Articles

Geese flying | Photo credit: tntemerson | iStock

Nov 10, 2022 The Nexus Between Animal Welfare, Environment, and Sustainable Development

Posted at 18:25h In Animal Sentience, Animals, Articles, Environment Well-being, Ethics, Regulation, Law, Sustainability/Biodiversity, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

The Nexus between Animal Welfare, the Environment, and Sustainable Development was the focus of a Resolution (sponsored by six African states and Pakistan) passed by consensus at the Fifth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) in March of 2022. The Resolution requested the United Nations Environment...

Lab mouse | Photo credit: fotografixx, iStock

Nov 10, 2022 Slowly but Steadily, Animals are being Replaced in Safety Testing

Posted at 18:21h In Articles, Ethics, Regulation, Law, Laboratory Animals, Public Awareness/Attitudes, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

Periodically, WellBeing News (WBN) carries a story on using animals to test the safety of chemicals (see May 2021 and December 2021). Advocacy campaigns to switch from animal tests to non-animal alternatives started over a hundred years ago. Public policy initiatives and technological advances leading...

Oct 19, 2022 The Donkey: An Unsung Hero of Human Civilization

Posted at 20:33h In Animal Well-being, Articles, Tales of WellBeing, Working/Equid Animals - By Andrew Rowan

Noted anthropologist and commentator on human-animal interactions and a great admirer of donkeys and their grit, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas wrote the Foreword for a 2010 book by Andy Merrifield, "The Wisdom of Donkeys." Thomas has great admiration for donkeys and their fortitude. In her Foreword...

Oct 19, 2022 Sloboda Zvierat: Helping People and Animals Inside and Outside Ukraine

Posted at 17:00h In Animal Well-being, Animals, Articles, Sloboda Zvierat, Ukraine Rescue - By Kathleen Rowan CEO, WellBeing International

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has wreaked destruction and devastation on people, animals, and the environment. While the latest missile attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure and population have dimmed hopes for any resolution in the near future, let us reflect on some positive stories. For example,...

Kathleen Rowan with the donkeys located at Save the Dogs & Other Animals shelter

Oct 19, 2022 Meet Save the Dogs and Other Animals

Posted at 16:41h In Animal Well-being, Animals, Articles, Save The Dogs & Other Animals, Tales of WellBeing, Ukraine Rescue - By Kathleen Rowan CEO, WellBeing International

Save the Dogs and Other Animals is a registered nonprofit in Romania, Italy, and the U.S. While its administrative headquarters is in Milan, its programs are implemented in Romania and Italy. Save the Dogs is a partner in the Ukraine Rescue, Relief & Rebuild (U3R)...

Pincushion protea | Photo credit: RapidEye, iStock

Oct 03, 2022 Biodiversity and the Smallest Floral Kingdom

Posted at 12:21h In Articles, Environment Well-being, Letter from the President, Sustainability/Biodiversity - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil and Kathleen Rowan CEO, WellBeing International

As attention to global biodiversity heats up because of the upcoming December meeting (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, media stories on the state of the globe's biodiversity are becoming more numerous. Humans love lists, and someone would inevitably produce a list...

Oct 03, 2022 Advocacy & Funding for Farmed Animal Welfare

Posted at 12:14h In Animal Sentience, Animal Well-being, Articles, Farm Animals, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

Campaigns focusing on farmed animal welfare are relatively recent events of global animal advocacy, even though the UK animal protection movement is frequently identified as being launched when Richard Martin introduced his Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act in 1822. However, farmed animal advocacy only began...

Oct 03, 2022 Measuring Well-Being

Posted at 12:07h In Articles, Human Well-being, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

WellBeing News has published articles on the challenges of measuring human well-being and reported on the growing number of organizations involved in such efforts. One recently established organization is the Happier Lives Institute, founded in 2019 and based in Oxford (UK), to explore the most...

Sep 13, 2022 Recovering Species from the Threat of Extinction

Posted at 15:11h In Animal Well-being, Articles, Public Awareness/Attitudes, Sustainability/Biodiversity, Tales of WellBeing, Wild Animals - By Andrew Rowan

As the world's nations prepare to meet to discuss the Convention on Biodiversity in Montreal this December, the world is facing its sixth mass extinction event. Unlike the previous five events, which were triggered by significant earth climate disruptions, the sixth mass extinction is mainly...

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...