humanities, Citizen Humanities, colors in -cenes, e.g. Anthropocene, Symbiocene, Capitalocene, etc. Please send an abstract of up to 300 words and further queries to Professor Karpouzou’s e-mail at pkarpouzou@phil.uoa.gr and Dr. Zampaki’s e-mail at nikzamp@phil.uoa.gr Submission deadline August 31, 2024.

The journal Aggressive Behavior is currently receiving papers for a Special Edition entitled “Causes and Consequences of Animal Abuse,” guest edited by Emma Alleyne. This is a fantastic opportunity to curate some of the latest theoretical and empirical papers that capture the current understanding of animal abuse where nonhuman animals are at the centre of the research question. The journal welcomes fresh theoretical contributions and rigorously designed empirical papers for consideration in this Special Edition. You can find further details here:. Aggressive Behavior: Call for Papers - The Causes and Consequences of Animal Abuse (wiley.com). Please send inquiries to the Guest Editor, Emma Alleyne (e.k.a.alleyne@kent.ac.uk). 

Registration is now open for the International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ) conference, June 27-30 at Haptbury University, Gloucestershire, UK. Featured speakers include Dr. Clara Mancini, Lucy Rees, Dr. Hal Herzog, and Dr. Aubrey Fine.

The 2024 Shelter Medicine Conference will be held July 12-14, 2024, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Now in its 21st year, this year’s conference features a large offering of more than 30 hours of world-class continuing education from dozens of sessions covering the latest in medical, behavior and shelter operations. Livestream options are available.

Registration is now open for The Humane Society of the US conference “Taking Action for Animals.” The event will take place just outside of Washington, DC at the Crystal Gateway Marriott from July 19–22 and cost $100 for 18 educational workshops on topics including: Skill-building for animal advocacy; Advocating for animals at the local level; and Advocating for animals at the state and federal levels. Find out more and register here.

The International Animal Rights Conference will take place September 5-8 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg. Find out more here.

The 8^th International Veterinary Social Work Summit, “Reflecting Back and Moving Forward,” will take place September 13-14 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Find out more here.

Lucy's Project 2024 Conference will take place virtually Tuesday, October 15-Thursday October 17. Learn from leading Australian and international researchers and practitioners about: Emerging and better practice in supporting people and animals experiencing domestic and family violence, and How the safety of people and animals is interconnected and why it's important to enable people and animals to heal and recover together.

As you can see, ASI is promoting a tremendous amount of activity in the field of Human-Animal Studies. We always invite your input and participation.

Become an ASI Student, Scholar or Professional Member now and enjoy benefits like discounted subscriptions to our two managed academic journals, Society & Animals and the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, a Member Profile on the ASI website, and the knowledge that you've helped us bring you this and future Human-Animal Studies Reports.

Thank you for supporting ASI's Human-Animal Studies efforts!