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Page history last edited by ike sharpless 13 years, 6 months ago

This article discusses the benefits of a human and pet relationship.  It claims that pets minimize tension among family members.  What was very interesting in this article is how it shows that researchers discovered that pet owners have a decrease in minor health problems; such as blood pressure and stress levels.  The author also argues how a pet is beneficial to a child’s development.  I tended to agree with most of the things in this article.

 

 

Link  Student  Comments
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2010/09/06/daily24.html Benjamin Chapman

This article is concerning the declining number of veterinary visits by pets.  It focuses on Bayer Animal Health in committing to developing new solutions to increase awareness of the importance of routine veterinary visits.  This article states that veterinary visits declined by one million between 2001 and 2006 according to an American Veterinary Medical Association study.  I think that we would like to point the finger at the economy but this study seems to have concluded before the economy went down the hole.  Therefore, I believe that people are simply not bringing their pets to the vet until necessary which can certaintly be problematic considering some diseases aren't completely noticeable until its too late for treatment.  I agree with this article in providing more information to the public in order to increase awareness of the problems associated with not having routine check-ups for pets. 

 http://www.aspca.org/news/national/08-13-10.html Jessica Furtado

An article on how dog breeders are finding ways to sell dogs through internet scams, and how dogs have suffered in the process. I found it interesting in relation to the article by B. Rollin & M. Rollin, since they talk about how the acquisition of companion animals should be more strictly regulated. Sad incidents, such as the death of these puppies during transport, could be prevented with more legislation regarding how companion animals can be obtained.

http://www.sys-con.com/node/1524344  Richard Ranlett 

The article that I uploaded was disturbing because it was trying to figure out the reasons that veterinary visits are declining with companion pets over the last 10 years. If people are not going to be responsible for their pet’s health than they should not be allowed to own a companion pet. Sometimes I think that people only want their pets for their good attributes but abandon the animal as soon as the animal needs care and health services. I understand that the economy is in a recession, but it is not fair to ignore your animal’s health. The article also stated that the number of visits has been declining since 2001, and that is years before the recession even began so that is proof that the trend of ignoring animal’s health had already began. I hope that the research that is going to be conducted will lead to more veterinary visits, and that companion animals will ultimately benefit from this research. 

 
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewArticle.asp?id=23864    Kristina Wiltjer 

This article talks about how two people from Port Washington, and New York, going together and forming  the North Shore Animal League, which is known as the world largest non killing animal shelter. At first they were thriving but soon fell on hard times till the word spread that this was an animal shelter that would not kill, or even reject an animal brought upon them. Soon animal lover from all over the U.S wanted to be part of this new era of animal rights. It became so popular that the owners of the North Shore Animal League opened up other shelter along the east coast. Today they have fostered over 29,000 animals and are still welcoming more with open arms.

 

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewArticle.asp?id=23864

 


Theresa James
This is an article about the largest no kill animal shelter in the world.  It tells you how they became what they are today and also about their efforts in helping rescue 1,234 cats and dogs from the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina left them without a place to go.
animal assistance.pdf   Aaron Widell
I uploaded this article from Purdue because it relates to Serpell's article about animal assitance and the problems that can be associated with the practice. The ethics behind the practice has been debated for quite some time, and this article does a good job exploring the different arguments behind the practice.
http://www.wftv.com/news/24353517/detail.html   Sarah Chaulk

This is an article about a shelter in Florida that may have to turn to euthanasia as a means of dealing with overcrowding. I feel like this is the case in many animal shelters. With the down turn of the economy many families have tightened their budgets. People can’t afford to adopt pets and for the same reason many people are giving up their pets. Overcrowding becomes a serious problem and unfortunately in many cases euthanasia is the only solution. I don’t agree with that as a solution but something needs to be done about it.


http://theweek.com/article/index/106310/The_little_dog_lost_at_sea  Jeffrey Nieves  The article I chose to read was titled "Little Dog Lost at Sea" by Shankar Vendantam.  The article told a story of a small terrier name Hokget who was left behind on an abandoned Tiawanese shipwreck 900 miles of the coast of Hawaii.  Funds to help rescue Hokget were received from 39 states in the US and even some from foreign countries.  The largest check they recieved was for  $5,0000.  The author brings up a well backed argument as to why people were willing to shell out money for a single dog, but not for people who were facing mass suffrage in certain countrys.  Suffrage such as poverty, genocide, and hunger.  It is crazy coming to the realization that many people who could help people with their suffrage sit back and simply don't.  The reason they don't help Vedantam believes is, "that the human brain is not very good at grasping the implications of mass suffering."  They sympathize for the dog in this story however because it it "one" "single" being with a single face and a story of survival.  I found this article very interesting but I would like to comment on the amount of money it would take to save one person (or dog in this case) compared to the moeny it would take to help save the tens of thousands of people who suffer on a day to day basis.
 http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2006/11/25/outsourcing_animal_testing/ Matt O'Donnell 

