Royal Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals Research Articles

Assessing perceptions of flea and tick infestation risk in Southeast Queensland, Australia

Social cognitive models are useful for improving our understanding of the relationship between people's health beliefs and disease risks and have been widely employed in human medicine. In veterinary science, there is little research about owners' perceptions of pet health and parasitic infections/infestations, despite the risk of transmission of zoonotic pathogens by ectoparasites. This study investigated the effects of demographic factors on pet owner's perception of ectoparasite infestation risk and behaviours related to animal health in southeast Queensland, Australia employing the Health Belief Model (HBM). A total of 241 dog owners were surveyed in 2018. The electronic survey was generated through SurveyMonkey and distributed utilising UQ SVS and Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) email networks, informative posters and brochures placed in selected veterinary clinics, and in-person visits to dog parks. The relationship between dog owners' perception of flea and tick infestation risk was assessed using an adaptation of the Health Belief Model, social cognitive framework for health protection. Most survey respondents were between 26 and 45 years of age (40%), identified themselves as females (83%) and had a bachelor's degree (43%). Our results indicate that female owners had greater level of health concern related to ectoparasites compared to males. Similarly, owners aged 18 to 25, with a grade 10 to 12 level of attained education and living predominately in a rural setting showed greater level of health concern related to ectoparasite infestations. The results also indicated that cat owners had on average, higher levels of health concern than dog owners. Our study indicates that the perceptions of pet owners towards perception of flea and tick infestation risk varies demographically, and owner education is an important predictor of prevention behaviours towards tick and flea infestation of pets.

When cat rescue fails — Part 1. Lion-clip shaving, enilconazole bathing and oral itraconazole treatment failed to control an iatrogenic Microsporum canis outbreak in a shelter: but a novel ophytrium-chlorhexidine shampoo and mousse treatment succeeded in the home

OBJECTIVE: To identify the reason(s) for failure to prevent repeated nosocomial dermatophyte infection of shelter cats and to present alternative strategies which are less stressful to the cats and humans involved. ANIMALS: The Dorset branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) seized 30 of 32 Persian cats from a cat breeder on the 2nd of August 2019 and put them into Ashley Heath RSPCA shelter. Two cats and three dogs were left at home. All 30 cats were returned to their guardian in July 2020. Three cats died between 2020 and 2022, leaving 29 cats which were seized on the 8th of March 2022 and put into two RSPCA shelters. The dogs were not seized. Four cats were later euthanased. METHODS: RSPCA Animal Treatment Reports along with photographs used for evidence in the court case against the breeder and the veterinary records of their primary veterinary surgeon were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Clinical signs of dermatophytosis occurred on the index_ _case one week after dematting with clippers in August 2019. _Microsporum canis_ (_M. canis) _was cultured from 27 of 30 (90%)_ _cats on the 39th day of the Ashley Heath shelter stay in 2019. _M. canis_ infection could only have been acquired while in RSPCA care because the incubation period from infection to development of clinical signs for _M. canis_ is one to three weeks, and there was no history of ringworm in their home. Efforts to control the ringworm outbreak in the shelter included lion clipping, weekly enilconazole bathing and oral itraconazole (EI treatment) for five or seven weeks until culture negative. Six cats became culture positive again in 2020. Cats were housed in pairs in 2019 to 2020 and singly in 2022, therefore transmission was indirect (i.e. via fomites). Two cats remained positive when the cats were returned to their guardian in 2020, all 30 were treated with a single ophytrium-chlorhexidine (Douxo S3 Pyo) shampoo followed by ophytrium-chlorhexidine mousse rubbed into their fur for three weeks. It was reasonable to conclude that the ophytrium-chlorhexidine treatment had cleared the _M. canis_ infection for the following six reasons: first no cat developed clinical signs of dermatophytosis during the 20 months in their home. Second, no obvious ringworm lesions were seen on the photographs taken for evidence and third, no veterinary surgeon noted in the records any lesions suspicious of dermatophytosis during the examination of the cats within days of them being seized again in March 2022. Fourth: no positive dermatophyte results were produced as evidence during the trial (ringworm charges against the owner were dropped). Fifth: three of four dermatophyte tests performed on EI untreated cats were negative and samples from the positive cat were after three months in the shelter. Sixth: no EI treatment was administered until the cats had been in the shelters again for two and a half months. Nevertheless, shelter staff assumed ringworm infection from the arrival of the cats in 2022 and again subjected them to the stressful shaving/bathing/itraconazole protocol. CLINICAL RELEVANCE AND CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of ophytrium-chlorhexidine for treatment and prevention of _M. canis _in cats. We recommend shelter staff be trained in basic barrier nursing and be educated regarding the difference between true dermatophyte infection versus fomite carriage.

