Journeys Together: Horses and Humans in Partnership

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynda Birke ◽  
Jo Hockenhull
Keyword(s):  
Companion Animals ◽  
Knowing How ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Human Participants

Many living with companion animals hope for “good relationships” based on trust, mutuality, and cooperation. Relationships develop from mutual actions, yet research often overlooks nonhumans as mindful actors within relationships. This is a study of horse/human dyads, using multimethod approaches intended to include horses as participants. We ask: can “good relationships” be observed, especially when the pair know each other well? We studied familiar/unfamiliar pairs, negotiating simple obstacles, to explore qualities of cooperation between pairs. Interviews with human participants elicited perceptions of horses’ “personalities” and reactions. We analyzed video recordings of interactions and also showed them to external observers. We identified differences in attention, tension and coordination: familiar pairs were more coordinated, mutually attentive, and less tense, and they showed less resistance. That is, some relationships displayed discernible qualities of “working together.” We cannot know nonhuman animals’ experiences, but knowing how they behave says something about their agency within interspecies relationships.

Capturing Cruelty

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon T. Grugan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
General Public ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Print News ◽  
Nonhuman Animals

AbstractThe news media has long been identified as one of the primary sources for factual crime information for the general public, but not much is known about media coverage of cruelty against nonhuman animals, specifically. This study is a content analysis of media-presented themes in 240 print news articles that reported incidents of cruelty against companion animals in the United States in 2013. Seven thematic presentations of cruelty are identified and include: neutrality, condemnation, sympathy for the animal, drama, advocacy, humor, and sympathy for the offender. These themes are not mutually exclusive, with many articles including aspects of more than one theme. Themes are discussed in detail in regard to expanding the understanding of how specific forms of crime are presented by the news media based in news-making criminology.

Buddhism and Animal Rights

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Waldau
Keyword(s):  
Animal Rights ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Ethical Reflection ◽  
Animal Protection ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Food Animals

The Buddhist tradition is justifiably known for its commitment to the primacy of ethical reflection. On the issue of nonhuman animals, the tradition-wide commitment to an undertaking to refrain from killing, known as the First Precept, offers a moving example of humans’ abilities to apply ethics to nonhuman animals on questions about animal protection for companion animals, food animals, entertainment animals, wildlife, and captive animals. Buddhist reflections on humans’ relationship to nonhuman animals, including questions of non-lethal harms, also have features that are illuminated, as is the First Precept, by a comparison with contemporary animal rights and animal protection debates.

Beloved Companion or Problem Animal

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-346
Author(s):  
Maria A. Iliopoulou ◽  
Carla L. Carleton ◽  
Laura A. Reese
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Personal Meaning ◽  
Data Collection Tool ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Specific Definition

AbstractThe term Pit bull is widely used. However, is it assigned a specific definition, or is it associated with overly inclusive and contradictory meanings? At the beginning of the 1900s, dogs identified as Pit bulls were known for their love of children. Media sensationalism has contributed to a shift in perceptions of Pit bulls from favorite companion animals to problem nonhuman animals. Thus, the process of constructing “problem animals” is examined. A qualitative study was conducted to explore what the term Pit bull represents for a sample of fifty-six adults. The data collection tool was the Personal Meaning Map. Respondents seemed to have vague and conflicting definitions of Pit bulls. For some, they are gentle companions, but for others they are gang-related status symbols. For some, Pit bulls represent one breed, whereas for others they represent many breeds. Finally, they were perceived to be both victims of cruelty and predators.

Protecting Interests of Animals in Custody Disputes: Italian Caselaw Outpaces Italian and European Union Legislation

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Paola Fossati
Keyword(s):  
Companion Animals ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Personal Property ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Custody Disputes ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
European Union Legislation ◽  
The Law

AbstractPeople who live with pets (companion animals) in many cases see their pets as family members. Yet, in the eyes of the law, pets are still considered personal property. This is relevant to pet custody matters that may arise at the time of divorce or separation; pets fall within divorce financial proceedings. However, they have the unique nature of living and sentient property, which has interests. In this perspective, the best interest of the nonhuman animal should always be taken into account. Nonetheless, the law lacks definitive standards, and the ways in which courts construe contractual disputes involving nonhuman animals that relate to custody disputes in marital or other relationships do not always take into consideration the unique nature of this living and sentient property. This article provides an examination of the current Italian legal system and of Italian case law related to this matter.

Seventh Graders’ Direct Experience with, and Feelings toward, Amphibians and Some Other Nonhuman Animals

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iztok Tomažič
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Seventh Graders ◽  
Seventh Grade ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Time To Build ◽  
Nonhuman Animals

AbstractThis study investigated how seventh-grade students (11-12 years old) rate their fear of, and disgust toward, amphibians in comparison to some other nonhuman animal species. For the purpose of evaluating these variables, a questionnaire with open-ended and self-report questions was used. The study found that direct experience of animals significantly affects students’ self-reported fear and disgust ratings. Boys generally reported less fear and disgust toward animals than girls. With regard to amphibians, students expressed relatively high disgust, but low fear. There were no differences in disgust ratings between boys and girls. Also, a majority of students reported having no direct experience of amphibians, and their attitudes hovered between negative and neutral. Factor analysis placed amphibians in a category of disgust-relevant animals. The other two categories that emerged were interpreted as fear-relevant animals and companion animals. The study concluded that education should place greater importance on allowing students to experience a variety of different animal species directly in order to foster positive change in their feelings and attitudes toward them, and at the same time to build on their understanding of animals.

