Underdogs: Pets, People and Poverty (2020) by Arnold Arluke and Andrew Rowan, published by University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 2020.This book covers the growing movement toward creating affordable veterinary care programs in high-poverty and low-access communities. Its emphasis on the human aspects of such...
There are many organizations, municipalities and individuals around the world dedicating time, resources and much attention and love to the well-being of dogs and ending dog homelessness. Often, these projects do not have sufficient resources to reach the number of dogs to have measurable impact...
In our September 2020 Tales of WellBeing, we wrote about the increased funding for domestic abuse shelters to expand their programs to include the pets of individuals seeking to escape from domestic abuse. Each year Domestic Violence Awareness Month is recognized in October. This October,...
Data on dog numbers and dog well-being will be an important part of evaluating impact of different approaches to dog and human well-being in particular communities. The world currently has somewhere between 800 million and one billion domestic dogs. As such, they are the most...
Pets provide constant companionship, emotional support and security for individuals who are homeless. It is estimated that approximately 10% of the homeless have one or more pets. Thirty or more years ago, it was commonly argued by animal advocates that, if a person cannot take...
Editor's foreward: October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. As part of its mission, WBI advocates for the safety and care of the human and animal victims of domestic violenceIt is now widely recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a ripple effect with unintended consequences...
When Hurricane Katrina devastated the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of citizens from New Orleans and other coastal communities, many people with pets chose to stay behind because they could not find anywhere that would allow them to...
When was the last time you saw a street dog? If you live in Western Europe or North America, the answer is probably some years ago. If you live in India, Africa, Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe or pretty much anywhere else, the answer is...
Following the recommendations of our esteemed colleague, Dr. Alan Kazdin, who has written in a previous WellBeing newsletter about the importance of being in natural settings for human mental and physical health, we bring you a tale about a relationship that has developed between one...
An early relationship between humans and cats is supported by hard evidence from a burial on Cyprus that dates to 9500 BP. Cats were never native to that Mediterranean island, so the occurrence of a young cat within a human burial, while not evidence of...