Dealing with a Multi-Rabbit Household When Breeding is Uncontrolled

Abstract The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) was called to help an owner with a large number of rabbits living on a domestic property. As often happens in these situations, the owner initially acquired a pair of rabbits which quickly bred, and because the owner had no knowledge of their reproductive systems, the numbers quickly spiralled. At first, the owner was reluctant to engage but over time realised that help was needed, not just for the rabbits but for themselves too. It became clear that they were not intentionally causing suffering to their animals, but had become overwhelmed and did not know how to get support. Over a period of time, the RSPCA built a trusting relationship with the owner and was able to reduce the number of rabbits in their home by removing them into the care of the charity where they were triaged and the majority were rehabilitated and rehomed. While the overall living conditions were poor, the rabbits were fed a hay-based diet and had access to conspecifics, so these needs were met in terms of diet and social opportunities. The rabbits were free-roaming and had space to meet the need to be able to move with different gaits and stretch. However, evidence of aggressive encounters indicates social and space needs were only partially met as there was no opportunity for individuals to move right away to set up separate compatible social groups. The owner was supported in their desire to keep a small group of four rabbits; the property was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected and became a suitable place for the remaining rabbits to live. These rabbits were provided with veterinary treatment including neutering to ensure this situation was prevented from happening again. Additionally, the RSPCA signposted the owner to other organisations for ongoing support with their own health and wellbeing. Information © The Author 2024

Do Animal Welfare Education Campaigns Really Work? An Evaluation of the RSPCA’s #DogKind Campaign in Raising Awareness of Separation-Related Behaviours in UK Dog Owners

One of the main aims of companion animal welfare charities is to educate the public about the needs of animals. This is frequently performed through campaigns focusing on specific aspects of welfare. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Britain’s biggest animal welfare charity, launched the nationwide #DogKind campaign in March 2019. Targeted mainly at 25–34-year-olds, the campaign aimed to increase awareness of separation-related behaviour (SRB) among dog owners and encourage them to seek help for SRB from reliable sources. This research involved a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group design evaluating the campaign’s effectiveness. It was conducted through a series of online surveys at three different time points: before the launch of the campaign (n = 2002), six months after (n = 2423), and, again, two months later (n = 269), during which we asked the same questions regarding knowledge of SRB. An experimental trial of 269 participants tested whether accessing a video alongside the campaign web pages increased the effectiveness of the campaign objectives. Overall, the campaign appeared to be effective in reaching its target audience but not at raising awareness of SRB or increasing the number of owners intending to seek help. The inclusion of a video in the campaign made no difference to its effectiveness. This study shows that this campaign had limited success in achieving its targets and highlights the importance of thorough evaluations of education interventions that aim to improve the welfare of companion animals.

Analysis of exotic pathogens found in a large group of imported dogs following an animal welfare investigation.

Increased dog relocation can cause dissemination of pathogen and vector populations, and this is being recognised in countries across Northern Europe, including the UK. Data regarding the prevalence of exotic infections in dogs entering the UK would be beneficial to veterinarians to help assess pets entering the UK from abroad and to help calculate the risk of establishment of novel pathogens. This study reports the findings from a group of imported dogs that was seized as part of a Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA)-led animal welfare investigationand subsequently blood tested for exotic pathogens. As part of the RSPCA investigation, 151 dogs were removed from the site. Blood tests were performed for Babesia canis, Ehrlichia canis, Hepatozoon canis and Leishmania infantum by PCR, Brucella canis by antibody serology and Dirofilaria immitis by blood antigen. In addition to pathogen screening, a serology titre for rabies was measured for each dog. A clinical examination was performed by a veterinary surgeon, and clinical signs were recorded. Overall, 24% (32/133) of the dogs tested positive for an infection with one or more exotic pathogens. Two dogs were positive for Br. canis antibodies and had no clinical signs indicative of infection. Leishmania was identified in 10.5% (14/133) of dogs, and all but two of these were implanted with microchips of Romanian origin. H. canis was identified in 9.6% (10/104) of dogs, all of whom had a Romanian microchip. D. immitis was identified in 4.1% (5/121) of dogs, B. canis in 2.3% (3/129) of dogs and E. canis in only 1.5% (2/131) of dogs tested. Only four dogs were found to have co-infections. No significant association was found between the pathogens detected and presenting clinical signs. This was a group of rescued dogs that were tested for a range of pathogens. They were not randomly selected and as such do not represent the true prevalence of these pathogens in dogs imported into the UK. This study demonstrates a range of exotic pathogens entering the UK, including Br. canis, and demonstrates the importance of screening imported dogs. The emphasis on early recognition of exotic pathogens in imported dogs has relied on screening based on relevant clinical signs and the country of origin. While these factors are useful, this study demonstrated no significant association between presenting clinical signs and the pathogens carried.

Genuine Concern for Animals in England's Nineteenth-Century Animal Protection Movement: The Case Against Reductionist Interpretations

Animal–human history is an increasingly popular area of historical research.1 Diana Donald's 2020 book, Women Against Cruelty: Protection of Animals in Nineteenth-Century Britain is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of animal protection and the role women have played in moral reform movements. Starting from the premise that the prevention of cruelty to animals is “a pure product of the nineteenth century” (p. 7), this dazzling book takes its reader through a wide range of important topics such as the early history of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), differences between men and women's attitudes toward animals, and the role women played in humane education.2 This review will particularly highlight the way that Donald consistently attacks reductionist theses that discount the genuine concern women had for animals in the nineteenth-century British animal protection movement, and how her interpretations consistently refocus our attention on historical evidence of that genuine concern.

