Pet animal management is subject to varied husbandry practices and the resulting consequences often impact negatively on animal welfare. The perceptions held by someone who proposes to keep an animal regarding the ease or difficulty with which its biological needs can be provided for in captivity are key factors in whether that animal is acquired and how well or poorly it does. We propose a system to ‘score’ animals and assign them to categories indicating the ease or difficulty with which (...) they can be kept as pets in accordance with welfare and public health and safety considerations. The ‘EMODE’ (‘Easy’, ‘Moderate’, ‘Difficult’, ‘Extreme’) system has two fundamental components: animal welfare—which considers the ‘five freedoms’ principles; and public health and safety—which considers management associated with risks from disease or injury to the keeper and to others. EMODE incorporates two tiers of assessment and guidance, and may offer a reasonable guide for the majority of relevant animals. EMODE Tier 1 provides a primary and general assessment of animals by class or group, and EMODE Tier 2 provides a secondary refined assessment of animals by species or breed. EMODE offers a user-friendly and versatile foundation concept for the future development of guidance for the layperson who may be considering acquiring a pet or for certain personnel when considering assigning species to restrictive lists of suitable animals, for example, ‘positive lists’ as used by governments to control animals in trade and keeping. (shrink)

Various captivity-related health problems have been described as arising in the farming of sea turtles at the Cayman Turtle Farm (CTF). Our study included a desktop review of turtle farming, direct onsite inspection at the CTF, assessment of visual materials and reports provided by investigators from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), and a limited analysis of water quality for potential pathogens. In particular, we assessed physical and behavioural condition of animals for signs of stress, injury and (...) disease. During the onsite inspection we identified three distinct signs of physical injury and disease, six distinct signs of abnormal and problematic arousal- and discomfort-related behaviour; and three distinct signs of normal quiescence- and comfort-related behaviour. On evaluation of evidence provided by the WSPA we identified ten distinct signs of physical injury and disease, and management- or genetic-related conditions; six distinct signs of abnormal and problematic arousal- and discomfort-related behaviour; and three distinct signs of normal quiescence- and comfort-related behaviour. We conclude that sea turtles at the CTF manifested important physical and behavioural signs that are indicative of problematic management and captivity-related stress, and the limitations of sea turtle adaptive plasticity in captivity. The problematic physical and behavioural signs, in our view, related to the inherent nature of intensive turtle propagation which in particular involves overt- and crypto-overcrowding and understimulating environments, and an associated failure to meet all the physical, biological and innate behavioural needs of sea turtles. (shrink)

De vagebond was van oudsher een randfiguur die de samenleving de rug toekeerde en in verband werd gebracht met bedelarij, maar dat veranderde in de negentiende eeuw: kunstenaars en andere kritische geesten kozen de vagebond juist als voorbeeld. Zij vestigden zich op eenzame locaties en verafschuwden hebzucht en commercie.0Deze dwarsdenkers zijn de voorboden van een trend in de wereld van vandaag. Deels omdat zij de huizenprijzen niet meer kunnen betalen, deels omdat zij het postkapitalistische systeem verwerpen, ontwikkelen jongeren alternatieve levenswijzen. (...) Ze verlaten de gebaande paden en bouwen tiny houses aan de rafelranden van de maatschappij; verbeelding, liefde voor de natuur en vrijheidszin staan voor hen centraal.0In zijn 'Handboek voor de vagebond' presenteert Léon Hanssen belangrijke vertegenwoordigers van deze manier van zwerven, wonen en denken. Van de Amerikaan Henry David Thoreau met zijn pleidooi om de bossen in te trekken, via de Oostenrijkse filosoof Ludwig Wittgenstein, die zich in een hut aan een Noorse fjord installeerde, tot de Engelse schuurbewoner en schrijfster Catrina Davies anno nu: zij staan voor een levenshouding die voor ons allemaal inspirerend kan zijn. (shrink)