This semester we have covered many human- animal interactions. We learned about how animals were first domesticated, the different ways that a person may treat an animal, and how humans tend to anthropomorphize animals. Many people have grown to treat animals like their family instead of a

n animal, and this caused humans to sympathize animals. This class explored the history of animals including how the “civil right movement for animals”, also known as speciesism started. Animals are utilized for a broad range of activities in sports, films, research, workplaces and homes. This course explains these and many more topics in which animals part take in. Although all of the subjects were fascinating to learn about, the two topics that intrigued me the most were Animal-Assisted Activities and Therapy and Pet ownership in Underserved populations.

Animal-assisted Activities and Therapy can be categorized into two different types. One type is animal assisted activities, which are activities that have no particular goal other than to motivate someone or relax them. These activities are often spontaneous. For example, during finals week in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, there are sessions with dogs in which students can interact with to calm a student a bit. The second type of animal activities is animal assisted therapy. Animal Assisted Therapy differs from animal-assisted activities in that these sessions require a certain length of time depending on the assigned task. These are goal oriented visits that need both the patients and animals to be active and work on improving individual skill. These skills can be physical, mental/emotional, and motivational goals. An example can be letting a person, who has recovered from a stroke, brush a dog. This activity is helping the patient work on his/her fine motor skills as well as motivating them to reach for the dog. Overall animal assisted activities can have a broader goal because it is more passive than animal assisted therapy.

Several programs organize and recruit volunteers and animals for animal-assisted activities and therapy. Pet Partners is a program that gathers teams and sends them out to where they are needed. Pet Partners accept volunteers only after they pass an evaluation in which both the dog and handler are examined as a team. Just like any other program, there are regulations for the type of animal that can be permitted. Animals like dogs, cats, llamas, horses, rabbits, rats, and parrots are accepted. Two programs that I loved were “Puppies behind bars” and “Green Chimneys.” Puppies behind bars is a program where certain prisoners are allowed to train service and shelter animals with the help of a professional trainer. This program not only emotionally benefits the prisoners but also helps them grow in skills like responsibility and leadership. This program gives prisoners a chance to change their lives because they can see what they are capable of doing. Green Chimneys is a school for students who have physical, mental, social or emotional issues. It is a school that requires the students to care for the animals that are there. These types of interactions are beneficial for the students. This school is using human-animal bonds to help solve or improve with the student’s issues.

Pet ownership in underserved populations is a topic that many people do not acknowledge. It is very easy to believe that someone who is labeled as “poor” should not own a pet. As people think about pet owners who can only afford the necessities for their pet, many of them tend to label the person as a bad pet owner. However whether people have millions of dollars or only less one hundred dollars, people care for and love their pets. Most people in underserved populations want to provide the best care for their pets; however, many are uneducated about free services, vaccines, or programs offered to improve the lives of their pets. As stated in class, to reach out to communities and not offend anyone people need to remain non-judgmental, stay focused on the goal, be patient, empathize, be accessible, and stay positive. Being informative and educating pet owners about spay/neuter and vaccines can be very beneficial. There are services offered all around the United States. Pet for Life is a program that provides services for people in underserved populations in the main cities like Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles and many more. In Champaign, there are vaccines clinics where people get their pets vaccines for a low price and are offered other services as well. Another program in the city is CANOPY, which stands for Care and Assistance to Needy Outdoor Pets Year-round. The goal of this program is to provide a spot where the animal may hide in inclement weather, lighter chains, and other things that better protects the animal from extreme weather conditions. Programs like these vary from city to city; however, there are many programs out there that are available to underserved populations all over the United States.

As a college student in my third year of studying animal science, I have learned a lot about the careers that an animal science major are capable of obtaining. Just like many other students, it is tough to determine what job I might see myself in the future. The reason these two topics were interesting to me is because I would like to work with people who live in underserved communities or help people with issues create an animal bond that might be able to help with their problems. I believe that the human-animal bond is very beneficial to the individual and the animal itself. I grew up in a community that was underserved and there were tons of stray animals, unneutered animals, and if there were programs like the ones mentioned above, it might solve a lot of issues. Educating the people in these communities is very necessary. In this same community, many children tend to end up in prison. I have met many of these people and from experience, almost all of them are good people in bad situations so programs like puppies behind bars might be beneficial to them. I am a person who believes that some people make bad decisions, but it does not make them an evil person. In a lot of cases, people can be judgmental; however an animal is a loving and nonjudgmental creature. I believe that the human-animal bond is one of the most beneficial relationships that people can have.

http://lucyram9517.blogspot.com/2015/12/this-semester-we-have-covered-manyhuman.html 