Women Against Cruelty: Protection of Animals in Nineteenth-Century Britain, by Diana Donald

Reviewed by: Women Against Cruelty: Protection of Animals in Nineteenth-Century Britain by Diana Donald Juliana Adelman (bio) Women Against Cruelty: Protection of Animals in Nineteenth-Century Britain, by Diana Donald; pp. xiii + 282. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020, £85.00, $130.00. Animals are now firmly ensconced in the narrative of the Victorian era, and Diana Donald's work is one reason for this. Donald's 2008 Picturing Animals in Britain remains key reading for scholars interested in the role of animals in society. Donald's most recent book, Women Against Cruelty: Protection of Animals in Nineteenth-Century Britain, presents an interesting contrast to this previous work. On the cover of Picturing Animals is Edwin landseer's portrait of the lion tamer Isaac Van Amburgh reclining among his beasts, and most of the subsequent images feature men and animals. One exception is Joseph Wright's painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768). The image dramatically contrasts female and male responses to the experiment, which will kill the bird by depriving it of air. Women Against Cruelty picks up on exactly such tensions involving the gendered nature of animal welfare debates and the development of animal protection. In the introduction, Donald makes the point that, while campaigns against animal cruelty have been well studied, the focus of analysis has been on issues other than animal welfare, and has also ignored the importance of women's contributions. Donald provides a succinct and useful review of the advent of British animal protection laws and their relationship to other reforms, such as abolition. Chapter 1 draws attention to women of the late Georgian period who wrote against animal cruelty. This chapter sometimes reads like a catalog of works that have not been analyzed fully or brought to bear on a central argument. However, the chapter does make clear that, like their male counterparts, many female advocates for animal welfare were nonconforming in religion and sympathetic to abolition. Chapters 2 through 5 offer significant insights into both the importance of women to the animal welfare movement and gendered ideas about the treatment of animals and their role in society. Other authors (myself included) have acknowledged the gendered dimension to ideas about animals without deeply questioning its significance or its broader effects, including our unexamined acceptance of it as a byproduct of Victorian gender roles. Through her examination of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and its cognate organizations and publications, as well as the anti-vivisection movement, Donald places women at the center of a tumultuous century of changing ideas about animal-human relationships. Frances Power Cobbe, Angela Burdett-Coutts, and Anna Sewell are all familiar names to students of the animal welfare movement. Donald's contributions are to draw attention to lesser-known advocates and to delve more deeply into the particulars of [End Page 316] women's engagement in anti-cruelty. In chapter 2, for example, Donald shows that the early RSPCA was poorer and probably less powerful for its reluctance to accept women fully into its activities. That reluctance was based not only in a separate spheres mentality, but also in concern about how women's involvement might reduce the appeal of the society's message. By the mid-century, however, women's committees and women-led initiatives around humanity to animals began to proliferate and were generally supported by the RSPCA. Chapter 3 looks at the rise of some of these initiatives, such as providing drinking troughs for working and food animals and homes for lost or stray pets. To the frustration of people like Cobbe and Burdett-Coutts, women's committees within branches of the RSPCA remained separate and their activities constrained. Chapter 4 looks at the obstacles to humane education created by ideas of appropriate masculine and feminine behavior and modes of thinking. Activities like the Band of Mercy had difficulty attracting older boys because of entrenched ideals of gendered behavior. The great impact of Black Beauty (1877), as Donald sees it, was due in part to its ostensibly masculine style of writing. Sewell managed to break the mold of traditionally feminine writing about humanity to animals, thus ensuring...

The Political Lives of Victorian Animals: Liberal Creatures in Literature and Culture, by Anna Feuerstein

