Where do your views on animal welfare and ethics sit?

Is it acceptable to hunt? Is it acceptable to hunt using other animals? A scene painted on tiles at the Cascais Town Hall.

Do you have a position on animal welfare and ethics? One tool designed to help you find out is the Animal Ethics Dilemma online learning tool, which is open to everyone.

You just need to set up an account by visiting here. Once this is done, you will be asked to answer twelve multiple choice questions. These are designed to determine to what extent your views on ethics reflect a utilitarian, animal rights, respect for nature, contractarian or relational perspective. It’s quite an interesting exercise – you may find yourself taking a strong utilitarian approach in one scenario while a strong rights approach in another. This is because most of us use a combination of approaches to dealing with ethical issues.You are then presented with results (your profile) indicating what proportion of your position falls where.

Santa's Little Helper, the pet greyhound from the Simpsons, sand modelled at Cascais.

Of course this is just a rough guide. With MCQs there is always the risk that your view is not represented in the five options, so you have to chose something that is close enough. 

SAT has moved its HQ to Cascais in Portugal to attend the European College of Animal Welfare and Behaviour Medicine’s annual conference. Our group has undertaken the exercise together and discussed how it might be used in teaching, including whether it would be helpful for Faculty to wear a badge indicating their profile so students can understand where differences of opinion might come from. Would such a tool be useful for communicating with clients? Many disagreements occur because we are coming from very different ethical perspectives, but in the main we’re not great at articulating these. So we don’t always understand why we disagree or the nature of that disagreement. This is a topic that will be revisited through the week. So what do YOU think? Does it help to know where someone is coming from? How do you communicate about ethics and welfare - do you refer explicitly to theory?

Animals feature in many of the scenes.

(For those interested in travel, Cascais is a mere train ride from Lisbon, and was the scene of some of the filming for the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) starring Australian George Lazenby as James Bond. It is famous for stunning hand-painted tiles and thus far (n = not many and only the ones I’ve seen in the street) the companion animals of choice her seem to be golden retrievers and chihuahuas).

It's Portugese for "entry only for dogs on a lead."

How Australian airlines are helping companion animals

Qantas is one airline committed to helping animals.

This weekend we left Australia on a jetplane to attend the inaugural One Welfare conference in Winnipeg, Mannitoba (you can read a bit more about One Welfare here).

Since most of the weekend was spent on a plane (of the Air Canada variety), I wanted to discuss some animal-friendly airline initiatives back home.

Those of you who have travelled in the sky are familiar with the little blankets given to passengers. And if you’ve been lucky to fly business or first class, you might even get a duvet or mattress cover.

Ever wondered what happens to those? For years, Qantas has donated them to humans in need.

But this year, Qantas teamed up with the RSPCA NSW to promote animal welfare and reduce waste by donating old blankets to animals in need. The blankets are cleaned and picked up by RSPCA NSW shelter trucks.

According to Customer Product and Service Development Phil [nice name] Capps,“We have donated blankets and duvets to people in need around the country for many years and we are really proud to extend our donation program to help animals. We are flying more people than we have ever before, which means we have more blankets to give, so it’s great they get a second opportunity for use by our four-legged friends.”

Images reproduced courtesy of Qantas.

RSPCA NSW uses the blankets for multiple species – including cats, dogs, ferrets and pocket pets.

It’s good to see that a product that might otherwise have limited use is being recycled in this way.

In another pet-friendly initiative, Virgin AustraliaCargo last month announced a partnership with pet transport company Jetpets to help unite rescue pets with foster carers and new owners – for free.

It means that cost of transport for adopting animals from non-profit organisations such as PetRescue will no longer be a barrier.

According to Virgin Australia Cargo Chief Executive Merren McArthur, “we understand that more and more Australians are making the great decision to adopt a rescue pet, so we’re delighted to be helping Jetpets and rescue organisations overcome distance and travel barriers so that pets can be matched with loving homes.”

Jetpets General Manager Belinda Gallpen added that while Jetpets has supported the work of rescue organisations like PetRescue for years, partnering with Virgin Cargo makes the process much easier.

“This allows more doors to be opened which increases the chance of pets finding loving adopter and foster homes.”

It’s great to see that Australian airlines are taking animal welfare seriously. We’re still looking forward to the day that animals will be able to be transported within the cabin so both animals and humans can relax a bit more.

Of course, not every individual animal or every species can be suitably transported in this way, but I do think the process would be much friendlier for animals travelling with people (and probably result in a few more people taking a holiday!).

Auckland and Waiheke Island

I don't know the Misfits, but I love their posters.

I had a mission last week which took me to Auckland and Waiheke Island – an Island located a short ferry ride from the CBD. If you’ve not travelled to New Zealand, you’re missing out big time. In today’s post I will let the photos do the talking.

Pebble dogs sit outside the University of Otago.

