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Articles on Animal welfare

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A ban is unlikely to remove halal or kosher food from the high street. EPA/Peter Kneffel

We already have the answers to humane religious slaughter

With kosher and halal food an increasingly common feature of the British high street, a top vet has called for reform of their slaughter practices, calling them inhumane. These alternative methods of animal…
One memorable goldfish. Flickr/ Benson Kua

The goldfish test that can change your behaviour

The average Australian spends more than five hours watching YouTube every month. With such high viewership, it’s no surprise that interest groups are reaching out with YouTube to try to change people’s…
Perhaps macaques would like Angry Birds too? Jerome Micheletta, University of Portsmouth

Touch screens help monkeys relax

Zoos are great places to study animals. The non-human primates among them get the most attention from researchers. Some of them are trained to interact with computers for psychological research. In a new…
Once animals leave Australia, we have limited control over what happens to them. AAP Image/Animals Australia)

Can live animal export ever be humane?

Last week, video footage of animal cruelty kicked off yet another live export controversy. The footage appeared to show not just confronting and inappropriate animal treatment, but the likely movement…
Animal rights groups have been using drone technology to monitor farmers’ compliance with welfare laws. Under US style “ag gag” laws any footage taken could not be distributed. flickr/eschipul

Expect more spy drones if ‘ag gag’ laws introduced

The “remotely operated Hexacopter drone” may sound like something out of the latest Hollywood sci-fi, but this new technology is about to take centre stage in Australia’s animal welfare debate. Drones…
Indonesian ownership of Australian cattle is a step in the right direction for both countries, but welfare still needs work. AAP Image/Alan Porritt

Indonesians can buy our land but shouldn’t ship live cattle

Australians should not be alarmed but pleased at the current Indonesian proposal to invest in cattle production in the north of Australia. It demonstrates a renewed confidence in Australia’s ability to…
We love our eggs, but what about our chickens? Flickr/Neil

The truth about free range eggs is tough to crack

Queensland recently changed its regulation of free range eggs, lifting the number of hens allowed per hectare from 1,500 to 10,000. This is more than a six-fold increase. Choice and animal welfare and…
Consumers want cheap meat from happy animals - can farmers and supermarkets keep up? David Mitchell

Coles are the piggy in the middle of animal welfare confrontation

Last week, Coles supermarkets began selling shopping bags on behalf of animal rights campaigners Animal Australia. Following a backlash from farmers, Animals Australia withdrew the bags. But the stoush…
Britain’s best loved mammal, but no friend to cattle farmers. Ben Birchall/PA

Swapping science for shooting won’t save cattle or badgers

What do the pilot badger culls due to start this weekend in Gloucester and West Somerset hope to achieve? The official line is a 16% reduction of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle herds over the next…
Cruel slaughter of Australian animals in countries where abattoir workers face poor economic conditions can only be stopped with the long-term ban of live exports. Flickr/Joe Shlabotnik

Cattle slaughter in topsy turvy land

In Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree, Jo, one of the child adventurers, has a spell cast upon him that forces him to walk upside down on his hands in Topsy Turvy land. Jo survives the ordeal as most humans…
Compassionate people tend to care about other humans and animals, but our linked welfare goes beyond that. Bungalow.Brian/Flickr

Why human suffering and animal welfare are the one issue

This week we were again warned by the UK’s Chief Medical Officer that we are rapidly approaching a time when antibiotics will be largely ineffective. We are at risk of returning to a pre-antibiotic age…
Controversy over bobby calves has highlighted the fraught role of science in animal welfare. BeardyGit/Flickr

Animal welfare standards must work for all, not just industry

In medieval times the leader of a victorious army planted a standard to signify ownership of territory. The standard signified all that its supporters believed in. Similarly, the rewriting of Australia’s…
How do we know if an animal is happy? Science may be less important than public opinion. Andrew Pescod

A more democratic animal welfare policy

Even among the experts who don’t question our right to use and kill animals, there is disagreement over what animal welfare actually means. With the government calling for a review of animal welfare standards…
A dramatic decrease in the availability of sow stall pork and caged eggs has been driven by consumer concern. AAP

It’s no yolk: grocery giants commit to animal welfare initiatives

Australia’s two largest grocery retailers, Coles and Woolworths, have vowed to dramatically decrease the availability of pork and egg products sourced from intensive farming systems. The decision was made…
Vaccination has a lot more uses than you may know. Stephen Mitchell

Explainer: how are vaccines used in Australian agriculture?

Approximately 140 vaccines are registered for use in livestock and companion animals in Australia. Many more animals are vaccinated each year than humans. Vaccines are used in farm animals: to protect…
Non-human primates, like these macaques, are the animals with the closest resemblance to humans. Moyan Brenn

Scientific research on primates: what do we owe animals like us?

The documentary Maximum Tolerated Dose (showing in Melbourne tonight and Sydney on February 12) offers a “look inside modern animal experimentation with the animals who lived through it and the people…

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