Reviewed by: The Political Lives of Victorian Animals: Liberal Creatures in Literature and Culture by Anna Feuerstein Maneesha Deckha (bio) The Political Lives of Victorian Animals: Liberal Creatures in Literature and Culture, by Anna Feuerstein; pp. xi + 250. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019, $99.99, $80.00 ebook, £75.00. Anna Feuerstein's The Political Lives of Victorian Animals: Liberal Creatures in Literature and Culture demonstrates how domesticated animals (working animals and pets, both contested terms) were made into liberal subjects during the Victorian era, and how novels that focused on the everyday lives of Victorians contested the entwined anthropocentric, class-based, and imperial limits of the particular liberal subjectivities assigned to animals. Feuerstein theorizes Victorian animal subjectivity and animal agency through the prism of literature and politics, contributing to Victorian studies, animal studies, and liberal political analysis in doing so. There are six topical chapters spread out over three parts. In the first two chapters, the author analyzes British anti-cruelty legislation in the nineteenth century and the surrounding animal welfare discourse in civil society through Foucauldian theories of governmentality, biopower, and pastoral power. Feuerstein unpacks how politicians and animal welfare organizations advocated against prevailing Lockean views of animals as property for human use, but only through reinforcing prevailing liberal expectations about proper character for humans and animals. She shows how legislative debates and activist literature, particularly the increasingly influential Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) publication Animal World (c. 1869–79), sought to inculcate compassion for animals among the working and middle classes. They did this by emphasizing the pastoral power of the government over animals (expecting humans to care for and be kind toward animals) and animals' desire to submit to human governance and thus abide by liberal dictates about moral character and individualism (animals were presented as content to provide their labor or companionship, asking only to be treated well). Feuerstein identifies the paradoxical nature of such liberal advocacy that challenges animals' political exclusion and individual property rights at the same time [End Page 135] that it shores up the anthropocentric foundation of liberalism. She juxtaposes the liberal, "silent on vegetarianism" (85) position of Animal World with the non-liberal, socialist "animal politics" of the London Vegetarian Society that claimed kinship with animals (90). But it is to Victorian "novels that purport to represent quotidian life" that Feuerstein primarily turns in her remaining four chapters to showcase contestation of liberal ideologies about human-animal relations (9), even as these novels confirm that "liberalism's obsession with cognition and its [governmental] regulation extended to the animal world" (11). In part two, "Democracy, Education, and Alternative Subjectivity," Feuerstein shows how ascending liberal narratives about democracy, education, and civilization directed at middle and lower classes as well as children emphasized kindness to (some) animals. In part three, "The Biopolitics of Animal Capital," Feuerstein highlights the biopolitical management of animals at home (cows and sheep) and abroad in settler colonies (ostriches in South Africa). All four chapters reveal how liberal anthropocentric ideas that denied animals their alterity bolstered ideologies about class, race, and gender. Such ideologies framed human Others as ideal citizens who accepted humanity's dominion over animals but also respected the property and power of the upper classes and consolidated British national identity and imperial sovereignty. In the second half of each chapter, Feuerstein demonstrates how novels challenged the liberal regulation into which animals' lives were inscribed, contributing a critical animal studies angle to the readings that these novels have attracted heretofore. The book shines in these analyses. For example, Feuerstein traces an anti-liberal animal character and alternative subjectivities in Charles Dickens's rendering of minor animal characters in Oliver Twist (1838), Barnaby Rudge (1841), and Hard Times (1854), distilling a radical politics that nuances previous literary discussion of Dickens's investment in shoring up middle-class virtue. Feuerstein notes how Dickens challenges the pastoral power in legislation and RSPCA advocacy through contradicting dominant expectations for animal loyalty and virtuous conduct by ascribing agency and anti-class-hierarchy sensibility to animal characters. Feuerstein thus counters the sentimental and melodramatic classifications in Poor Law literature that Dickens's works otherwise have...

BEM-ESTAR ANIMAL: CARACTERIZAÇÃO DA AMBIÊNCIA E DO MANEJO NA PRODUÇÃO E ABATE DE FRANGOS DE CORTE

O modelo de produção mais utilizado na avicultura brasileira é o sistema de integração entre produtores e frigoríficos, o que permite a análise completa da cadeia produtiva e o estudo sistematizado da correlação entre estrutura, manejo e ambiente proporcionado às aves. Diante deste cenário, objetivou-se identificar os principais pontos vulneráveis da cadeia produtiva de frangos de corte relacionados à ambiência e ao manejo, caracterizando o nível de atendimento das normas de bem-estar animal (BEA) em estabelecimentos de criação e abate de aves, localizados no Sudoeste Goiano. Desta forma, procedeu-se à verificação de recomendações norteadas pelas diretrizes da Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) e da Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) em vinte granjas e três frigoríficos distribuídos pela região amostrada. Os dados foram analisados pelo método descritivo. Como resultado, foram observadas falhas técnicas, de manejo e estruturais nas etapas pré-abate, bem como nos procedimentos industriais nos estabelecimentos avaliados, além da total ausência de enriquecimento ambiental.

The Legal Regulation of Non-stun Slaughter: Balancing Religious Freedom, Non-discrimination and Animal Welfare

In February 2019, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and the British Veterinary Association (BVA) published a joint open letter to the British Government calling for a repeal of a legal exemption that permits the slaughter of animals without prior stunning. The RSPCA and BVA argue that repealing the exemption is required on grounds of animal welfare, claiming that non-stun slaughter causes unnecessary pain and suffering. By contrast, Islamic and Jewish groups assert that non-stun slaughter, when properly conducted, is both humane and a religious requirement for least some followers of their faiths. This article considers whether imposing a ban on non-stun slaughter is compatible with obligations to protect religious freedom and non-discrimination under the European Convention of Human Rights. It will conclude that it can be and, when done to protect animal welfare, falls within Contracting States’ margin of appreciation.