This article discusses U.S. pharmaceutical companies  moving drug trials done on animals, such as monkeys and canines, to China. The reason behind the idea is because the U.S has a lot of animal rights activists and the pharmaceutical companies are trying to avoid problems with them.  The article states that in China is a place where "scientists are plentiful but activists aren't".

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100815162124.htm

 

"Dogs' Family Status Depends on Family's Locale"


Jenna David
 This article is about a study conducted by Indiana University on people’s attitudes towards their pets. This study found that people who live in urban areas spend more time with their animals and bring them to the veterinarian more often than people in rural areas.  This study also concluded that many urban pet owners believe that their pet is a member of the family.  The given explanation behind these results is that people who live in rural areas tend to have more of a utilitarian relationship with their animals. This study also notes that people’s experiences with pets as children often influences what pets they will own and how they will treat them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBg4PGeR8gg

&

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/brave-pup-saves-tennessee_n_707553.html

 

Peter Baroud

"Belle the Beagle" and "Selena" a Jack Russell terrier are two companion dogs who saved their owners from death. Belle the Beagle was able to dial 911 on her owner's cell phone when he went into a Diabetic Shock and collapsed to the floor. Belle was trained to smell high and low blood sugar levels in humans.

 

Selena - a Jack Russell Terrier floated her owned to the shallow end of the pool when her owner dove incorrectly and broke her neck.

 

These are two instances when companion animals were more then helpful in some near-fatal encounters.

 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15014860/ Arian Alicea 

This article is about a program in which pets, specifically dogs, are temporarily given to convicts. I found this a very useful way to deal with the problems many animal shelters and rescue facilities face today. The dogs that are chosen for this program are on "doggy death row". This article talks about how these dogs can be rehabilitated and trained for adoption by the inmates, who have also reported being rehabilitated by having to take care of the dogs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvsaauMOoPI 
Denise Belmonte
This is a video about a service dog who saved his owner's life. The owner had muscular dystrophy, which weakens the muscles in the body. This was problematic when the owner's apartment lost power, and the machine that helped her to breathe only had 20 minutes of battery life. The dog knew there was something wrong when she heard the owner struggling to breathe, so she performed a kind of "doggy CPR" by forcing the air out of the chest, even though she was never even trained to do such a thing.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O0l0f50AAk&feature=related Part One

Alicia Robillon  This series of videos that I found on YouTube shows some of the several genetically inherited diseases that so-called “Pedigree” dogs are suffering from due to breeding for “perfection” (or, really, eugenics). Bernard E. Rollin and Michael D.H. Rollin mentioned this problem briefly in their essay, Dogmaticisms and Catechisms: Ethics and Companion Animals, on page 546 where they state, “We perpetuate dozens of genetic diseases of dogs through aesthetically-based dysfunctional ‘breed standards.’ We ignore the functionality of these animals and treat them as, in the words of one of my veterinary colleagues, ‘living statues.’” I knew of some of the problems related to specific breeds through personal interactions with the breeds themselves or through their owners. Shockingly, there was much more than I was aware of going on in the Kennel Club world as far as culling puppies that do not best represent the breed and condoning the continued breeding of dogs that are developing severe diseases. The boxer’s story was specifically touching because my Aunt’s boxer, Roc, had the exact same epilepsy as the one shown on the video that eventually killed him (and even looked like that dog). I even met a man walking his West Highland White Terrier (on the video they are said to have developed severe allergies) who told me, after I offered his dog some water that I had for my dogs, that his dog was allergic to tap water! I thought that this had to be a severe glitch on the breeding scale, but it so happens that it is very common in Westies to have such severe allergies. People need to be much more aware of the diseases that run in certain breeds and have a better understanding of these issues so that we can eliminate the by-products of our man-made mistakes. If we continue to breed for our own pleasures and appetites for “beauty”, we will continue to rob these animals of their well-being and cause them to suffer for no good reason at all other than our own greed and selfishness.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/euthanasia-alternative-pet-hospice.html#   Christina Petrone 

I noticed that someone posted a link about animal euthanasia and commented about how it shouldn't be the only option. Euthanasia isn't the only option; there is also animal hospice to consider. The problem is that it can be very costly. Though most pet owners who have used pet hospice think that it is completely worth it in the end. 