Childhood Socialization and Companion Animals: United States, 1820-1870

1999 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine C. Grier
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Conscious Choice ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Cruelty To Animals ◽  
Good And Evil

AbstractBetween 1820 and 1870, middle-class Americans became convinced of the role nonhuman animals could play in socializing children. Companion animals in and around the household were the medium for training children into self-consciousness about, and abhorrence of, causing pain to other creatures including, ultimately, other people. In an age where the formation of character was perceived as an act of conscious choice and self-control, middle-class Americans understood cruelty to animals as a problem both of individual or familial deficiency and of good and evil. Training children to be self-conscious about kindness became an important task of parenting. Domestic advisors also argued that learning kindness was critical for boys who were developmentally prone to cruelty and whose youthful cruelty had implications both for the future of family life and for the body politic. The practice of pet keeping, where children became stewards of companion animals who were then able to teach young humans such virtues as gratitude and fidelity, became a socially meaningful act.

A Portrait of Biodiversity in Children’s Trade Books

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunice Sousa ◽  
Victor Quintino ◽  
José Teixeira ◽  
Ana Maria Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Public Perception ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Trade Books ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Domesticated Animals ◽  
The Public ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Children's Attitudes

Indirect experiences are important in the public perception of nature and may influence attitudes towards conservation. Biodiversity and the environment are frequently presented in children’s books and promote children’s attitudes and emotions about biodiversity. We examined how biodiversity was portrayed in 164 books directed at six- to eight-year-old children. Living beings and habitats were found in 98% and 80% of the books, respectively, and included 441 different organisms in a total of 21,786 occurrences. The living beings in the books weren’t representative of the global biodiversity and were dominated by few iconic nonhuman organisms, mostly mammals, especially companion animals or other domesticated animals. The representations were strongly biased towards anthropomorphization of nonhuman animals who inhabited limited common habitats. This may contribute to the idea that all biodiversity lives in forests and humanized habitats, and is limited to nonhuman animals under human mastery or to few inaccessible megafauna.

scholarly journals Daphne the Cat: Reimagining human–animal boundaries on Facebook

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 1290-1306
Author(s):  
Verónica Policarpo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Human Animal

How are companion animals, and cats in particular, built as Otherness, on social media? And how are human–animal boundaries reconfigured along the flow of online digital interactions? This article tries to answer these questions drawing on the story of female cat Daphne, as reported on the official Facebook page of a Portuguese animal shelter. Based on both narrative analysis and categorical content analysis of the posts and comments around the story, the article discusses the social construction of nonhuman animals, bringing together concepts from human–animal studies, science and technology studies, and media studies. It argues that, through digital practices on social media, animals are done and undone. Two emergent and conflicting versions of the same animal, Daphne, are constructed throughout the unstable and contingent flow of digital exchanges: the-animal-victim and the-animal-maladjusted. As such, digital practices become also animal practices, contributing to normative definitions of what an animal ‘is’. As a result, human–animal boundaries are reinstalled and reinforced, and the animals themselves become, once more and paradoxically, invisible.

scholarly journals Listening to Horses

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Dashper
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Multispecies Ethnography ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Animal Use ◽  
Vulnerable Subjects ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Sentient Beings

The involvement of nonhuman animals in human sport and leisure raises questions about the ethics of animal use (and sometimes abuse) for human pleasure. This article draws on a multispecies ethnography of amateur riding in the United Kingdom to consider some ways in which human participants try to develop attentive relationships with their equine partners. An ethical praxis of paying attention to horses as individual, sentient beings with intrinsic value beyond their relation to human activities can lead to the development of mutually rewarding interspecies relationships and partnerships within sport. However, these relationships always develop within the context of human-centric power relations that position animals as vulnerable subjects, placing moral responsibility on humans to safeguard animal interests in human sport and leisure.

Uncertainty Monitoring and Metacognition by Animals

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Smith ◽  
David A. Washburn
Keyword(s):  
Research Literature ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Uncertainty Monitoring ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Functional Features ◽  
Human Participants

Humans have the capacity to feel consciously uncertain and to know when they do not know. These feelings and responses ground the research literature on uncertainty monitoring and metacognition (i.e., cognition about cognition). It is a natural and important question whether nonhuman animals share this sophisticated cognitive capacity. We summarize current research that confirms animals' capacity for uncertainty monitoring. This research includes perception and memory paradigms and monkey, dolphin, and human participants. It contains some of the strongest existing performance similarities between humans and other animals. There is a strong isomorphism between the uncertainty-monitoring capacities of humans and animals. Indeed, the results show that animals have functional features of or parallels to human metacognition and human conscious cognition.

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