The Sooner the Better: The Arguments for the Use of Extended Welfare Assessment Grids in Animal Welfare Cases

Animals are protected under national animal welfare legislation, against intentional acts of cruelty and a failure to act, resulting in neglect and causing an animal to suffer. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) bears the responsibility of investigating and prosecuting the majority of animal welfare offences in England and Wales. In recent years, how they operate has been criticised, and it has been debated whether they should be able to bring private prosecutions, and what their role should actually be. This criticism calls for a change in the way in which the RSPCA approach cases of animal welfare, to strengthen their continuing role in ensuring positive animal welfare is achieved and, where not, prosecuted. This paper outlines the need for a new approach and how it can be managed. Honess and Wolfensohn (Altern Lab Anim 38:205, 2010) have developed an Extended Welfare Assessment Grid (EWAG), a visualisation mapping tool of welfare impact, which has been useful for assessing the welfare of animals used in laboratories. This tool has proven so useful, veterinarians are now using it in veterinary hospitals to help assess whether an animal is likely to further deteriorate, due to disease and illness, and to show any short-term welfare impact on the animal (Williams in UFAW conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2018). This paper will explore the potential for the EWAG to be adapted to assess the welfare of animals when owners are not meeting the welfare needs of their companion animals. RSPCA can use it to support their assessments of the current welfare of an animal under a person’s ownership and whether the animal’s welfare will deteriorate should they remain under that ownership. The EWAG will be a useful tool for those working in animal welfare, such as the RSPCA, to help organisations to intervene earlier, work in partnership with an owner, and support their claims of a risk to animal welfare.

The Cat Desexing Policies and Activities of Private Veterinary Practices in Queensland.

Simple SummaryThe Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) shelters around Australia take in hundreds of unwanted adult cats and kittens each year. Widespread desexing (or sterilizing) of cats before they have a chance to become pregnant would reduce numbers of kittens born, and hence, would be expected to reduce numbers of cats entering shelters. Veterinarians have an important role to play in promoting desexing of cats before they reach puberty, and this paper reports on a survey conducted to describe Queensland veterinary practice policies and activities. We ascertained ages that veterinarians recommended for desexing of cats, ages at which desexing actually occurs, what veterinary practices are doing to promote desexing, and what the respondents see as the barriers to desexing before puberty.Cats are prolific breeders, and if most cats were desexed prior to puberty, numbers of unwanted cats and kittens, and hence numbers entering shelters, would be expected to decline. Although traditionally in Australia it has been reported that 90% of veterinary clients’ cats are desexed, there are still hundreds of cats and kittens that end up unwanted and in shelter care annually. In this study, we surveyed Queensland veterinary practices to describe ages that veterinarians are recommending cats should be desexed at, ages at which desexing actually occurs, what veterinary practices are doing to promote desexing of cats, and what veterinarians see as the barriers to desexing of cats before puberty. A questionnaire was developed and sent to all veterinary practices in Queensland. The response rate was 50%. Almost 45% of respondents recommended desexing at the traditional age of 6 months, which is later than puberty in most cats; for more than 56% of practices, the actual average age at which desexing occurred was at least 6 months; and in a substantial proportion of practices, when desexed, high percentages of cats had already had litters. Most practices took steps to encourage their clients to have their cats desexed, and most thought these steps were effective. The results from this study suggest that although veterinarians generally agree that cats should be desexed prior to having their first litter, recommended and actual desexing ages are commonly too late to ensure this is achieved. Better understanding is required about both the likely impact of more veterinary practices recommending and conducting desexing before puberty on numbers of unwanted cats and numbers surrendered to shelters, and the drivers of age at which cats are desexed. This could inform strategies to reduce numbers of unwanted cats.

Orígenes del movimiento proteccionista: algunos conceptos y fundamentos

Desde 1824 con la creación de la Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) en Londres, las protectoras destinaron su tiempo a desarrollar acciones en defensa de un mundo más respetuoso con el medio ambiente, y ello desde varios niveles: la lucha desde el marco legal que permitiera una normativa cada vez más consecuente con el mundo animal y vegetal; las movilizaciones desde grandes ciudades hasta pequeñas poblaciones para evitar acciones inhumanas desde la cotidianeidad, el modelo socioeconómico y el ocio; y el desarrollo de un corpus teórico y una vanguardia propagandista, pedagógica y formativa. Muchos de los fundamentos ideológicos que dieron base a estos proteccionistas decimonónicos –anotamos al británico Salt entre otros‒, provinieron de la evolución teórica acerca de las actitudes morales para con los animales y la naturaleza –Grecia, sociedades cristianas y orientales, renacimiento, racionalismo, utilitarismo y contractualismo principalmente‒. Reflejamos desde la perspectiva cultural proteccionista cómo se produjo este tránsito desde los primeros conceptos, hasta la consolidación de una teoría sensible con el medioambiente en el escenario de las sociedades modernas e industriales de Europa y América.

Mental health of animal hoarders: a study of consecutive cases in New South Wales.