 
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/291526

 


Dan Bauer
This artcle was about Sunpet, an animals dealer that sells small pets such as hamsters, birds, gerbals and fish to pet stores like Petco, Petsmart, and others. Fottage by an undercover investigator from PETA was undercover of abusive and in humane behavior toward these animals. They we kept in crowded unsanitary conditions and were abusively beaten or killed. Some were often sold sick and injured to those places. Sun Pet denies the allegations and welcome the officials to investigate. I think that even though these pets are not on the level of cats and dogs, it is still unethical as no living thing should be subjegated to such conditions.

http://tiny.cc/59hkb

BBC News

Katie Connolly 

Asma Hussin 

As some Americans are struggling economically, so too, are their pets. In this article taken from the BBC News, Katie Connolly gives an account of animal shelters that have “swelled up” as a result of the recession.  Several pet owners have increasingly been unable to take care of their companion animals and resort to relinquishing them. Animal food banks have been initiated by many shelters in order to provide support for pet owners seeking to keep their companion animals despite their financial insecurities.  Moreover, fewer people are affording the costs of pet adoption and “many people are finding it hard to afford veterinary care, such as spaying, neutering and vaccinating.”

 
http://www.examiner.com/cats-in-tampa-bay/serval-rescued-from-probable-savannah-cat-breeding-scheme
Shannon Nelligan
This article is about a woman who held a serval, a wild cat, in her home for atleast ten years apparently for the purpose of breeding savannah cats. The cat was removed and ultimately placed in a big cat rescue. 
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NAH/is_3_35/ai_n9775602/  Jennifer Hader  This article talks about the positive affects of owning a pet.  According to the article, research has shown that companion animals can help redcue stress and cholesterol, as well as alleviate depression.  It goes on to tell stories about several different animals who have improved the lives of their owners and the lives of many sick people.  This practice is also known as animal assisted therapy. 
http://www.peta.org/campaigns/ar-euthanasia.asp
Linda Pham

It's a short article mentioning how euthanasia may be the best way because thousands and thousands of puppies and kittens are born each year and how they are running out of homes for these animals. Shelters are there for basically unwanted animals or the abandon animals that no one else wants. At the end of the article, it mentions how euthanasia may be the best way "for unwanted animals to leave an uncaring world." 

 


http://www.lifestylepets.com/ Heather McAtamney  This link is for a website that advertises completely hypoallergenic dogs and cats. They say that they have found some rare cats and dogs that do not carry the gene which causes the allergic reactions. The costs for such animals are extraordinary, $10,000+ for a cat of a certain breed. The site claims to be in the costumers best interests because they no longer need to pay the expense for medications. My concern would be about the kind of interbreeding that needs to be done in order to keep the bloodlines "allergy free."

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/08/man-gets-5-years-shooting-death-norfolk-neighbors-dog?cid=srch 

"Man gets 5 years for shooting to death neighbor's dog"

Kelley Irving  This article talks about how a former army sniper became fed up with his neighbors barking dog. He trimmed his hedges in front of his bedroom window for a better view, then used a sniper riffle to shoot and kill his neighbors' 7 year old dog. He then fled to Florida to avoid charges. When he returned years later, he was sentenced to five years for animal cruelty.
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/petasdirtysecret.cfm
kevin bowers

I found this link while researching about peta and their views about domestication of animals.This article provides some stats about peta's apparent quasi genocide upon shelter animals, and about Peta's founders disturbing so called ethical views on animals.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11044760 Maghda Amrani  I found this article while searching how the economic problems have impacted Americans in their pets. Many people are having troubles putting food on the table, nevermind feeding their pets. Therefore, they resort to putting the pets in shelters. Which not only are they losing an essential part of their family, the shelters are becoming overwhelmed with the burden and are struggling to meet the needs of the animals as well. They have had to do fundraisers and find other means of providing financially for the animals costs.  
 http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/54671?verify=0

Matthew Flynn

 

This article discusses the benefits of a human and pet relationship.  It claims that pets minimize tension among family members.  What was very interesting in this article is how it shows that researchers discovered that pet owners have a decrease in minor health problems; such as blood pressure and stress levels.  The author also argues how a pet is beneficial to a child’s development.  I tended to agree with most of the things in this article.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/columnists/neil-lyndon/7986623/Dog-friendly-cars-announced.html?utm_source=tmg&utm_medium=TD_7986623&utm_campaign=moto0809pm
Daniel Gougian