Carbtastic french toast with a raspberry compote and marscapone from Q Theatre on Queen Street (NB you don't have to go to the theatre to eat here, they're open all day).  

This is the Brick Bay winery just North of Auckland. It is DOG FRIENDLY. Bringing one's dog to New Zealand is a complicated matter, but if you visit a friend with a dog I recommend this place for lunch. 

Silver gnomes on the Sculpture Walk at Brick Bay. There's a small fee for doing the walk, which is absolutely lovely and dog friendly to boot.

You can catch the SeaLink car ferry from Auckland CBD to Waiheke Island. There are some good deals on the website (eg $145 return for one car and two adults).

You can get out of the car and climb up to the viewing deck, or sit in the cafe. Lots of commuters were working away on their laptops in there.

Lots of people travel with their dogs over to the island.

The Saturday Markets at Ostend are fantastic. It was as if the whole community turned out.

Haul from the Ostend Markets. A killer tea cosy by the Crochet Diva, a Tiki necklace and two original bags by Karen London.

And yes, there are sheep on the island. Beautiful, beautiful sheep.

The view from the Lannan by the Sea. A very nice bed and breakfast that only recently opened. (You can check out their photos of dolphins frolicking nearby here).

Banking on the concept that the Lannan's fruit platter cancelled out the french toast carbs!

Date with your dog: a holiday in Tuscany?

This dog was happy to pose. And little wonder. What a stunning profile.

This weekend SAT HQ has moved to Tuscany in Italy, which we can safely declare is absolutely beautiful – the light, the vineyards, the scenic roads, winding cobbled streets and historic buildings (they certainly did build them to last). One fantastic thing about this place – and most of Italy – is that you can take your dog out to a bar or restaurant. Even large dogs are welcome and it’s not a recent phenomenon – there are little doggy drinking fountains built into walls of buildings that are hundreds of years old.

This isn't a drinking fountain for dogs but I liked the detail on the top.

The dogs are well behaved, people are happy because they can hang with their pets, and it’s a great opportunity for the temporarily dog-less to get their canine fix.

There are also cats in Tuscany. This one parked her botski next to this no parking sign.

Not a bad view...

Among other things I am working on a project on disclosing clinical error (any clinician who says they have not made an error is not being honest with themselves). I found this lovely quote from a book called How to Deal with Adversity by Christopher Hamilton (you can see him talk about the book here).

“…it is not despite but on account of all the mistakes you have made in your life, and not despite but because of all the forms of adversity that you have experienced and had to cope with, have confronted well or made a mess of, the life you have lived and are living has given you a unique insight into your condition and the human condition more generally. The adversity of your life has been a precious sources of enlightenment. You will face more adversity. As you do, you should seek not simply to cope with it as constructively as possible, turning it to account, but also remember that it is giving you an understanding of things that is irreplaceably valuable. It is part of your inheritance as a human being – and you should seek not to consider it alien to you.”p134-5.

Anyone working in any field needs to acknowledge that errors can and will occur and seek to maximise their learning from these.

It’s to know that everyone back home is spending quality time with their pets…entries are still trickling in for our David Attenborough Giveaway. For more info check out this post.

Jasper catches some z's while Riley catches up on essential viewing.

Reference

Hamilton, C (2014) How to Deal with Adversity School of Life Publishing, London.

La Dolce Vita - and hello weekend

This little dude was hanging out near Rome Zoo.

SAT has gone international this week...we're visiting beautiful Italy to work on a project, give some lectures (in English - my Italian is limited to useful phrases like "the cat meows" and "the dog is happy"), check out the animal scene and hang out with some of the world's coolest parasitologists and mycologists! We're also struggling with connectivity issues so profuse apologies to our regular readers. 

There's a lot of history to take in and dogs play a very important role, as in this legend of Romulus and Remus. The print is a bit small but basically Rea Silver was walking through the woods, got chased by a wolf, met Mars - the God of war - had a dalliance and subsequently gave birth to twins. Her uncle wasn't thrilled that she broke her vow of chastity, and very unkindly buried her alive. Charming as he was, he also asked his servant to kill the babies, but he couldn't bring himself to do it (good guy). Instead, he put them in a basket and floated down the river in hope that someone else would find them and take them in. Indeed someone did - but she was a wolf.

The legend of Romulus and Remus in pictures (and in Italian).

Rome is also home to the coolest doors ever.

The doors at Hotel Boscola. Love these.

It's also home to some fantastic parasitologists - more than usual this week as the Italian Society of Parasitologists (Societa Italiana di Parassitologia to be exact) congress took place. The changing landscape of vector-borne diseases was a hot topic (NB no one needs to convince world-leading parasitologists, or indeed parasites, that climate change is real), as were evaluation of different parasiticides and discussion of zoonotic diseases. Important tip: mosquito is zanzane in Italian. Now you know.

With Dr Patrizia Danesi.

