NewsletterApril09

Newsletter - March/April 2009 22009January/February 09

Although Britain is considered to be a nation of animal lovers there aren’t many events where we can learn more about our pets and other animals.

Learning About Animals was set up to provide information and promote interest in the welfare and behaviour of animals. The aim is to bridge the gap between professionals/scientists working with animals and the public.

If you have any suggestions for future events or if you would like to be considered to be a speaker please contact me.

I am also a qualified equine behaviourist and run consultations in Surrey and the Home Counties. For more details please visit the relevant section of the web site.

Events Spring 2009

Cat Behaviour: Feline Aggression
Saturday 18th April 2009, Woking College Conference Room Woking, Surrey

Half day workshop on aggression. £30 for the morning workshop, tickets only available in advance. Details.

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An Introduction to Equine Behaviour
Saturday 9th May 2009 (half-day workshop), The Wheatsheaf Pub, Woking, Surrey

This event will provide a basic introduction to the fascinating field of equine behaviour. During the morning workshop we will consider what horses really need and how we can meet those needs in the domestic environment. We will also briefly look at body language, how horse’s learn and the reasons why problems can develop.

£7 Details.

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What Science can tell us about the Intelligence of Dogs

Saturday 20th June 2009, Woking, Surrey

Dr Britta Osthaus, lecturer and researcher in animal cognition at Christ Church University, will discuss dog intelligence in what promises to be a lively and interactive afternoon.

£12 (£10 concessions) Details.

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Rabbit Behaviour Workshops
Various venues in Surrey throughout 2009

Although rabbits are the UK’s third most popular pet they are often misunderstood. These events will briefly discuss how understanding rabbit behaviour and body language to can help us to better understand what pet rabbits need. Details. Please e-mail for details (suzanne@learningaboutanimals.co.uk).

For further details of all events/tickets/how to book please visit the website or call 07961 996628.

Campaign Corner - Greyhound Racing

The issue:

Over-breeding means that thousands of greyhounds are unwanted. For the ones that do race many are injured and they are not kept as pets but in kennels. At the end of their careers they are often abandoned or killed - only a small percentage are re-homed as pets.

In 2007 the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW) looked into greyhound welfare and found that:

Nearly 13,500 greyhounds a year that have been bred for racing are considered ‘surplus’ in just England and Wales.
An estimated 5,000 greyhounds are re-homed a year by animal rescue charities, mostly by the Retired Greyhounds Trust. But at least 4,728 greyhounds in England are unaccounted for each year - these are presumed to be killed by the age of three or four - when their racing days are over.
At least a further 2,478 British-bred pups selected for greyhound racing each year never make it to the track - and are also unaccounted for.
During their racing days greyhounds are kept in unsuitable conditions.

What you can do:

- Don’t attend or bet on greyhound races

- Support a Greyhound rescue organisation. For example see the Retired Greyhound Trust - http://www.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk/. The trust is a national charity dedicated to finding homes for greyhounds at the end of their racing careers.

- Respond to the public consultation that will be run on greyhound racing from April. Check the DEFRA website for details. If the report suggests that all surplus greyhounds can be re homed, point out that there are simply not enough homes for unwanted dogs in the UK, let alone thousands of additional greyhounds. A ban on racing (or at least on betting on racing) is needed, as is already the case in many other European countries.

- For more ideas of how you can help go to http://www.greytexploitations.com/how-you-can-help

Featured Web site: National Geographic Videos

http://video.nationalgeographic.com

A fantastic web site to browse in your lunch hour. This web site consists of videos from all around world and has a section for videos about animals.

Check out the Wildlife Aid web site – which includes the following:

- A section on wildlife gardening

- A wish-list for the centre – perhaps you could help?

- Patient’s corner

- Live web cams

- And much more...

Friends

Our friends provide us with stable place from which to explore the world. With friends you are always safe because whatever happens, whatever you do, they will be there for you, unconditionally.

Friends can have any number of legs – my friends are mostly 2-legged and 4-legged (and I can’t foresee having any with 8 legs!). Friendship is often underestimated and abused, especially those between animals and people. We are lucky that animals are so forgiving, what would you think of a friend if they often force you to do things you didn’t want to, only engage with you on your terms, or often push you to do things you find scary? At the least it would make you lose trust in them but we expect animals to put up with this and still be loyal, obedient and there for us.