Objective The aim of this study was to review animal hoarding cases referred to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in New South Wales (NSW) to examine mental health factors that influence the development of animal hoarding and to consider strategies for dealing with such cases. Methods Data were gathered by RSPCA inspectors regarding consecutive cases referred to the agency over 2 years. Result Details were provided about animals and 50 identified hoarders (11 male, 39 female; mean age 57 years) on 48 properties. The mean number of animals per case was 53 (range 6-300). Fifteen participants (30%) were known to have had involvement with mental health or social services. Mental health factors appeared to contribute to animal hoarding in well over 50% of cases. Severe and moderate squalor were observed in 52% and 21% of dwellings assessed respectively, many with accumulated rubbish. Conclusions Animal hoarding is largely attributable to psychological and psychiatric problems. It is recommended that clinical services work alongside animal welfare inspectorates, assessing (and, where appropriate, treating) such problems. What is known about the topic? Animal hoarding is believed to be partly attributable to the hoarders having psychiatric or psychological problems, but relevant mental health assessment of hoarders is not usually arranged. Recidivism after removal of animals is nearly 100%. What does this paper add? The study confirms that animal hoarders commonly have mental health issues. However, RSPCA inspectors are not expected to screen for such issues or refer cases to mental health clinicians. What are the implications for practitioners? There is good reason to develop clinical services to help animal hoarders deal with their psychological or psychiatric problems.

Socioeconomic Influences on Reports of Canine Welfare Concerns to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in Queensland, Australia.

Simple SummaryThe role of the socioeconomic status of dog owners in canine welfare concerns is not fully understood. We conducted a retrospective study of 107,597 canine welfare complaints attended by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Queensland from 2008 to 2018. We explored the relationship between the owner’s socioeconomic status and reported (rather than confirmed) complaints about welfare of dogs. The socioeconomic status of the owner was estimated from the postcode of where the alleged welfare issue occurred, using government statistics for Socio-Economic Indexes of different regions of Australia. Reported complaints were correlated with socioeconomic scores. There was a lower median socioeconomic score in our study group compared to the entire Queensland state, indicating that alleged canine welfare concerns were more likely to be reported in areas with inhabitants of low socioeconomic status. The status was also low if the complaint was about a crossbred rather than a purebred dog. Among the purebred dogs, complaints involving working dogs, terriers, and utility breeds were associated with the lowest socioeconomic scores. The following complaints were associated with low socioeconomic status: cruelty, insufficient food and/or water, a dog not being exercised, a dog being confined/tethered, failure to provide shelter or treatment, overcrowding, a dog being in poor condition or living in poor conditions. Increased status was observed in alleged cases of a dog being left in a hot car unattended.Human–dog relationships are an important contributor to the welfare of dogs, but little is known about the importance of socioeconomic status of the dogs’ owners. We conducted a retrospective study of canine welfare complaints, using Australian government statistics on the socioeconomic status of the inhabitants at the location of the alleged welfare issue. The socioeconomic score of inhabitants at the relevant postcode was assumed to be that of the plaintiff. Our dataset included 107,597 complaints that had been received by RSPCA Queensland between July 2008 and June 2018, each with the following information: the number of dogs involved, dog(s) age, breed(s), suburb, postcode, date received, and complaint code(s) (describing the type of complaint). The median index score for relative social advantage of the locations where the alleged welfare concern occurred was less than the median score for the population of Queensland, suggesting that welfare concerns in dogs were more commonly reported in areas with inhabitants of low socioeconomic status. It was also less if the dog being reported was not of a recognised breed, compared to dogs of recognised breeds. Dogs reported to be in the gundog breed group were in the most socioeconomically advantaged postcodes, followed by toy, hound, non-sporting, working dog, terrier, and utility breed groups. Reports of alleged cruelty, insufficient food and/or water, a dog being not exercised or being confined/tethered, failure to provide shelter or treatment, overcrowding, a dog being in poor condition or living in poor conditions were most likely to be made in relation to dogs in low socioeconomic postcodes. Reports of dogs being left in a hot vehicle unattended were more likely to be made in relation to dogs in high socioeconomic postcodes. It is concluded that both canine welfare complaints and dogs in specific breed groups appear to be related to the owner’s socioeconomic status. This study may be used to improve public awareness and to tailor educational campaigns toward different populations.

Breed Group Effects on Complaints about Canine Welfare Made to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Queensland, Australia.