Animal used in Sports

       Animal fighting is a sport that has been around for many years. There are several different types of animals that were trained to fight each other, and it is believed to have been most popular in the Roman Empire. Other places organized these events; however the largest were held at the Coliseum in Rome.  These events resulted in over five thousand animals killed, and this was only a count for the opening day. These fights involved animals that were imported from different parts of the world. The animals varied from elephants, bulls, donkeys and many more. Because of all of the captures and imports, some species became extinct or endangered. Those species were animals like the North African Elephant, Atlas Bear, and Atlas Lion.
            As I mentioned above, there was animal against animal fights, but there were also several challenges.  There were humans against animals, staged animal hunts, and feeding prisoners to animals. One of the reasons that animal fights were so popular was because it was a way to show that a human is strong and more powerful than nature and the world. As we see with many other controversial topics, there was little effort to stop these types of events in the past. As people might predict, there was no protesting against the Coliseum fights, most emperors attended these events, and people who were against these events did not attend.
             It was then that in the 12th century, bull and bear baiting were the most common animal fights. In bull baiting, trained dogs would attack a tethered bull. Bear Baiting was also a practiced sport during that time, but it was not as popular because of the scarcity of bears. However, the purpose for these two baiting events is the same. In bear baiting, dogs were trained to attack a tethered bear. Since these fights occurred frequently, issues about animal cruelty and a limited amount of bulls and bears caused a decrease of these performances.  By the 1800’s bull baiting became an illegal sport. After that had occurred, dogs were trained to fight against several other animals like feral pigs and badgers. Many of these fights might still occur; however, it was in 1835 that the Passage of the Ill Treatment of Cattle Act influenced the sport of dog on dog fighting. Dog-Dog fighting then became a widespread practice.
           Dog-dog fighting occurred in the United States during the civil war era. At first, it was an event for the upper class but then deemed acceptable to the working class and even became a family event.  It was outlawed soon after; however it continued to occur. In the 20th century, there was a decrease in the sport during the 30’s and 40’s but it was until the 60’ and 70’s that there was again a rise in popularity because of sporting dog journals. However by the late 20th century, dog fighting busts on media spread interest. Although these dog fights were illegal, there was then an increase in street level dog fighting in urban areas.
         Another common animal sport is cockfighting. Cockfighting is taking two roosters and putting them in a pit to fight. To decrease the number of injuries, a lot of the time the roosters combs, wattles, and spurs are removed. It is also very common to attach razor sharp blades on the leg of the rooster. It is said that cockfighting is the world’s oldest spectator sport. Although it is an illegal act in the United States, it is still very popular in places like Latin America and South America. This sport is banned in all the states, but it only a felony in 39 states. It is also not as controversial as other animal fights like dog-dog fighting.
        There are many more sports continue to be practiced over the years because of cultural and historical significance. Sports like bullfighting, horse racing and greyhound racing are also very common.  Bull fighting is the sport of spearing a bull to weaken it.  Horse racing is a legal sport but can also be viewed negatively. Some owners of race horses overwork them, and they also breed the horses, and it impacts the overpopulation of horses. Another issue is when horses get injured or are retired; there are not many places that will accept them.  Greyhound racing is very similar to horse racing. For these events to occur, greyhounds are breed and kenneled up to 22 hours/day. Retired or injured greyhounds are also sent to rescues or sanctuaries like horses. For both of horses and greyhounds, the negative views are based on how the owners train and treat their animals.
         I believe that it is very unfortunate that some animal sports are still being practiced even though many have become illegal.  I understand that many of these sports have become part of people cultures; however these sports should be changed in a way that minimizes animal injuries. For example recently there was an alternative way created to bull fight to avoid killing the bull. Instead of a spear being used, a Velcro is attached to the bulls back, and the bullfighter aims to stick the “spear” on that spot. This new way challenges the bullfighter more because the bull has full energy throughout the whole fight instead of the original version where the bull is weakened by the spear.            There are ways of alternating other sports just like these and setting regulations will also minimize the number of injuries. Some issues are avoidable, like horse owners knowing how not to overwork a horse. In other cases like dog fighting, these practices are inhumane, and they relate to many other issues. For example, many of the dogs that are used in dog fights are pit bulls, which contributed to the negative views that we’re having on pit bulls today. In some states pit bulls are illegal, and many people believe that all pit bulls are regressive when in reality the pit bulls used in fights are only aggressive because the owner trained it to be.
         There have been many improvements in dealing with these types of illegal acts. The Animal Fighting Prohibition Act is one of many pieces of legislation that states the punishment of being involved in animal fighting.  Many of these sports are related to gambling. A lot of the times the gambling is illegal, and this can correlate to other crimes. In my opinion, there will always be people who break the laws and abuse animals. The abuse can vary from physical abuse like in dog fighting to a less violent act like keeping an animal in a cage for an inhumane amount of hours like what happens to greyhounds and rooster used for fights. I believe that we know when an animal is stressed or in a bad condition. I think that there is a lot more that has to be done to completely stop some of these sports from existing.
http://lucyram9517.blogspot.com/2015/11/animal-used-in-sports-fighting-is-sport.html 

