Humane Society

Companion animal veterinary care in Canada and the United States is experiencing sustained structural pressure. Rising household affordability constraints, workforce strain, evolving ownership and financing models (including corporate and private-equity participation), and increasing expectations for timely, convenient access to care-particularly through telehealth-are converging across jurisdictions. These pressures are commonly framed as either unavoidable market dynamics or ethical failures within veterinary medicine. This preprint proposes a different, neutral framing: many of the most visible failures in companion animal care are predictable outputs of systems-governance architecture rather than the result of individual clinicians, clinics, or any single ownership model. When coordination, transparency, and quality assurance are fragmented, stress accumulates at the point of care, producing access bottlenecks, price opacity, moral distress among clinicians, and downstream impacts on shelters, rescue organizations, pet surrender, and euthanasia risk. Using a high-level market and systems-governance analysis, this paper examines practice ownership structures, access and cost pressures, workforce capacity, telehealth governance, and quality-of-care signals. Reported estimates indicate increasing consolidation in both Canada and the United States, though precise market-share figures vary depending on definitions and measurement methods (Bain & Company, 2020; Brakke Consulting, 2023; Federal Trade Commission, 2023). Rather than asserting a single consolidation percentage, this analysis treats consolidation as a directional trend and focuses on the governance conditions under which consolidation either supports coordination and access or amplifies price opacity, capacity strain, and erosion of public trust. The paper situates veterinary system stress within a broader human and community context, recognizing the emotional significance of companion animals, the financial shock veterinary crises can impose on households, and spillover effects on mental health, economic stability, and community wellbeing (ASPCA, 2023; Humane Canada, 2022). Finally, the paper introduces Community Network Integration (CNI) and a Universal Quality Management System (UQMS) as a non-interference governance infrastructure applicable across practice models. CNI/UQMS is proposed as a means to embed coordination, quality signaling, transparency, and auditability so that sustainable access, acceptable welfare outcomes, and professional credibility become the path of least resistance rather than the product of individual heroics. Plausible system trajectories over the next three to five years are outlined, along with a measurable evaluation agenda to distinguish beneficial consolidation from harmful consolidation and effective telehealth from unsafe telehealth.

Real protest goes beyond loud voices and social media posts. It is not right to think that shouting in groups on the streets for a few days and opposing on Facebook or in other social media is the real way of protest against an injustice. At most, that is whistle-blowing.
    True protest is done in two ways: One, continuously shaking and uprooting the root of the injustice. It is sustained action. The other is, with a calm mind and firm resolve, through relentless creativity towards permanent well-being.

This essay reclaims the transcendental "superorganism" concept advanced by Carl O. Sauer and Alfred Kroeber as a precursor to the meta modernist ideal of "informed naivety. " Drawing on Charles Sanders Peirce's abductive logic and his notion of "tenacity, " the essay argues for a renewed academic ethos-one that embraces paradox, intuition, and cultural holism as vital traits for a more humane social science in higher education.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10069691

The City of Oakland is the largest city within Alameda County, the 8 th largest city in California, and the 45 th largest in the United States. Due to various socioeconomic factors, the number of homeless encampments within Oakland has been increasing over the past few years. A recently completed survey showed that there has been a 47.45% increase in the number of homeless living within the city limits. Approximately 4,071 people are now living in various encampments around the city, primarily concentrated underneath freeway/infrastructure overpasses and on adjoining lands. Surveillance by our staff found that several of these encampments also had active Norway rat populations as indicated by active burrows within and adjacent to the camps, as well as resident reports. Beginning in the fall of 2017, District biologists began live-trapping at a few of the larger encampments to try and ascertain the composition and load of ectoparasites on corresponding Norway rat populations. We specifically looked at flea abundance and species composition, as they are vectors of diseases, such as Murine typhus (Rickettsia typhi), flea-borne typhus (Rickettsia felis), and plague (Yersinia pestis). We trapped at four different camps in Oakland over a nine-month period and found that the flea, mite, and louse abundance, along with species composition, varied between the camps. To date, we have yet to determine the causes of these differences, but fleas tested at two of the four camps have come back as positive for R. felis. We are continuing to trap at these camps and are expanding our trapping program to include additional camps in an effort to determine what variables affect the ectoparasite composition on Norway rat populations within the City of Oakland.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as the most profound existential threat humanity has ever engineered. Beyond automation and efficiency, AI now stands on the precipice of surpassing human intelligence, morality, and control. This report explores the potentially apocalyptic consequences of unchecked AI development, including the loss of human autonomy, weaponization, societal collapse, and the annihilation of the species. Drawing on warnings from leading scientists and technologists, the evidence presented paints a chilling picture of a near future where humanity may no longer be the apex intelligence-or even existence.