This article focus on a new type of car that was made dog friendly .This article is a fluff piece but I find this article interesting because it shows how much we humans adapted are own lives to better suit are pets.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5giaK7bSSpyc6DFPkXU99tp2N5xvQ
 
Rishi Raval  Back in August, 2000 pet owners were surveyed. The study yielded surprising, yet understandable results. The key factoid was that 1 in 4 pet owners are willing to take on debt to pay for their pet's treatment. This goes to show that in some cases, pets are just as much part of a family as children.
http://animalrights.about.com/od/animalsusedforfood/a/HumaneMeat.htm
Ben Anderson
My page is more of an argument than an article, summarizing the arguments over humane animal farming and slaughtering. The article talks about how the standards of living for factory farm animals are extremely cruel, with such examples as cages where the animals can barely move, debeaking chickens so they wont peck at each other in small quarters, and pigs have their tails cut off without anestisia. The article continues on to talk about how organizations such as PETA and just citizens in general are pushing for humane meat as its called. They are even taking the fights to restaurants and retailers to push them to use the humane meat as well. The article goes on to talk about the pros and cons, with most of the pro's talking about how humane meat provides better living conditions for the animals. The con's however seems to be by people with more extreme views, because most are saying that now way of raising animals for food is humane.
http://www.vegepet.com/
Zachary Conroy
This website sells vegetarian and vegan dog and cat food. This company was founded because many veg*ans feel uncomfortable buying and handling pet foods with animal products. The website talks about how dogs can adapt easily to a vegetarian or even a vegan diet, but cats, especially males, require supplements to avoid certain eye and urinary tract problems. This website raises some ethical issues, but I think that it is justifiable to feed pets a well-balanced veg*an diet. Obviously the animal cannot understand the political intent behind their diet, but they certainly can benefit from the health benefits of a carefully planned veg*an diet.
 Http://www.almosthomerescue.org/whyrescue/whyrescue.htm
 
Sam Erickson
This article is about why dogs get put up for adoption by their owners and why it is such a great idea to buy a rescue dog.  It raises some interesting points about why dogs get put up for adoption, one such point that I had never thought of was the fact that people who get divorced often have to give up their pets because neither of them can care for it alone.  The article also talks about reasons for getting a rescue dog rather than buying a new puppy.  It raises a good point that it is often cheeper to pay for a rescue dog at the vet because it has already had all the proper shots it needs as a puppy.  This article is a very effective persuader for the idea of rescuing a dog, and raises many points that can open up peoples eyes.
http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_15754774?IADID=Search-www.lowellsun.com-www.lowellsun.com

 



Hali Vik
This article is about pitbulls in Lowell and insurance. It's relevant to our class because these larger, working dog and protection breeds are also being used as companion animals. The insurance companies are now penalizing homeowners, and therefor renters, for owning large dogs as companion animals. For most companies this list includes primarily pit bulls, Akitas, Great Danes, Mastiffs, Dobermans, Rottweilers and German Shepards. Some go as far as to include all terrier breeds!  It's interesting, and awful, to think that insurance companies have so much control, not only of what you can buy, but which dogs end up getting gassed in the shelters. If you go down to the shelter in Lowell, it's mostly pit bulls. Granted, that's anecdotal evidence- I think this is still having a large effect in the area.
http://www.wbnx.com/pets/benefits_companionship.pdf
Samantha Ruminski
I found this article to be interesting because it shows some scientific studies of how having a pet can benefit the owner not only emotionally but physically as well. The article also talked about how if children care for puppies they are more apt to share a cooperate. It is a fairly well known fact that having an animal such as a dog or cat can lower your stress levels and blood pressure just by petting them. The article also talks about the overall bettering of life that animals can give us and how special of a relationship it can be.

 

 

Comments (2)

ike sharpless said

at 10:55 pm on Sep 8, 2010

Just fyi: the 'petakillsanimals' site was created a while ago by the Center for Consumer Freedom, an industry-funded lobbying organization which we'll discuss next week when talking about NGOs (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=PetaKillsAnimals.com)

ike sharpless said

at 11:06 pm on Sep 8, 2010

And speaking of Ingrid Newkirk, this New Yorker profile from 2003 is probably the best overview of her personal views that I've come across: http://www.michaelspecter.com/2003/04/the-extremist/

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