Contemporary Animal Research Articles

Animal Liberation: Pathways to Politics

After making its appearance in analytic moral philosophy at the beginning the 1970s, the animal cause in its modern form – that is, as a challenge to human supremacism and as a defense of interspecies egalitarianism – is recently undergoing a profound change thanks to the advent of new political approaches. Politics now dominates the intellectual scene in at least three main forms: as the devising of new social arrangements, as a critique of the prevailing order, and as an emancipatory project. It will lie with the contemporary animal liberation movement to explore these alternatives in order to definitely assert itself on the social terrain.

Drawn (to) independence: female showrunners in contemporary American TV animation

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on three showrunners: Natasha Allegri (Bee and PuppyCat), Shadi Petosky (Danger & Eggs, co-created with Mike Owens), and Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe). It outlines the ways in which these women—who share a background in independent comics and online art—have taken advantage of emergent online distribution and funding models and the rising influence of fragmented audiences and online fan communities in the post-network era in order to make space for diverse, feminist, and LGBTQ-inclusive narratives and aesthetics. Combining an industry studies approach to the three showrunners’ career trajectories with close analysis of their shows, this article offers insight into a distinctive form of independent female production that thrives at the intersection of twenty-first century television marketing, funding, and distribution strategies and contemporary online fan discourses and practices.

Avoidance Distance in Sheltered Cows and Its Association with Other Welfare Parameters.

Simple SummaryAvoidance distance is an indicator of the welfare of farmed animals, which is routinely included in contemporary animal welfare assessments. Determination of this parameter for cows in traditional Indian shelters is important because the shelters owe their existence due to the concept of non-violence and compassion to animals, which is held by the Hindu majority population in India. These cows have outlived their economic value due to old age, reproductive problems, and/or subsequent abandonment by their owners. Their slaughter is prohibited by law in most Indian states. The avoidance distance test measures the closest distance that a person can approach a cow, which is a measure of whether stockpersons handling the cows in shelters have had a humane and positive relationship with these cows. Association of the avoidance distance was observed with the cows’ health, in particular their dirtiness and extent of musculoskeletal, digestive, and respiratory problems. This study provides information to justify monitoring this critical—but often neglected—aspect of cow shelter management for a sustainable improvement in sheltered cow welfare.The human–animal relationship is an important welfare parameter in animal welfare assessment in cows, and the avoidance distance of cows to a stranger at the feed bunk is measured to assess this relationship. The assessment of the human–animal relationship in cow shelters in India, where old, unproductive, and abandoned cows are sheltered, is important to explore the welfare of cows in these shelters. The cows observed were of indigenous Indian breeds and breeds which were crosses between indigenous breeds and pure bred exotic cows. The human–animal contact in this context is of particular interest for welfare assessment as traditional Indian farming and sheltering systems involves regular close human–animal contact. In a cross-sectional study across 6 states, 54 cow shelters were visited and 30 cows in each shelter were randomly selected (1620 in total) for the assessment of avoidance distance and other cow-based (27 parameters) and resource-based (15 parameters) welfare parameters. Avoidance distance was assessed 1 h after morning feeding. Cows standing at the feeding manger were approached from the front at a rate of one step/s, starting 2 m away from the manger. The distance between the assessor’s hand and the cow’s head was estimated at the moment the cow moved away and turned its head, using a four-point scale (0, touched; 1, 0–50 cm; 2, 51–100 cm; and 3, >100 cm). The majority, 52%, of the cows allowed touch by the assessor and another 32% allowed approach within 50 cm, demonstrating tolerance, or even solicitation of close human–animal relationships by the cows. Avoidance distance increased with the proportion of cows with dirty hind limbs, tarsal joint swellings, and hair loss, and the extent of rumen fill. There was also evidence of reduced avoidance distances in cows with high levels of body condition score (BCS), dirty flanks, tarsal joint ulceration, carpal joint injuries, diarrhoea, hampered respiration, lesions on the body due to traumatic injuries, and body coat condition, probably as a result of moving difficulties. The avoidance distance was thus related to the health and welfare of the cows, providing a vital insight into the factors affecting human–animal contact in the shelters.

In the Sanctuary of Animals: Honoring God’s Creatures through Ritual and Relationship

In the past thirty years, animal blessings and related rituals and ceremonies involving household pets have increased dramatically in the U.S. and abroad. This article will trace this phenomenon to its roots in Scripture, and to the stories, narratives, art, hagiography, and rituals of the ancient and medieval church. It will explore the evolution of the human-animal relationship from early Christianity through the present day, offer examples of contemporary animal blessings and other rituals, and consider the factors that have contributed to the demand for fuller inclusion of animals in the ritual and pastoral life of the church, as well as address some of the ethical and theological challenges this presents.