Anyway, whilst I've been tippy-tapping away at this end (offline), the internet has offered some interesting tidbits.

Molly, famous for being the dog subject to the first peer-reviewed report of black whipsnake envenomation in Australia, made the NT News this week and looks stunning. Note that dogs bitten should not exactly "wait it out", they do need treatment. You can read the article (or at very least take in the gorgeousness that is Molly) here.

An enterprising couple with some obliging pugs have recreated Game of Thrones in canine style. The costumes are incredible and the dogs appear to be digging it (or at least playing along). Watch it here.

We loved this selection of images of foxes here.

Meantime the entries for our David Attenborough competition keep coming - and they're awesome.

Little Coco adopts her favourite TV position with human companion (under Coco) Merryn. She looks totally chillaxed!

Nothing like a beer and a cuddle from your favourite dog! Poppy and Greg are living the dream.

Keep them rolling in - its nice to see everyone enjoying some rest and relaxation with their non-human companions.

Kirstin's kitty is channelling Silver Chair here: "I'm watching you watch your TV..."

There's still time to enter. Check out the details on our David Attenborough Giveaway post.

Three things I learned about hermit crabs

Hermit crab on Aitutaki, possibly the most beautiful place in the world.

The Cook Islands is home to variety of hermit crab species, the cutest decapod crustaceans around. Initially I had no idea who was making those mysterious tracks across the sand every night…til I traced a set to a conical shell that wobbled slightly. After a minute or so a pair of delicate antennae emerged, followed by a stunning set of legs that appeared to form a skirt that carried him or her away.

Is anyone home? This damaged shell gives us a peak at the way hermit crabs fold their legs when they are hiding or "shutting the front door").

If you wait they slowly emerge, antennae first (hard to see in this pic but they're orange) then legs.

Ready to crab-walk around.

I’ve seen hermit crabs sold at pet shops but never lived with nor spent much time with these critters. They love to get around. Some of them walked from halfway up the beach right to the doorstep of my accommodation (a few hundred metres at least). It made me seriously reflect on the lives of the hermit crabs I've seen in pet stores and by extension their lives at home...do they have enough space to carry out their natural behaviour? Is isolation detrimental? (they seem to love hanging out in groups). How do you enrich the environment of a hermit crab? They certainly seem pretty cluey (and they can definitely feel pain).

Here are a few things I learned about them this week.

1. Hermit crabs don’t look like your average crab. When they are naked or without a shell, they tend to have a soft, asymmetrical abdomen, curled - all the better for spiralling into a conical shell.
2. They use second-hand shells to move into, but are known to move into non-shell homes: garden ornaments, bits of wood, or Lego  – they’re adaptable. New homes must be found as crabs grow bigger. A good shell is hard to find, which is another reason why beachcombers should leave their finds on the shore. (You can watch a shell change here). 
3. They get into some serious fights over shells, sometimes prying another crab out to steal his or her home. Some species use “vacancy chains” when moving into a new shell. When it works well this involves the formation of a queue around a new shell, with the largest crab first in line. He moves into the shell, then the next-biggest crab moves into his shell, and so on.

Hermit crab looks sideways.

Interestingly, the hermit crabs on Aitutaki (population 2000) were MUCH more outgoing and less shy than those on Rarotonga (population around 13000) which raises the question of whether they are more vary of humans the more interactions they have.

For which I might add I am responsible too.

One of my favourite hermit crab sites is Project Hermies which clearly began as a school project.

It provides a huge amount of info including a handy comparison of the properties of humans and hermit crabs. My favourite is the special features category:

Humans	Hermies
Dominant animal for planet earth	Social animals that generally live in large colonies
Social and community oriented	Borrow other animal’s shells to live in and protect their bodies with
Large brain capacity	Nocturnal activity
Farming and industry to support our lifestyle
Biggest threat to the safety and ecology of all other life on this planet

Another fabulous thing about hermit crabs is that they tend to congregate in stunning locations. Its definitely worth meeting them in their own territory.

Hermit crabs live here. They're doing something right!

Caring for native wildlife

An orphaned joey in a makeshift pouch awaits her next feed.

There is an increased demand for care of orphaned or injured wildlife due to habitat destruction...but when the habitat is destroyed, where do you release these critters? The fate of animals post-release is uncertain, and if they aren't released into a safe environment they may sustain further injuries or illness.

Nina Keener has turned her own property, adjacent to the stunning Litchfield National Park in the Northern Territory, is a sanctuary for native animals and Nina's Ark is a wonderful place to visit if you are nearby. 

A wallaby and her joey feed safely at Nina's Ark outside Litchfield National Park, NT.

There is no doubt that the animals here thrive because the environment is protected (Nina's driveway is a pleasant 8km track winding through stunning bushland). 

A wallaby pauses outside the bush shower at Nina's Ark. This shower, designed
for humans - not wallabies - allows one to enjoy hot water under the stars.