In recent years, the human body has been the focus of discussions in many fields, not only those naturally related to the body, like medicine and other health sciences, but also in the social sciences and philosophy. The human body is a fundamental matter that underlies most of the biological, health, physical, social, cultural, and even religious issues today. From a philosophical perspective, it has been hitherto considered, albeit in a very restricted manner. But today, philosophical discussions about it cover more ground, not just about its relationship with the mind or spirit, but its social and political significance, its relation to values and work, its relation to cognition and identity, and care of the self, among others. In this paper, I mainly focus on Marcel's notion of embodiment as our unique and intimate relationship with our body that shows our subjectivity as an embodied subject. I discuss how such an intimate relationship is experienced through our feeling of our body, and how our embodied self enables us to relate with others and participate in the world. To provide a philosophical background, I first traced the important conceptions about the body from the Ancient, Medieval, Modern, and Contemporary philosophers.

This paper investigates La Gatoteca, an initiative by ABRIGA in Madrid, Spain, focusing on how it uses animal socialization to boost cat adoptions and how its approach can inspire new business and social frameworks. Through structured human-animal engagement, La Gatoteca improves animal well-being, lowers stress, and drives higher adoption rates. Studies show that early socialization reduces stress in young animals, improves their adaptability, and strengthens human-animal connections, offering a blueprint for innovative ventures. This study explores these advantages, potential obstacles, and their application to new business and social models, emphasizing community benefits and long-term viability.

Veterinary outreach and field medicine projects are expanding across international boundaries at a rapid pace. Projects span from small, local initiatives to robust country-wide programs operated by international animal welfare charities. Both smalland largescale disaster relief efforts involving animals are also becoming increasingly common. Although the majority of larger animal welfare organizations have operating manuals, guidance documents, and participant guidelines to follow, smaller groups often have few to no protocols or resources to use, other than a passion to help make a difference for the animals in a community. A Field Manual for Small AnimalMedicine was born out of the editors’ passion for providing a resource for those working in this exciting and challenging field. This manual is intended to assist veterinarians, veterinary technicians, veterinary students, and those involved in animal welfare projects with improving the health andwelfare of animals in remote, rura...

Present research is a very good study evaluating the potential of poultry egg albumin and egg shell (both crushed and powder form) in enhancing the acceptance of cereal bait by house rat. The acceptance was assessed based on bi-choice and no-choice experiments in laboratory cages and food scale consumption monitor. Authors have also tested the efficacy of these components after mixing in zinc phosphide bait, an acute rodenticide in poultry farms. Egg albumin has been found to have potential in increasing acceptance of cereal based bait.

Human society has been enlightened by the light of civilization through the introduction of the agricultural system. The agriculture sector has been making an important contribution to the development of the rural economy, food security, employment, poverty alleviation and self-reliance for a long time. Agricultural-based economic activities of the people of Bangladesh were all covered by agriculture. Industry and trade-services sector developed significantly after independence, but for a long time, these too were dependent on agriculture. As a result, agriculture has become the mainstay of this country's economy. And this success has been made possible by the labor of farmers, the supervision of agricultural extensionists, the research of agricultural scientists and the combined efforts of various public and private organizations. In addition to continuing food production, ensuring sustainable production, producing nutritious crops, preventing food wastage and ensuring food and nutrition security for every human being, it will start a new trend in the economy of Bangladesh.

Wildlife control operators have observed that animals caught in plastic-walled traps during summer conditions were showing signs of heat stress. To verify the plausibility of these anecdotes, three temperature and humidity sensors were used to monitor local environmental conditions as well as those inside a covered cage trap and a plastic-walled trap. The study lasted for more than 365 days. Average temperature/humidity for ambient air was 10.8°C/72%; for covered cage traps it was 12.0°C/79%; and for plasticwalled traps it was 12.75°C/78.4%. Results are consistent with anecdotal observations that animals caught in plastic traps would experience higher temperatures. This information can be used to improve animal welfare during cage and box trapping activities.

The Evangelical Review of Society and Politics subscribes to the historic decisions of the early church councils. We hold dearly to the deity of Christ, the virgin conception, salvation through Jesus Christ, and the Trinity. We also believe in the unity of Scripture and consider the Bible as the final authority on all issues of faith and practice. This high view of Scripture demands that submissions are underpinned by a thoughtful biblical and theological analysis. The Editors also welcome non-Evangelical contributors to submit biblically consistent critiques of Evangelical political and social thought, providing they are suitably respectful of our values and beliefs, and that submissions are of interest and relevant to the aims and readership of the journal. Articles appearing in the journal do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors.

This research aims to address the significant problem of homeless and unattended pets through the development of the "Furry Friend" application. This application facilitates adoptions by: (1) increasing the chances of finding suitable, warm homes tailored to the needs of the adopters; (2) promoting adoption over purchasing to decrease the abandonment of pets; (3) ensuring pets are rehomed safely and comfortably; and (4) fostering collaboration between various sectors including NGOs like Paw Ju House for Stray Legs, Santisook Dog and Cat Rescue, and The ARK Chiang Mai. The application, developed using Darta programming language suitable for multi-platform applications-employs Firebase as its database system. The system categorizes users into three groups: administrators, users seeking to adopt pets, and users offering pets for adoption. Performance testing across five aspects-user capability, system functionality, system quality and efficiency, design features, and security-involved 30 participants and demonstrated that the system performs well, with an average effectiveness rating of 4.22 and a standard deviation of 0.78, aligning with the research objectives.

