Humane Concerns about Dangerous-Dog Laws

Special Edition: Vicious-Dog Legislation—Controlling the Pit Bul

Tracking the “State of the Animals”: Challenges and Opportunities in Assessing Change

In this chapter we: Review some of the measures that have been used in the past to attempt to assess the state of the animals and the extent to which we can continue to apply these measures to track future changes. Review some of the emerging tools and developing technologies that can improve our tracking of the state of the animals and provide some quantitative measures of our progress. Explore some examples of general measures of human interaction with animals that might prove useful in predicting and tracking changes in how they are treated

Tracking the “State of the Animals”: Challenges and Opportunities in Assessing Change

In this chapter we: Review some of the measures that have been used in the past to attempt to assess the state of the animals and the extent to which we can continue to apply these measures to track future changes. Review some of the emerging tools and developing technologies that can improve our tracking of the state of the animals and provide some quantitative measures of our progress. Explore some examples of general measures of human interaction with animals that might prove useful in predicting and tracking changes in how they are treated

Life After Slater Park

A zoo\u27s closing brings welcome change for its animal

Untangling the Web

Law-enforcement officials turn to The HSU

Cruelty to Animals: Changing Psychological, Social, and Legislative Perspectives

Society is looking for new tools and resources to employ in the efforts to combat violence, identify real or potential perpetrators at an early stage, and define actions that might predict or prevent violent behavior. Closer examination of cruelty to animals within the framework of family and societal violence offers an opportunity to explore violence outside of the traditional nature–nurture debate over the origins of aggression. Cruelty to animals represents an objectively definable behavior that occurs within a societal context. It also represents a good measure of the interaction between the behavior of which an individual is intrinsically capable and the behavior his or her environment has allowed or encouraged. The fact that the definition of cruelty to animals is so strongly influenced by cultures and subcultures need not be a complication but rather an opportunity to unravel the many influences that can shape violent behavior. Closer analysis of the connections between cruelty to animals and other forms of violence offers new opportunities for the study of violence and the hope for new insights and solutions

The Care of Pets Within Child Abusing Families

The treatment of animals was surveyed in 53 families where child abuse occurred. Patterns of pet ownership, attitudes towards pets, and quality of veterinary care did not differ significantly from comparable data from the general public. However, abuse of pets by a family member had taken place in 60 percent of the families. The families in which animal abuse was indicated tended to have younger pets, lower levels of veterinary care, and more conflicts over care than non-abusive families in the study. There were several parallels between the treatment of pets and animals within child-abusing families, suggesting that animal abuse may be a potential indicator of other family problems. These findings also suggest that it may be helpful to review the role of pets in these families as part of the therapeutic process

Mapping the Corporate Blogosphere: Linking Audience, Content, and Management to Blog Visibility

Blogs have been a common part of the Web for many years. Individuals create most blogs for their own purposes, but corporations have also begun to develop corporate blogs as a means for communicating with their stakeholders (e.g., customers, partners, investors). In this paper, we extend theory by generating what Gregor (2006) would call a type I theory. Specifically, we develop a theoretical framework for classifying and analyzing corporate blogs that examines blogs’ target audience, their content (focus and function), and how one should manage them. We use this framework to analyze the impact of these characteristics on the visibility of blogs operated by a sample of Fortune 500 companies. Our results show that a blog’s target audience and how its content and management fit with this audience can have significant impacts on blog visibility. We believe this framework provides a useful foundation for studying corporate blogs in the future