|
|
Chapter 4.6 Scientific Animal Welfare Investigator
As a scientific investigator for animal welfare you research harmful practices against animals and produce reports of your findings. Animal advocacy organisations then use your reports to substantiate their campaigns for reform. Scientific investigation is a bit like doing investigative reporting (see Investigative Reporter) but has an essential scientific bearing by using scientific methods and report writing. A science or social science degree could be of value here; however, with a strong ability and fondness for investigating and writing you could educate yourself on how to go about it. An Example Investigation Pet shops are easy to identify, open to the public for perusal and looking innocent you can question the shop assistants. These factors may be some of the reasons why pet shops have come under the scrutiny of investigative researchers. The aim of these researchers is to protect animals from the pet trade by identifying illegal practices and ill-treatment that can then be acted on. Jordi Casamitjana, an independent animal welfare consultant and investigator, carried out a number of investigations and one was on pet shops in Scotland (1), outlined below. Scientific work for an investigation comes in at the very beginning. You must take utmost care to design your investigation so that your prospective findings can stand up to thorough questioning by anyone wanting to shoot them down. For example, to investigate pet shops you must first clearly define and state what a pet shop is. One way of doing this is to find out what the law says constitutes a pet shop. If there are no laws relating to this and nothing else acting as a definitive guide, you would have to write down your own convincing definition, such as ‘a premise that sells animals as pets as a commercial business, excluding breeders who handle or raise pedigree pets for sale’. You also need an adequate number of pet shops to visit because the more shops you check, the more your findings will be reliable. How many pet shops is somewhat subjective but at least a quarter to a third of total pet shops in the region seems reasonable, which is how Casamitjana chose. There were various other problems Casamitjana had to address before he could set foot inside his first pet shop. One was that he was going to look for abnormal behaviour among the shops’ animals. So what constitutes abnormal animal behaviour? Casamitjana defined abnormal animal behaviour as actions not normally seen in animals living in the wild and he concentrated on stereotypies. A stereotypy is behaviour, seen in humans as well as animals, that is repetitious and appears not to have an obvious function. Pet shop stereotypies include pacing up and down, rocking back and forth, pacing round in circles, head bobbing, and bar-biting (of a cage). You can see stereotypical behaviour in animals at zoos and factory farms. Animal behaviourists think that animals living in unstimulating conditions in captivity perform stereotypies to help them cope with the frustration, boredom and stress of their living conditions. A stereotypical behaviour by an animal indicates a problem of well-being. Casamitjana identified other conditions indicative of potentially poor welfare in pet shops. He considered the animals’ housing (which might be barren and cramped) and compared it with officially approved standards. He also noted animals trying to escape, animals vocalising, customers teasing or handling the animals, shop assistant proficiency - judged by the shop assistants’ standard of advice - and shop compliance with legal regulations, such as not selling animals to minors. Finally, after detailed preparation, Casamitjana posing as a customer was ready to visit the pet shops. Among Casamitjana’s findings was that over half the pet shops he visited had animals who showed abnormal behaviour and were clearly distressed, possibly because of inadequate housing. Several shops had poor customer-animal interactions. Shop assistants often failed to give adequate advice and often gave poor advice. Some shops did not have a valid pet shop licence to operate and others were in breach of their licence. Casamitjana wrote his report and it was published by Advocates for Animals as an indictment on pet shop standards. Campaigners working for pet shop animals are now better armed to help these animals. Knowledge is power! Define Your Subject A subject for your investigation may not immediately occur to you. Choosing one will then be your first task (see Investigation Ideas in Investigative Reporter). Three tips are:
Your research report is the concrete proof of your investigation method, findings and conclusions. The quality of your research will be judged by your scientific approach and how well you convey the importance of your findings (succinct, clear, logical and strictly relevant). It is then that strong action for animal welfare can be taken by animal advocates. The best way to know how to write a report is to study reports by other researchers. To find them check books, journals and the Web. You will see that there are four basic sections to a written report:
References (1) Casamitjana, Jordi J. Caged to Sell: a study of animal related problems in Scottish pet shops in the year 2003. Scotland: Advocates for Animals. 2003. ›› To Entries & Home |
Free Illustrations |