Investigator Engagement: Somewhat Radical Considerations on Practices to Improve Animal Care Program Compliance.

The authors discuss approaches to bolster investigator engagement, inviting investigators to be partners within the Animal Care Program. Regulatory burden in animal research endeavors continues to be reviewed and critiqued; therefore, this article intends to encourage Animal Care Programs to promote transparency and incorporation of unique educational training initiatives to tailor and focus compliance efforts across research programs. Borrowing from concepts of patient engagement, adherence, and enrollment efforts within the medical profession, it is likely that gains in trust, understanding, and communication between stakeholders within animal programs can be achieved without excessive efforts to alter existing approaches. Institutions will continue to be challenged to balance animal welfare expectations with promotion of research missions. This article provides a framework for somewhat radical ideas, including the use of collaborative orientations, assistance with self-evaluations, timely self-reporting, and meaningful and directed trainings, that are all aimed to resonate in contemporary animal care programs and foster investigator engagement in ongoing compliance efforts.

Publication reform to safeguard wildlife from researcher harm.

Despite abundant focus on responsible care of laboratory animals, we argue that inattention to the maltreatment of wildlife constitutes an ethical blind spot in contemporary animal research. We begin by reviewing significant shortcomings in legal and institutional oversight, arguing for the relatively rapid and transformational potential of editorial oversight at journals in preventing harm to vertebrates studied in the field and outside the direct supervision of institutions. Straightforward changes to animal care policies in journals, which our analysis of 206 journals suggests are either absent (34%), weak, incoherent, or neglected by researchers, could provide a practical, effective, and rapidly imposed safeguard against unnecessary suffering. The Animals in Research: Reporting On Wildlife (ARROW) guidelines we propose here, coupled with strong enforcement, could result in significant changes to how animals involved in wildlife research are treated. The research process would also benefit. Sound science requires animal subjects to be physically, physiologically, and behaviorally unharmed. Accordingly, publication of methods that contravenes animal welfare principles risks perpetuating inhumane approaches and bad science.

Assessing the Efficacy of Genus-Level Data in Archaeomalacology: A Case Study of the Hawaiian Limpet (Cellana spp.), Moloka‘i, Hawaiian Islands

The level to which faunal remains are taxonomically identified is of fundamental importance in zooarchaeological analysis. Species level identifications enable researchers to utilize specific ecological data and facilitate fine-grained reconstructions of human-animal-environment interactions such as prehistoric subsistence strategies, human impact on marine resources, environmental reconstruction, and contemporary animal management. A case study from a late prehistoric habitation complex at Kealapupuakiha, Moloka‘i, Hawaiian Islands, was employed to contrast the importance of genus vs. species-level identifications. Excavations yielded a large, well-preserved shellfish assemblage dominated by three endemic limpet species, Cellana exarata, C. sandwicensis, and C. talcosa. While these three limpets may be distinguished from each other with comprehensive reference collections, they are commonly investigated at the genus level (Cellana). Analyzing Hawaiian limpets to species-level allowed us to characterize the Kealapupuakiha inhabitants as a flexible group of harvesters who adjusted their species-specific subsistence strategies in response to resource fluctuations. We document that species-level determinations yield higher resolution data which is essential for addressing a broader suite of research questions and promotes refined interpretations of the past.

Phosgene-induced lung edema: Comparison of clinical criteria for increased extravascular lung water content with postmortem lung gravimetry and lavage-protein in rats and dogs

Phosgene-induced acute lung injury (ALI) is characterized by a concentration x time (Cxt)-dependent increased pulmonary vascular permeability, phenotypically manifested as potentially life-threatening acute lung edema. In contemporary animal bioassays, the quantification of protein in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) is taken as an unequivocal endpoint suggestive of disruption of alveolar barrier function. However, extravasated protein can only be a surrogate endpoint for assessing the extravascular fluid dynamics of the lung. This pathophysiological hallmark of ALI is diagnosed and quantified in vivo in humans by assessing the accumulation of excess extravascular lung water (EVLW). The Point of Departure (POD) of the Cxt relationship of this adverse outcome pathway should also constitute the basis for setting safe occupational and emergency response values. Unlike the EVLW approach, toxicology-based animal models utilize postmortem analyses of total protein in BAL and lung weights as the basis for human risk assessment. With either approach, it remains difficult to unequivocally evaluate pulmonary edema in terms of etiopathology and specificity, i.e., cardiogenic and hydrostatic versus increased permeability edema. The objective of this paper is to retrospectively analyze the clinical scoring of the severity grades of in vivo EVLWs from humans with the respective postmortem biomarkers BAL protein and collagen versus wet lung weights in rats and dogs exposed by inhalation to phosgene gas. Despite the different methodological approaches taken in humans and animals, the EVLW-based predicted thresholds for the onset of pulmonary edema and potentially life-threatening severe pulmonary edema were in remarkable agreement. Data from dogs appear to more aptly reflect the human etiopathology and should be given preference over data from rodents. Especially in rats, elevations in BAL protein may lead to a marked overestimation of the edematous potency of phosgene due to secreted protein into airways. In summary, increased lung weight in rats and dogs scaled favorably with the human-EVLW and was shown to be the biomarker of choice for the scaling lung edema. Caution is advised when using BAL protein in isolation as a surrogate endpoint of pulmonary edema.

