WellBeing News Archive

Biodiversity | Video credit: Black Box Guild

Aug 24, 2022 United Nations – Convention on Biological Diversity and COP15

Posted at 11:30h In Animals, Articles, Ethics, Regulation, Law, Humane and Environmental Education, Sustainability/Biodiversity, Well-being, WellBeing News - By Adeline Lerambert

With wildlife and biodiversity in an unprecedented crisis, pressure weighs heavily on the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a multilateral environmental treaty that went into effect in 1993.In December 2022, the CBD's fifteenth Conference of Parties (COP15) will convene in Montreal to adopt an...

Aug 24, 2022 The United Nations, Animal Welfare and the Environment

Posted at 10:55h In Animal Well-being, Animals, Environment Well-being, Letter from the President, Public Awareness/Attitudes, Sustainability/Biodiversity, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil and Kathleen Rowan CEO, WellBeing International

IntroductionA sustainable global future requires the world to address the welfare of not only people but animals and the environment. This view is also the founding premise for WellBeing International (WBI). A one-minute video produced by WBI includes the following message. "A responsible caretaker of...

Aug 24, 2022 Pet Dog Supply and Demand in the United States

Posted at 10:53h In Animal Well-being, Articles, Companion Animals, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

To the surprise of many animal advocates, discussions are taking place this year on whether there may be too few dogs to support demand in the US. The campaign that began in the 1970s to reduce dog over-supply has been very successful. In 1973, approximately...

Monkeypox Virus | Photo credit: BalckJack3D

Jul 05, 2022 Recent Surge in Monkeypox in Non-Endemic Countries: Concern for Public Health?

Posted at 11:29h In Articles, Human Well-being, Public Awareness/Attitudes, WellBeing News - By Satish Kumar Gupta, PhD

As the world learns to live with the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, another zoonosis caused by a monkeypox virus (a cousin of smallpox) is appearing in America, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Australia, having spread from its traditional "habitat" in Central and West Africa....

William Hollingsworth "Holly" Whyte (left), during a visit to downtown Chattanooga in 1984. Photo: Chattanooga Venture Records, Chattanooga Public Library

Jul 05, 2022 Cities, Nature and Human Well-being

Posted at 11:29h In Articles, Human Well-being, WellBeing News - By John Hadidian, PhD

Above: William Hollingsworth "Holly" Whyte (left), during a visit to downtown Chattanooga in 1984. Photo credit: Chattanooga Venture Records, Chattanooga Public LibraryWilliam H. Whyte (1917-1999) may be best remembered as the author of The Organization Man. This 1956 bestseller described a corporate America in which,...

Jun 02, 2022 Wildlife Fertility Control: An Alternative to Lethal Management of Wildlife

Posted at 10:00h In Animal Sentience, Animal Well-being, Articles, WellBeing News, Wild Animals - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

The first international conference on wildlife fertility control was held in Philadelphia in 1987. Subsequently, approximately one such event has been organized every four years (the 9th conference being held 35 years after the first). In 2017 and 2022, the Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility...

Fox and her kits | Credit: Fuchsfilm Helmut Seuetsch

Jun 02, 2022 The Well-Being of Wildlife

Posted at 09:53h In Animal Well-being, Articles, Letter from the President, WellBeing News, Wild Animals - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

The Wild Animal Initiative is a project to improve the well-being of wildlife. The project recognizes that improving the well-being of wildlife is very challenging but is, nonetheless, taking a proactive approach to the issue. Several members of the Initiative were speakers at the recent...

American Pitbull | Photo credit: Every Dog Has A Story

May 02, 2022 Dog Behavior and Aggression

Posted at 16:40h In Animal Well-being, Articles, Companion Animals, Public Awareness/Attitudes, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

An extensive study of the genetics of dog behavior (including individual dog personality) and appearance (physical traits) has just appeared in the major academic research publication, Science. The research team reviewed the behavior and genes of 2,000 dogs who had had their entire genomes sequenced....

Octopus vulgaris | Photo credit: TheSp4N1SH

May 02, 2022 UK Passes Its Own Animal Sentience Act After Leaving the EU

Posted at 16:34h In Animal Sentience, Animal Well-being, Animals, Articles, Ethics, Regulation, Law, Letter from the President, Public Awareness/Attitudes, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

When the UK (United Kingdom) voted to leave the European Union (EU), one of the consequences would be the loss of legislation on various issues covered in existing EU laws. The UK government had to pass new laws covering the many items in EU legislation...

May 02, 2022 Land Use & Food Supply

Posted at 16:22h In Articles, Environment Well-being, Farm Animals, Land Management, Public Awareness/Attitudes, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

Intensive animal agriculture provides increasing amounts of milk and meat (and fish) for human consumption. However, it also consumes many planetary resources and contributes to climate change. Given current trends, it seems almost impossible that we would change our eating habits to reach a point...