            In society today, many people search for and purchase pets for company, socializing, beauty, status and it gives them something to do. In most cases, what makes an animal a pet is that it is given a name, allowed in the house, and they are consumed as food.  As humans, naming an animal includes them into their social circle. Even though there are several reasons as to why people get pets, it is said that companion animals

are more often brought into someone’s home because the animals are attractive. There are many people who say that human’s waste money to keep their companionship even though some companion ships turn into abuse or neglect of an animal. In the past, animals were obtained at a young age and were used to help hunt for food. These, that were chosen to help hunt, were exempt from consumption and were usually taken care of by the women or children of the family. As time passed, companion animals became more of a way to show off a person’s wealth instead of the ability of the animal. Small breed dogs were then developed for the main purpose of companionship. People who bought these animals saw pet keeping as a form of heresy. Because of this, purebred and hunting dogs became available only for the wealthy, while the poor were prohibited to own hunting dogs. Years later the middle class become eligible for pet keeping based on their disposable income for animals. As time continues to pass, the purpose of having a pet transferred from animal’s functions to the animals appearance.

Until today, high income is correlated to pet keeping. It was not until after World War II that the demand for companion animals really rised. There was an idea that the perfect family included a purebred dog. Due to this demand, society saw a rise of puppy mills. Puppy mills are said to be an establishment that breeds puppies for sale, typically on an intensive basis and in conditions regarded as inhumane. These establishments focus on certain breeds of animals that are popular among pet owners which are mostly purebred dogs. A main reason that pure bred animals are popularized is because of the AKC. The AKC is the American Kennel Club which focuses on identifying the ideal dog depending on qualities that the breed of animal is known for. These qualities include height, weight and mainly appearance. The AKC only qualifies animals that have a known animal family history and similar phenotypic background. Because the standards have become so strict, and participants wanted to make the perfect bred dog, inbreeding became an issue.

Inbreeding has caused many diseases within the different dog breeds because pureo breath.  I believe that the pug is one of the animals that have been severely affected by inbreeding. It is saddening to know that these animals are having all of these horrible conditions because people are trying to create the ideal pug. As the blog continues, Jemima Harrison goes on to compare the crossbred Pug, which has less health conditions. She continues on by saying that a Pug cross is 50% cheaper to insure than a 100% real Pug through the Kennel Club's own pet insurance. It is unfair that society has let this picture perfect pug become such an unhealthy pug. I agree with Jemima that crossbreeding should be implementedbreds are part of a closed gene pool. After every generation, animals have been more closely related since there are not any new genes that are being introduced. There are also certain genes that are lost. In the pedigree dog exposed blog post there are several posts regarding the issues that inbreeding has been causing. One example was of the health problems of pug that was written by Jemima Harrison named “100 per cent puggered.” The post consists of saying that the pug has 100% real brachycephalic obstructed airway syndrome, 100% real pug dog encephalitis,  100% real hemivertrebrae, 100% real corneal ulcers,  100% real stenotic nostrils, 100% real skin fold dermatitis,  100% real deformed mouth and teeth, and 100% real pigmentary keratitis. Due to inbreeding the pug has had a lot of deformities like the ones she pointed out and have made it difficult for the dog t

to breeds like pugs that are in terrible shape. In the same blog I found another post from Jemima Harrison called “Save the Jack Russell…sign the petition.” In this post she wrote about the differences between Jack Russell dogs that have changed their appearance as the years passed in order to be a winner of the KC. She continues on to express her concern of the KC continuing to accept the breed regardless of the health concerns that might evolve.  Another example she used were on fox terriors. It is very obvious that this woman believes that the KC is promoting these types of genetically troubled dogs, and I believe to some extent that this is true.

Dalmatians are another breed of dog that has had issues when inbreed. These dogs carry a gene that causes them to form uric acid stones that block their bladder. In order to try to get rid of this gene a crossbred occurred in order to reintroduce the normal gene. It was not until recently that the AKC accepted these dogs to be registered. There are two ways that can eliminate these types of issues which are crossbreeding like I stated before or outbreeding. Crossbreeding can be used in order to create another type of dog with specific functions. Outbreeding can be used to improve the severely in bred dogs but also not dramatically change the dog’s breeds phenotypically or behaviorally.

                Inbreeding has been shown to cause many issues within specific dog breeds. In my opinion whenever an animal is showing the same health issue over several generations, something has to be done to change it. It is unfair that people have been influenced to buy this picture perfect dog that they believe is cute. I believe that people are now more likely to form a valuable companionship rather than overworking the animals abilities

, however people are turning these animals into projects. I think that extensive inbreeding should not be acceptable. The point where an animal is suffering in order for their owner to consider them attractive should not be a reason why inbreeding exists.

