Jan 04, 2025 Reflections
Over the past seventy-eight years, my reflections on the world have become more organized. Unsurprisingly, my reflections align closely with WellBeing International’s six main program areas: Animals in Conflict, Democratizing Information, Animal Sentience, Global Awareness, the Global Dog Campaign, and the Feel Better campaign. The success of these programs is underpinned by the sharing of information and knowledge globally.
Recognizing the critical importance of access to accurate materials and essential data to find solutions for the well-being of people, animals, and the environment, WBI seeks to reinforce this recognition by developing a comprehensive website to support institutions and individuals worldwide. This website features the WBI Studies Repository (“Repository”), a key electronic resource that underpins WBI’s programs. For instance, the Repository contains 6,000 open-access articles and reports, and the academic journal Animal Sentience is a peer-commentary publication in which identified experts provide commentary on peer-reviewed target articles.
Each year, half a million users from around the globe access materials without charge in the Repository. While we cannot estimate the ultimate policy impact of this resource, the annual usage figure of 500,000 is very encouraging, as is the international reach of the repository, which serves individuals from around 35,000 institutions spread across 232 countries and regions.
Over time, I have become concerned about the limited access to relevant academic articles and reports on the well-being of people, animals, and the environment. For example, people in the Global South often struggle to access relevant academic articles and reports due to publisher paywalls. In contrast, WBI provides free access to essential materials and reports in the WBI Studies Repository for anyone worldwide with internet access. For example, the Repository offers access to all the articles from the International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems, published from 1980 to 1983. The journal issues are unlikely to be available in most academic libraries but can now be reached via the Repository. Interestingly, several articles from this journal are among the most downloaded from the Repository, even though they were published over 40 years ago. This data highlights the significance of historical analysis and content for interested parties.
Animal sentience is a key concept for those interested in or promoting animal welfare. The Animal Sentience journal and the WBI Studies Repository enhance WBI’s animal sentience program. Dr. Carolyn Ristau’s outstanding three-volume biography of Dr. Donald Griffin has recently been added to the Repository. Dr. Griffin is regarded as the founder of cognitive ethology, a scientific discipline dedicated to understanding animal minds. His impact on the international animal protection movement is as significant as that of Australian philosopher Peter Singer, often identified as the “father” of the global animal rights movement.
For those who may find Dr. Ristau’s three-volume biography overwhelming, the journal Animal Sentience has published a summary of the biography as a target article. This summary and invited expert comments will stimulate discussion and deepen our understanding of animal sentience.
Our Global Awareness program, which addresses many focus areas, including wildlife, wild lands, re-wilding, farmed animals, climate change, and biodiversity, is also supported by the Repository and our newsletters. Selected newsletter articles distributed via social media typically reach a million or more individuals worldwide. The Feel Better program aimed at individuals and their well-being is also supported by newsletter reports on how individuals can make a difference for animals, the environment and global sustainability, leading to each individual “feeling better” about their impact on the planet.
As the founder and director of the Center for Animals at Tufts Veterinary School, I developed a program focusing on animal sheltering. That led to indications that US shelter dog and cat intake was declining, but the data were incomplete. However, those initial insights led to increased interest in tracking dog and cat population data globally and eventually to the launch of the Global Dog Campaign as one of WBI’s first programs. In 2023, WBI reported on the dramatic improvement in companion dog welfare in the United States since 1973 and identified studies indicating that similar improvements occurred in many other countries, including countries in the Global South. At WBI, we have also had a long-standing interest in the welfare of domestic cats and have published reports on domestic cat management in WBI newsletters. We hope to create special exhibits in the Repository focusing on dog and cat welfare.
Wars have tremendous negative impacts on people, animals, and the environment. To help in current conflicts, WBI launched its Animals in Conflict program following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. WBI wished to do whatever it could to support the people of Ukraine and their animals. WBI gathered a group of other organizations into a coalition that has provided pet food, supplies, medical support, and assistance in rescuing large captive wild carnivores in Ukraine and the countries neighboring Ukraine.
As part of our environmental and global sustainability programs, WBI has contributed to discussions and information sharing on climate change and global sustainability. We have published numerous newsletter articles on climate change and produced a detailed technical ‘nexus’ document on how attention to animal welfare could enhance global sustainability. We have shared that nexus document with individuals at the United Nations Environment Program, and the report is available in a special exhibit in the WBI Studies Repository.
WBI collects historical and current data-rich reports addressing its program areas and distributes digestible summaries of such data via its newsletters and its website. For example, in response to activist claims that laboratory animal use was increasing, a newsletter story was published in 2023 demonstrating that laboratory animal use peaked in the 1970s in several developed countries and had fallen dramatically by around 70% since then. Advocates should take heart that laboratory animal use is not increasing inexorably. New laboratory technologies have been one of the main factors leading to the decline in laboratory animal use.
Access to relevant and trustworthy information enables global citizens—including government officials, policymakers, advocates, and the general public—to better understand our complex world. The increased understanding will hopefully lead to more effective actions that promote the well-being and sustainability of people, animals, and the environment. WBI aims to promote, develop, and maintain a comprehensive archive of materials related to these themes. Additionally, WBI will leverage technology to collect, analyze, distribute, and archive information that guides sustainable actions for current and future generations.