I think it would do us good to heed the wisdom in the saying: “Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit (Aristotle)”. We should nurture our friendships with animals, gain their trust slowly rather than expect them to befriend us just because we look after them.

To quote Elbert Hubbard “In order to have friends, you must first be one.” – let’s go and be a friend to the animals in our lives today.

By Suzanne Rogers (Learning About Animals) November 2008

If you don’t want to receive any further editions of this newsletter, please email me and I will remove you from the list.

If you have friends or colleagues who might like to receive the newsletter please email me their details and I will add them to the list. I will not pass on your contact details to anyone else.

“For what the horse does under compulsion [...] is done without understanding; and there is no beauty in it either, any more than if one should whip and spur a dancer.” - Xenophon

Good news for animals in the EU

On Wednesday 11 March 2009 amendments to the European Union (EU) Cosmetics Directive came into force. It is now illegal to test ingredients for cosmetics on animals anywhere in the EU.

Although a ban on testing finished products was already in place, around 5,000 animals in the EU were being used annually for the testing of ingredients.

It is now illegal to sell or import into the EU any cosmetics ingredients or products tested on animals (with the exception of a small number of specific types of tests, which have an extended deadline of 11 March 2013).

Although this is good news for animals, there is still more that can be done - millions of animals are still used for testing other chemical products such as medicines for people and animals, pesticides, and food additives - and in other areas of scientific research. Laws could be improved to promote the replacement of animals with humane alternatives wherever possible and for the animals still used, laws could help to reduce the numbers used and improve their welfare.

EU laws regulating animal experiments are being revised for the first time in nearly 25 years. Lobby your MEP (Member of the European Parliament) today at:
www.giveanimalsavoice.org.uk

Used Books for Charity

The following books are being sold for the charity TAWS - The World Society for Transport Animal Welfare and Studies (www.taws.org).

If you would like one (or more), please send a cheque for the amount given below (payable to TAWS), to Suzanne Rogers, 6 Fern Cottages, Dorking Road, Abinger Hammer, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6SA. Please include two first class stamps, per book, with the cheque towards postage.

Non-Fiction (Animal-related):

Cat Detective Solving the Mystery of your Cat’s Behaviour by Vicky Halls (NEW £6)

The Rose Tinted Menagerie by William Johnson (NEW, book about the ethics of keeping animals in zoos, £8.95)

Budiansky, Stephen - The Nature of Horses: Their Evolution, Intelligence and Behaviour (£4)

Fiction:

Barnes, Julian – Cross Channel (£2.50)

Barnes, Julian – Flaubert’s Parrot and Talking it Over (double book £2.50)

Barnes, Julian – Love, etc (£2.50)

Banks, Ian – The Wasp Factory (£0.50)

Brewer, Gene – K-PAX (£2.50)

Brewer, Gene – K-PAX II (on a beam of light) (£2.50)

Brewer, Gene – K-PAX III (the worlds of prot) (£2.50)

Carey, Peter – Oscar and Lucinda (£1.50)

Cunningham, Michael – The Hours (£2.50)

Dickens, Charles – David Copperfield (£1.00)

Golden, Arthur – Memoirs of a Geisha (£2.00)

Kennedy, Douglas – The Pursuit of Happiness (£2.00)

Kipling, Rudyard – The Jungle Book (£1.50)

Kipling, Rudyard – The Second Jungle Book (£1.50)

Naylor, Doug – Last Human (Red Dwarf) (£0.50)

Naylor, Grant – Better than Life (Red Dwarf) (£0.50)

Naylor, Grant – Red Dwarf (£0.50)

O’Flynn, Catherine – What was Lost (£2.50)

Palin, Michael – Hemingway’s Chair (novel) (£2.00)

Smith, Wilbur – The Leopard Hunts in Darkness (£1.50)

Other Non-Fiction:

The Comet Sweeper, Caroline Herschel’s Astronomical Ambition by Brock, Claire (NEW, hard back, £8)

Geisha by Lisa Dalby (£2.00)

The Man who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman (£1.50)

Paula, Michael and Bob - (Yates, Hutchence and Geldof) Everything you know is wrong by Gerry Agar (£2.50)

Habits, Why you do What you do by John Nicholson (£0.50)

World Association for Transport Animal Welfare and Studies
Registered Charity Number 1070042