"It’s Time to Re-evaluate our Relationship with Animals"

There are many historical events that have been compared to speciesism like racism and women’s rights. Speciesism is a very common term that is used to describe the differences of treatment based on species.  In history, race or biological differences justified higher moral consideration. Women were considered less intelligent due to biological differences. This occurred again with African Americans being labeled as property because of their race. The animal rights movement is somewhat similar to these two other events. Even though animals do not have the same rights as the African Americans and women have now, they still gained some rights after these movements. The discussion about the way humans treat animals is very common because everybody differs in how they view the moral standing of an animal.

Speciesism was a term popularized by Richard Ryder and it is said to describe the hierarchy that was created over time, which is ranked by prejudice. Over the years there have been several different hierarchies created and most rank animals in the lower levels. Aristotle created the natural hierarchy that ranked humans on top followed by animals then plants. In this example, people believed that animals existed solely to be useful to humans. There were many opinions expressed about how to treat animals. After organizations coming together to protest for animal rights, a lot of philosophers and scientists came out with different ways of viewing animals. Nowadays like the video It's time to re-evaluate our relationship with animals: Lesli Bisgould at TEDxUofT, show that it is not surprising that humans feel compassion for pets or animals in general. However until today there are still three main ways that people treat animals, which are referred to as animal ethical theories. These theories consist of indirect, direct but equal, and moral equality treatment.

           

Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, believed that animals can feel, but are not conscious beings. He promoted good human behaviors, not to protect animals, but because he believed cruelty leads to more cruelty. This was an example of indirect theories because the main purpose of treating animals respectfully was to compare it to respecting another human. This theory was not for the animals’ sake, but coincidently sets some standards for the treatment of animals. With this view, people believed that humans should not harm each other’s property, not offend people who love animals, and once again not cause cruelty to animals because it leads to cruelty to other people. All these reasons to respect animals were not implied to protect animals. I believe that this theory does not put enough emphasis on the rights of animals. I think that it does not consider the fact that animals can feel and should have some regulations of how they are treated. In the same video of Lesli Bisgould, she states that humans prohibit unnecessary suffering of animals, but it does not prohibit necessary suffering. I believe that this further shows that this theory is more beneficial towards humans than the animal itself. Although Lesli was speaking on how the laws about animal treatment were not being enforced enough, I believe that what she was trying to say is that some laws can be interpreted in different ways. I think that in some cases these laws can exist more for the protection of a human rather than the animal itself.

 Direct theories were based on the idea that animals deserve some moral standing but not more than humans because animals do not display moral reciprocity. This theory has the opposite purpose of the indirect theory since it is based around the idea that it is wrong to harm an animal for the animal’s own sake. I believe that this theory is supported by laws like the Animal Welfare Act. These laws give regulations on the treatment of research animals, shelter animals, and much more. In my opinion this theory makes the most sense. It takes into consideration the feelings of the animals and gives them the rights that they need. Peter Singer is utilitarianism that believes animals should not have equal rights as humans, but equal consideration. He believes there should not be equal treatment because humans and other animals have different needs. His point was that we should

consider those differences and treat them accordingly. A comparison that was made was between children ad animals. Children deserve equal consideration as well. For example, adults do not harm children because they feel the same pain and suffering as them, however they do not have the same rights or capabilities as an adult. This is the same idea that is brought up with the treatment of animals. I believe that this is the ideal way we should think about, when setting regulations on the treatment of animals.

The third way people view the standing of animals has equal moral status as humans. This theory denies the special qualities that other theories give to humans. I believe that this theory is believed by extremists. Some people like Gary Francione, who believes that humans should not be using animals in any type of way. This man worked with PETA for a long time and he left the organization because he felt PETA was not doing enough to stop animal use. As it is stated on their website, this organization focuses on factory farms, in the clothing trade, in laboratories, and in the entertainment industry. They also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel kil

ling of beavers, birds, and other “pests” as well as cruelty to domesticated animals. Their strategies to protest have been known to be extreme. One example is when the PETA workers covered themselves in blood and protested against fur clothing. I believe this theory does not consider that humans have more capabilities than animals do.

 In Lesli Bisgould’s speech, she states that there are many federal and local laws that say that animals should be treated humanely, but those laws are useless. In my opinion, this statement is somewhat true. I do agree that some animals are still suffering and that some facilities are not humanely treating animals. There will always be a widespread of opinion on how animals should be treated, but in reality humans know that animals have feelings. I believe that humans should take it into consideration when we form a relationship with an animal, regardless if the animals is used in research or kept as a pet. Animals should not suffer because humans believe it is okay. Animals should have some rights to avoid animal abuse, neglect, and situations like that.

http://lucyram9517.blogspot.com/2015/09/its-time-to-re-evaluate-our.html 

ANSC 305 Blog