In 1995, Anthrozoos (vol 8(4):199-205) included an editorial by Gary Patronek (then completing his Ph.D. on companion animal demographics at Purdue Veterinary School) and A. Rowan that discussed estimates of the pet dog and cat populations in the United States. G. Patronek reviewed the various...
Approximately twenty-five years ago, the Dogs Trust in the United Kingdom began organizing annual conferences, now generally abbreviated as ICAWC (standing for the International Companion Animal Welfare Conference), in different Eastern European cities. The Dogs Trust 2016 Annual Report explains that these conferences share ideas...
The International Fund for Animal Welfare established August 8th as International Cat Day in 2002. Eighteen years later, the British NGO, International Cat Care, took over the custodianship of the day. This August, WellBeing International suggests celebrating the day by reading one of Rudyard Kipling’s...
The early 1970s in the USA saw a flurry of articles and media comments calling attention to an out-of-control pet population. The Humane Society of the United States estimated that approximately 13.5 million dogs and cats were euthanized in US shelters in 1973. At the...
For those of us who enjoy playing with our dogs, such as tossing a ball or stick for them to fetch, the world offers many more challenging exercise opportunities. Now, a new human-pet dog sport has appeared – CANICROSS or CANI-X. In canicross, the owner...
Book ReviewDr. Chris Pearson, a Senior Lecturer in Twentieth Century History at the University of Liverpool, focuses on animal and environmental history. Dogopolis is his recent book published by the University of Chicago Press that explores the impact of dogs and dog management on primarily...
As so often happens when visiting a city such as Edinburgh in Scotland, one finds oneself overwhelmed, exhausted, and in my case, lost. Edinburgh, the Scottish capital since the 15th century, is steeped in history, with tall, dark buildings and spires, natural beauty, and an...
Book ReviewJonathan Losos is an evolutionary biologist who has reached the pinnacle of achievement for a US research scientist, election to the US National Academy of Sciences. He is best known for his work on lizard adaptations and evolution – specifically the anole lizards of...
Much controversy surrounds the management of outdoor cats. Developing an agreement on the most appropriate and effective way to reduce the number of outdoor cats—by sterilization or eradication—is at the center of this longstanding dispute. Members of the wildlife conservation community argue that killing outdoor...
In 2015, the Australian government pledged to reduce the feral cat population in the country by one-third (about 2 million cats) by 2020. Reportedly, just over 200,000 feral cats were killed in the first year after the plan was announced, mostly poisoned with 1080 in...
