Editorial: Perceptions of Human-Animal Relationships and Their Impacts on Animal Ethics, Law and Research

Affective Regulation and Trait Anger Personalities: The Buffering Effect of the Companion Animal Bond

Emotional dysregulation involving anger can have severe consequences on the individual's psychosocial and emotional functioning. This study aimed to investigate the role that the companion animal bond and the personality dimension of trait anger play in explaining affective dysregulation. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 365 participants. Using the PROCESS macro for SPSS, a moderated model was tested to analyze the hypothesis that affective dysregulation depends on trait anger and that the companion animal bond moderates the relationship between trait anger and affective dysregulation. The results showed that the effect of trait anger on affective dysregulation increases especially when the degree of bonding to an animal companion is low, suggesting that a strong bond to a companion animal may protect individuals with trait anger from the likelihood of experiencing affective regulation problems. The psychological, health-related, and educational implications of the current anthrozoological study include the potential of the human-animal bond in acting as a facilitator of adaptive affective regulation processes, which can reduce the levels of uncontrolled anger-related emotions and the subsequent risk of out-of-control behaviors.

Editorial: Recent Advances in Animal Cognition and Ethology

Animal cognition and ethology, the scientific study of animal behaviour, have long captivated the human imagination [...].

A global study to identify a potential basis for policy options when integrating animal welfare into the UN Sustainable Development Goals

A previously developed methodology to rate the strength of the impact of improving animal welfare on achieving each of the 17 SDGs and the impact of achieving each SDG on animal welfare was used at the third Animal Welfare Global Forum of the World Organisation for Animal Health. Data from 95 participants from key stakeholder categories and organisations involved in animal welfare were analysed. The resulting ‘map’ of the relative strengths of these associations confirmed the expected co-benefits of improving animal welfare and achieving the SDGs. Differences at regional level and according to the economic classification of the country were also identified. This paper focuses on using this ‘map’ as a potential guide for how organisations interested in improving animal welfare could identify potential new allies for strategic partnerships to facilitate the implementation of different policy options. For example, a strategy can be to collaborate with those organisations where the impact is of similar mutual benefit, e.g. between improving animal welfare and achieving SDG 3 (Good health and well-being). Organisations in these two areas are already aligning themselves in the ‘One Health’ movement. Another strategy can be to align with organisations for whom achievement of their goal has the greatest impact on animal welfare, even if the impact is not mutual e.g. by collaborating with organisations working to achieve SDG 16 (Peace justice and strong institutions) and SDG 4 (Quality education). Achieving these goals was considered to have a large impact on improving animal welfare, equivalent to that of achieving SDG 3. In summary, this study can help organisations working in the area of animal welfare identify previously untapped areas of potential support, so tailoring their efforts efficiently, while at the same time themselves supporting movement towards the Agenda 2030. Simply put, the co-benefits make collaboration worthwhile, potentially opening up opportunities that would be unavailable when organisations are working independently towards their own respective goals.

The Promise of Behavioral Tracking Systems for Advancing Primate Animal Welfare

Recent years have witnessed major advances in the ability of computerized systems to track the positions of animals as they move through large and unconstrained environments. These systems have so far been a great boon in the fields of primatology, psychology, neuroscience, and biomedicine. Here, we discuss the promise of these technologies for animal welfare. Their potential benefits include identifying and reducing pain, suffering, and distress in captive populations, improving laboratory animal welfare within the context of the three Rs of animal research (reduction, refinement, and replacement), and applying our understanding of animal behavior to increase the "natural" behaviors in captive and wild populations facing human impact challenges. We note that these benefits are often incidental to the designed purpose of these tracking systems, a reflection of the fact that animal welfare is not inimical to research progress, but instead, that the aligned interests between basic research and welfare hold great promise for improvements to animal well-being.