An Animal Turn in Contemporary French Fiction?

While animal characters clearly belong in a literary tradition dating back from antiquity, contemporary animal characters differ from their fictional predecessors in that they are not conceived as anthropomorphised allegorical projections of humanity, but are taken seriously both in terms of their otherness and in terms of their animal individuality. The purpose of this study is to identify certain narrative, enunciative and stylistic innovations from a body of fictional stories that result from the narrative and ethical shift that they put into practice. In short, the objective is to examine the emergence of a narrative that is no longer anthropocentric, but zoocentric, usually within the limited framework of “animal sequences”.

"Feelings and Fitness" Not "Feelings or Fitness"-The Raison d'être of Conservation Welfare, Which Aligns Conservation and Animal Welfare Objectives.

Increasingly, human activities, including those aimed at conserving species and ecosystems (conservation activities) influence not only the survival and fitness but also the welfare of wild animals. Animal welfare relates to how an animal is experiencing its life and encompasses both its physical and mental states. While conservation biology and animal welfare science are both multi-disciplinary fields that use scientific methods to address concerns about animals, their focus and objectives sometimes appear to conflict. However, activities impacting detrimentally on the welfare of individual animals also hamper achievement of some conservation goals, and societal acceptance is imperative to the continuation of conservation activities. Thus, the best outcomes for both disciplines will be achieved through collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Despite this recognition, cross-disciplinary information-sharing and collaborative research and practice in conservation are still rare, with the exception of the zoo context. This paper summarizes key points developed by a group of conservation and animal welfare scientists discussing scientific assessment of wild animal welfare and barriers to progress. The dominant theme emerging was the need for a common language to facilitate cross-disciplinary progress in understanding and safeguarding the welfare of animals of wild species. Current conceptions of welfare implicit in conservation science, based mainly on “fitness” (physical states), need to be aligned with contemporary animal welfare science concepts which emphasize the dynamic integration of “fitness” and “feelings” (mental experiences) to holistically understand animals' welfare states. The way in which animal welfare is characterized influences the way it is evaluated and the emphasis put on different features of welfare, as well as, the importance placed on the outcomes of such evaluations and how that information is used, for example in policy development and decision-making. Salient examples from the New Zealand and Australian context are presented to illustrate. To genuinely progress our understanding and evaluation of wild animal welfare and optimize the aims of both scientific disciplines, conservation and animal welfare scientists should work together to evolve and apply a common understanding of welfare. To facilitate this, we propose the formal development of a new discipline, Conservation Welfare, integrating the expertise of scientists from both fields.

The Animator as Inventor: Labour and the New Animated Machine Comedy of the 2010s

Around 2010, the inventor character started to populate animated blockbusters. Computer 3D animated films and their sequels such as Robots (Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha, 2005), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, 2009), Despicable Me (Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, 2010) and Big Hero 6 (Don Hall and Chris Williams, 2014) all feature inventors and their extravagant machines. In this article, the author explores the inventive artisan character as a self-reflexive trope of the animator. She expands Crafton’s thesis of the animator’s self-figuration and Tom Gunning’s work on machine comedy and operational aesthetics to further discussions on the animator and thereby the labour of animation. The article seeks to reveal the political agenda in the new animated machine comedy of the 2010s, which not only reflects the modes of production of contemporary animation studios, but also the larger concerns in the post-Fordist mode of production.