Simple SummaryThis retrospective study involves 107,597 dog welfare complaints received by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Queensland from 2008 to 2018. Results show that, compared to pure breed dogs, cross-breed dogs were more likely to be reported in welfare complaints. Poisoning, lack of veterinary support, abuse, and being left unattended in a hot vehicle were common complaints in pure breed dogs; while insufficient shelter, exercise and food/water, as well as overcrowding and abandonment, were more commonly reported in cross breed dogs. Utility breeds, terriers and working dogs were most likely to be reported, while toy, non-sporting breeds and gundogs were least likely to be reported. Common complaint types for utility dogs were: insufficient food/water, shelter and exercise, and poor living conditions; for terriers: abandonment, intentional abuses and killing or injuring another animal; for working dogs: insufficient food/water, shelter and exercise; for toy dogs: lack of veterinary care, overcrowding and staying in a hot vehicle alone; for non-sporting dogs: lack of veterinary care, being left in a hot vehicle unattended and poor body conditions; and for hounds: killing or injuring another animal, intentional abuses and poor body conditions.Cruelty- and neglect-related canine welfare concerns are important welfare and social issues. Dog breed has been identified as a risk factor for bad welfare, and yet its role in different types of canine welfare concerns has not been fully investigated. We conducted a retrospective study of 107,597 dog welfare complaints received by RSPCA Queensland from July 2008 to June 2018. The breed of the dog involved in the incident was either recorded as stated by the complainant or by the inspector attending the case. Dog breed was divided into groups following the Australian National Kennel Club nomenclature. Dogs of a non-recognised breed were more likely to be reported in welfare complaints than recognised breed dogs. Recognised breed dogs had a greater risk of being reported with poisoning, lack of veterinary support, abuse and being left unattended in a hot vehicle; while non-recognised breed dogs had greater risk of being reported with insufficient shelter, exercise and food/water, as well as overcrowding and abandonment. Utility breeds, terriers and working dogs were most likely to be reported, while toy, non-sporting breeds and gundogs were least likely to be reported. Common complaint types for utility dogs were: insufficient food/water, shelter and exercise, and poor living conditions; for terriers: abandonment, intentional abuses and killing or injuring another animal; for working dogs: insufficient food/water, shelter and exercise; for toy dogs: lack of veterinary care, overcrowding and staying in a hot vehicle alone; for non-sporting dogs: lack of veterinary care, being left in a hot vehicle unattended and poor body conditions; and for hounds: killing or injuring another animal, intentional abuses and poor body conditions. Breed groups rather than breeds may be the best method of breed identification in a public reporting system as they group similar breeds together, and as our research shows, they relate to types of animal welfare complaints. Understanding the relationship between breed group and canine welfare complaints may help authorities improve public education programs and inform decision-making around which breed a new owner should choose.

Investigating the Impact of Indemnity Waivers on the Length of Stay of Cats at an Australian Shelter

Simple SummaryThe practice of adopting animals from shelters with ‘indemnity waivers’ is becoming increasingly common. Indemnity waivers serve to limit the ongoing responsibility of a shelter to an animal with a pre-existing condition likely to involve veterinary treatment in the future, thereby allowing shelters to adopt out animals that may have been previously considered unsuitable for adoption and instead euthanased. However, there has been concern from some sectors of the sheltering community that indemnity waivers can lead to animals staying in shelters longer than necessary because with a waiver they become less desirable to the public. This research sought to examine if there was a link between the presence of indemnity waivers and increased lengths of stay (LOS) of cats at an Australian animal shelter. It examined data for 249 cats adopted from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Weston shelter located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia over a period of six months in 2017. The results demonstrated that cats adopted with indemnity waivers were found to have a longer LOS than those adopted without waivers, however no particular waiver type was found to be responsible for this effect. This finding should encourage shelters to use indemnity waivers judiciously due to the impact on LOS.Due to resource limitations, animal shelters in Australia historically have focused on rehoming animals considered ‘highly adoptable’. Increasingly, animal shelters in Australia are rehoming animals with pre-existing medical and/or behavioural issues. These animals are often rehomed with an ‘indemnity waiver’ to transfer the responsibility of ongoing financial costs associated with these conditions from the shelter to the new owner. However, it is unknown what effect these indemnity waivers have on the length of stay (LOS) of animals prior to adoption. The current study used data collected from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Weston shelter located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia in 2017 to investigate the effect of indemnity waivers on the LOS of cats. A restricted maximum likelihood model (REML) was used to determine the effect of breed, age, coat colour, presence of a waiver, waiver type (categorised into seven groups) and waiver number (no waiver, single waiver or multiple waivers) on LOS. In the final multivariate model, age, breed and waiver number were found to influence LOS. Young cats, purebred cats and cats adopted without a waiver were adopted fastest. This study is the first to report the effect of indemnity waivers on the adoptability of cats from shelters.

Alice in Wonderland’s Animal Pedagogy: Governmentality and Alternative Subjectivity in Mid-Victorian Liberal Education