The COVID-19 outbreak had a swift and severe impact on our lives, and a subtle transformation is affecting Democracy as we are used to knowing it. In this paper I argue that the "Pandemic Society" we are now experiencing magnifies a dilemma already evident in the recent evolution of digital government and governance: securing citizens' privacy or delivering better services-now including the protection of personal health. In this scenario, while human interactions are being permanently modified by the mediation of technologies, and in particular the accelerated adoption of Artificial Intelligence, a fundamental question to be addressed is how to ensure digital resilience and collective well-being while safeguarding liberal democracy and individual rights. Finding an answer to this challenge requires innovating the democratic settings and functioning of global governance arrangements in the digital age. Yet too little is known about the chances and the conditions for AI to become supportive of the needed quantity and quality of democratic innovation in the forthcoming decades. I thus elaborate on the quest for redesigning institutional frameworks to rethink and innovate our democratic systems and instruments for deliberation, where the AI phenomenon-under wide scrutiny now also at policy and public service levelsbecomes crucial. I conclude suggesting directions for further research and new avenues for policy design and governance in the age of digital transformation.

Despite rapid growth, the wildlife damage management industry lacks meaningful training standards, licensing, and certification throughout most of the U.S. In general, state wildlife agencies do not have the necessary personnel, expertise, or funding to develop and manage training programs appropriate for wildlife control operators (WCOs). We developed the National Wildlife Control Training Program (NWCTP) to provide the fundamental skills and knowledge required by WCOs. The NWCTP includes a manual, species supplement, face-to-face training programs, and an on-line training program. Content was certified by the National Wildlife Control Operators Association (NWCOA) and provides individuals the opportunity for certification through NWCOA. This article explains the development of the NWCTP, its content, and the opportunity it provides for state and federal agencies, private companies, and individuals to increase capacity in resolving human-wildlife conflicts.

Prior research found that people's assessments of relative competence predicted the outcome of Senate and Congressional races. We hypothesized that snap judgments of "facial competence" would provide useful forecasts of the popular vote in presidential primaries before the candidates become well known to the voters. We obtained facial competence ratings of 11 potential candidates for the Democratic Party nomination and of 13 for the Republican Party nomination for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. To ensure that raters did not recognize the candidates, we relied heavily on young subjects from Australia and New Zealand. We obtained between 139 and 348 usable ratings per candidate between May and August 2007. The top-rated candidates were Clinton and Obama for the Democrats and McCain, Hunter, and Hagel for the Republicans; Giuliani was 9 th and Thompson was 10 th. At the time, the leading candidates in the Democratic polls were Clinton at 38% and Obama at 20%, while Giuliani was first among the Republicans at 28% followed by Thompson at 22%. McCain trailed at 15%. Voters had already linked Hillary Clinton's competent appearance with her name, so her high standing in the polls met our expectations. As voters learned the appearance of the other candidates, poll rankings moved towards facial competence rankings. At the time that Obama clinched the nomination, Clinton was ahead in the popular vote in the primaries and McCain had secured the Republican nomination with a popular vote that was twice that of Romney, the next highest vote-getter.

This analysis focuses on estimation difficulties pollsters had in the primaries in 2008 in light of recent trends in improved polling accuracy in general elections. We consider the series of polls that were conducted in New Hampshire and other states holding primaries, looking at how the dynamics of the primary contest affected polling accuracy in those contests. The data come from published state-level results of public pollsters from the week preceding each primary or caucus for which polls were conducted; all told, we used 258 polls in thirty-six different Democratic events and 219 polls in twenty-six Republican events. The results show that the winner's vote share almost always exceeded the poll share while the race remained competitive, particularly early on in the nomination process. In an unusual perspective made possible by the length of the contest on the Democratic side in particular, this could be observed through most of the primaries; it was not the case in the Republican events after John McCain became the presumptive nominee. The analysis shows there are contextual factors at work that can affect the quality of the estimates that public pollsters make. Measures of momentum and viability affect the estimates differently early in the process compared to later, and there are special factors associated with the insurgent candidacy of Barack Obama that may also have affected the accuracy of the polls. We model these factors, investigate their explanatory power, and discuss the implications for pollsters in future primary sequences.

This study examines how suburban audiences obtain information about 3 species in New York State (whitetail deer [Odocoileus virginianus], beaver [Castor canadensis], and Canada goose [Branta canadensis]). Respondents in 3 suburban areas were surveyed on concerns and interests about a particular species in their area. Respondents also were surveyed about preferred sources for species information and actual source use. Finally, respondents were surveyed about general media use. “Uses-and-gratifications” theory was used to characterize respondents’ information behavior for species information. Specific recommendations for communication planning are offered