Animal Disenhancement in Moral Context

To mitigate animal suffering under industrial farming conditions, biotechnology companies are pursuing the development of genetically disenhanced animals. Recent advances in gene editing biotechnology have brought this to reality. In one of the first discussions of the ethics of disenhancement, Thompson argued that it is hard to find compelling reasons to oppose it. We offer an argument against disenhancement that draws upon parallels with human disenhancement, ecofeminism’s concern with the “logic of domination,” and a relational ethic that seeks to preserve a meaningful relationship between farmers and their animals. In addition, we respond to two arguments in favor of animal disenhancement—one grounded in the non-identity problem and one that argues disenhancement is the best we can do to protect animal well-being right now. We argue that animal disenhancement does not address the fundamental issue of oppression of animals in the context of contemporary animal agriculture. Therefore, we conclude that animal disenhancement is not nearly as valuable as it might appear initially.

Wilmar and National University of Singapore set up lab to drive innovation in food-tech and sustainable biochemicals

As a response to the varied environmental, public health, and animal welfare challenges of contemporary animal food production, advocates of plant-based and cell-based animal food alternatives have championed those products as key to feeding the growing global population. This review offers an overview of key arguments in favor of and in opposition to animal product alternatives, and from there situates the debate within literature on food system change. It concludes that animal product alternatives are most likely to be incorporated as reforms within the corporate food regime and are generally incompatible with food sovereignty perspectives. Whether animal product alternatives could align with the food justice approach, however, is less clear. An agenda that operationalizes plant-based and cell-based animal product alternatives through a lens of “food tech justice” might offer a productive path forward for food system health, equity, and sustainability.

On the evolution of extreme structures: static scaling and the function of sexually selected signals

The ‘positive allometry hypothesis’ predicts that ornaments and weapons of sexual selection will scale steeply when among-individual variation in trait size is compared with variation in overall body size. Intuitive and striking, this idea has been explored in hundreds of contemporary animal species and sparked controversy in palaeobiology over the function of exaggerated structures in dinosaurs and other extinct lineages. Recently, however, challenges to this idea have raised questions regarding the validity of the hypothesis. We address this controversy in two ways. First, we suggest the positive allometry hypothesis be applied only to morphological traits that function as visual signals of individual body size. Second, because steep scaling slopes make traits better signals than other body parts, we propose that tests of the positive allometry hypothesis compare the steepness of the scaling relationships of focal, putative signal traits to those of other body parts in the same organism (rather than to an arbitrary slope of 1). We provide data for a suite of 29 extreme structures and show that steep scaling relationships are common when structures function as signals of relative body size, but not for comparably extreme structures that function in other contexts. We discuss these results in the context of animal signalling and sexual selection, and conclude that patterns of static scaling offer powerful insight into the evolution and function of disproportionately large, or extreme, animal structures. Finally, using data from a ceratopsid dinosaur and a pterosaur, we show that our revised test can be applied to fossil assemblages, making this an exciting and powerful method for gleaning insight into the function of structures in extinct taxa.

Contemporary animal advocacy in Italy

In spite of the great tradition in social movement studies, Italy completely lacks any contribution regarding animal advocacy from the point of view of political sociology. This is despite the fact that, as in the rest of Western societies, interest in the wellbeing, rights and status of non-human animals is growing. This can be seen both among the general population and in the very varied organised forms of welfare and activism. In this article, we will investigate this internal differentiation, starting from an initial stratification in welfare, protectionism and anti-speciesism, and focusing in particular on the following two aspects: ethical values; and political ‘careers’ and multi-membership affiliations. The investigation was accomplished by means of 20 semi-structured interviews and an online questionnaire answered by 704 volunteers and activists. The tripartition hypothesised was confirmed, although with a few exceptions: more progressive values emerged among anti-speciesists, and conservative positions among protectionists and welfarists, but the overall spectrum is characterised by utilitarian perspectives. Similarly, previous experience in the specific field of animal advocacy is typical of the protectionist area, while anti-speciesists also come from other opposition movements.

Ethical dilemmas encountered by small animal veterinarians: challenging the status quo?

Ethical dilemmas frequently arise in veterinary practice and can be a cause of work-related stress. The study by Kipperman and others,1 summarised on p 548 of this week’s Vet Record...

Character Design in Indonesian Animated Series: Escaping The Shadow of Foreign Hegemony

Whilst animated series, whether it’s a TV series or web series is a relatively new media in Indonesia, it has gone through a significant process. One of the interesting aspects that we can observe from it is the development of the character design. It’s undeniable that foreign hegemony contributed in major parts of the design but we can’t overlook the efforts in finding Indonesia’s very own unique character design and how it affects the successors. This paper will study the character designs of Indonesia animated series from the earliest known to the latest to date when this paper is written. The method used is comparative descriptive case study, the research focus is the design character of contemporary Indonesian animation and then compared with foreign animation character design, in this study primarily is animation of Japan and the United States as the dominant power in both areas. By conducting case studies, this study aimed to develop in-depth analysis of the subject matter of the character designs in terms of aspects that enrich the visual and qualitative approach.
 Keywords: character design, Indonesia animation, animated web series, animated TV series