Alice in Wonderland’s Animal Pedagogy: Governmentality and Alternative Subjectivity in Mid-Victorian Liberal Education Anna Feuerstein (bio) Representations of animals and relationships with them have long been a part of liberal discourses and their strategies of social organization and management, especially within the Victorian period. Nineteenth-century debates over the government’s role in regulating the treatment of animals through anti-cruelty legislation, for example, both challenged liberal ideology and embraced its strongest principles. While opponents of this legislation decried the regulation of private property, supporters believed kindness toward animals educated the lower class in bourgeois morality. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), formed in 1824, asked citizens to see mostly domestic animals as feeling and rational, yet constructed them as subjects who internalized an animal-human hierarchy. This mode of imagining animal subjectivity within pastoral power, what Foucault calls a power of care regulating conduct (154), suggests representations of animals were influenced by hegemonic notions of liberal subjectivity.1 Indeed, in the same period that liberal discourse cultivated what Elaine Hadley calls liberal cognition—“a wide range of strikingly formalized mental attitudes . . . such as disinterestedness, objectivity, reticence, conviction, impersonality, and sincerity, all of which carried with them a moral valence” (9)—animal interiority was represented in similar ways. Representations of animals as deserving of human care, for example, reinforce Susan Pearson’s claims that through a discourse of sentimental liberalism, animals were incorporated into the liberal state’s account of their dependence. Animals were thus employed in social reform movements, while representations of them were affected by the strategies of governmentality that Lauren Goodlad posits as central to Victorian liberalism: a set of ideas, discourses, and practices inspired by legislation, social reform movements, and political philosophy, constituting an often-regulatory set of habits.2 Placing animals within this history exposes the contradictions and anthropocentrism of Victorian liberalism and highlights the wide reach of liberal thought as it attempted to bring more subjects into its fold. While there is a large body of work discussing the animal welfare movement, and scholars such as Tess Cosslett, Monica Flegel, Ivan Kreilkamp, and Theresa [End Page 233] Magnum, among others, have analyzed the incorporation of animals into the nineteenth-century British novel, children’s literature, and discourses of the family, Victorianists have yet to place animals more fully in the history of Victorian liberalism and uncover how animals and representations of them were influenced by and challenged Victorian liberalism.3 Doing so invites us to understand governmentality’s opposition to alternative subjectivity and alterity. By alternative subjectivity, I mean a way of thinking beyond liberal cognition, a non-normative subjectivity that attempts to resist the individualizing effects of liberal discourses, especially those perpetuated by pastoral power. Looking at how Victorians envisioned animal subjectivity highlights how liberalism imagined and regulated non-human subjects, adds to the growing body of work concerned with liberal subjectivity, and places Victorian animal studies more firmly within other dominant discourses of the period.4 It also shows how representations of animals had the possibility for disruption; as Colleen Glenny Boggs suggests, animals are “integral to liberalism . . . a structuring force that destabilizes the liberal subject at its core” (9–10). This essay discusses the role of animals in Victorian liberal education alongside Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I examine how a pedagogically charged animal subjectivity reflects and challenges the goals of liberal education, particularly as children’s literature develops and changes alongside mid-Victorian liberalism.5 I connect representations of animal subjectivity to mid-Victorian debates about education, democracy, and liberalism’s incorporation of, or resistance to, alternative subjectivities. In the mid-Victorian period, when the widening franchise and expansion of the political sphere were subjects of debate, anxieties concerning education and cultural difference became increasingly prominent. Beginning with John Locke in the late-seventeenth century and continuing well into the nineteenth century, representations of animals were charged with the task of instructing children in liberal norms; animals taught children to negotiate the political and social spheres, and reinforced social, species, and political hierarchies. As Cosslett argues, nineteenth-century talking animal stories often reinforce such hierarchies (2). Yet as Carroll...

Prevalence of and risk factors for FIV and FeLV infection in two shelters in the United Kingdom (2011–2012)

The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infections in cats presented to two RSPCA (Royal Society for...

Owners' Perceptions of Their Animal's Behavioural Response to the Loss of an Animal Companion.

Simple SummaryThe loss of a companion animal is recognised as being associated with experiences of grief by the owner, but it is unclear how other animals in the household may be affected by such a loss. This paper investigates the behavioural responses of dogs and cats to the loss of an animal companion through owner-reported observations. There was consensus that behaviour changed as a result of loss including increased affectionate behaviour, territorial behaviour, and changes in food consumption and vocalisation.The loss of a companion animal is recognised as being associated with experiences of grief by the owner, but it is unclear how other animals in the household may be affected by such a loss. Our aim was to investigate companion animals’ behavioural responses to the loss of a companion through owner-report. A questionnaire was distributed via, and advertised within, publications produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) across Australia and New Zealand, and through a selection of veterinary clinics within New Zealand. A total of 279 viable surveys were returned pertaining to 159 dogs and 152 cats. The two most common classes of behavioural changes reported for both dogs and cats were affectionate behaviours (74% of dogs and 78% of cats) and territorial behaviours (60% of dogs and 63% of cats). Both dogs and cats were reported to demand more attention from their owners and/or display affiliative behaviour, as well as spend time seeking out the deceased’s favourite spot. Dogs were reported to reduce the volume (35%) and speed (31%) of food consumption and increase the amount of time spent sleeping (34%). Cats were reported to increase the frequency (43%) and volume (32%) of vocalisations following the death of a companion. The median duration of reported behavioural changes in both species was less than 6 months. There was consensus that the behaviour of companion animals changed in response to the loss of an animal companion. These behavioural changes suggest the loss had an impact on the remaining animal.