Aristotelian Ethics and Veganism

I argue that ethical veganism and animal rights activism is preferable to a moral relativist approach to vegetarianism and animal use, even in cases of activism labeled “extreme.” The moral relativist says that being a vegetarian or a meat eater is a matter of personal choice. I argue that the strong commitments of ethical vegans and animal rights activists are admirable from a virtue ethics perspective; they are not extreme. On the contrary, they accord with the ideal that Aristotle called the "Golden Mean." Aristotle himself was not vegan. He viewed the universe in a fundamentally hierarchical way and would have had no objections to the human use of animals. However, he believed in the idea of a Natural Law, and this can be used to support contemporary ethical veganism and animal rights activism. If animals possess rights, then it is the moral duty (rather than personal choice) of every human to stop his or her consumption of animal products. From this perspective, the harms that may be caused by veganism (particularly economic harms) are of lesser significance than the value of veganism and animal rights activism. The moral relativist argument against the alleged extremism of ethical vegans is improper. The highly controversial tactics employed by some vegan and animal rights activists including the use of violence, harassment and property damage can be understood as reasonable and morally necessary from a virtue ethics perspective if we extend our concept of moral community to include all sentient beings.

Human Striatal Response to Reward Anticipation Linked to Hippocampal Glutamate Levels.

BackgroundDysfunctional reward processing is associated with a number of psychiatric disorders, such as addiction and schizophrenia. It is thought that reward is regulated mainly by dopamine transmission in the ventral striatum. Contemporary animal models suggest that striatal dopamine concentrations and associated behaviors are related to glutamatergic functioning in the ventral hippocampus. However, in humans the association between reward-related ventral striatal response and hippocampal glutamate levels is unclear.MethodsNineteen healthy participants were studied using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure hippocampal glutamate levels, and functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess striatal activation and functional connectivity during performance of a monetary incentive delay task.ResultsWe found that ventral striatal activation related to reward processing was correlated with hippocampal glutamate levels. In addition, context-dependent functional coupling was demonstrated between the ventral striatum and both the lingual gyrus and hippocampus during reward anticipation. Elevated hippocampal glutamate levels were inversely related to context-dependent functional connectivity between the ventral striatum and the anterior hippocampus while anticipating reward.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that human striatal responses to reward are influenced by hippocampal glutamate levels. This may be relevant for psychiatric disorders associated with abnormal reward processing such as addiction and schizophrenia.

Abstract TP420: Variability in Functional Outcome Measures Used in Contemporary Animal Models of Stroke and Vascular Cognitive Impairment

Functional measures are recommended as primary outcome within clinical stroke trials but there is substantial heterogeneity in the assessments used. There may be a similar lack of consistency to outcome assessment in preclinical studies. Our aim was to collate studies using animal models of stroke and vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) and describe the functional assessment measures used. A focused literature search was conducted across 14 chosen journals. Inclusion was limited to original articles describing preclinical research in stroke or VCI, published between January 2005 and December 2015 inclusive. Complete articles were reviewed for functional assessments used in each trial. Primary analyses were numbers of functional tests used; frequency of use of each test and temporal trends. Of 91,956 stroke articles screened, 1,303 studies were analyzed, of these 609 did not report any functional measures and 56 had no access to full article, giving 638 articles for final analysis. For VCI, 56 papers were assessed in full, of these 16 reported no functional measures, giving 37 papers for final analysis. In stroke trials, 559 (89%) used an ischemic and 94 (14%) a hemorrhagic model. In VCI studies, 11 different models were found, with global hypoperfusion being the most common, applied in 11 (30%) articles. Of studies analyzed, the median number of tests applied per trial was 1 in both cases with only 9% of stroke trials and 16% of VCI trials reporting functional measures as primary end points. There were 74 different assessments described in stroke trials, consisting of functional tasks and neurological deficit scores (NDS). Rotarod was the most frequent assessment (15% of trials), and Bederson’s the most frequently used NDS (39% of trials). In VCI studies, there were 19 different assessments employed, with Morris Water Maze (MWM) being most popular (56% of studies). Marked inconsistencies were found in physical and functional characteristics of all assessments reported. There is heterogeneity amongst and lack of prioritizing the use of outcome measures in pre-clinical trials. These inconsistencies compromise comparison and meta-analysis. Thus, a consensus of core-set functional outcome assessments could improve consistency in animal stroke and VCI models.