The Nerd RVT

RVT nerd chick with a B.Sc., I work with fish, amphibians and reptiles in biology research. Keeper of zebrafish. Also a big gamer. Opinions my own.

[nerdrvt]

Eliminating the “Us vs. Them” Rhetoric in Lab Animal Science

This is a topic I have been debating on writing about for some time. I feel like this has been a little thing in the back of my mind, eating away at me for almost my entire career in lab animal science. It is very hard to talk about, given that this field is the target of so much misleading, incorrect information already. We have a real problem, and what suffers because of it is the animals. So frequently I have heard complaints from my colleagues in science about how their respective animal care or veterinary departments have caused them issues with their work. I used to just brush it off, as it has been long-ingrained in me by my colleagues in the lab animal care end of things that these science folks are “the enemy” or “the dark side” (both of these terms have been said to me by lab animal folks, verbatim), and that they don’t have the best interest of the animals in mind.

I have worked on both “sides”, in facilities where the researchers and the animal care folks got along and collaborated amazingly well. I have worked in some where this was absolutely not the case. Animal research cannot continue to foster an “us vs. them” culture. We cannot continue to be at odds with the researchers we support. I have thought about this for some time, and I feel there are some key things that we need to improve upon, or consider at length, in our daily work. I know, I can hear the scoffing on both sides already. In a perfect world, everything would be rainbows and unicorns. p-values would always be significant, etc. I admit that some of the things I suggest may sound silly, but I just want people to think about how their actions can have a real impact on science.

Collaborate

Animal care staff and researchers should work together as a team. When there are unknowns about some animal work, don’t just say “no”. Offer to use your health and welfare expertise to try your best to help support the researchers and maybe you’ll learn something new, develop a new method, or make a scientific breakthrough. It won’t always work, but keeping a dialogue open and not shutting down every single new thing that comes across your desk/change station/procedure room will only serve to strengthen your relationship with the folks just trying to do science.

More support staff, less office staff

What’s one of the best ways to get your researchers to lose trust and faith in your operation? Start filling your head office with desk jockeys, and gut the staffing on the floor. The people working on the floor are your service’s daily face that the researchers interact with almost constantly. The office folks are often perceived as unnecessary, impersonal bureaucracy and barriers to the work the researchers are trying to do. Empower the animal care staff working in the facilities to perform some of the tasks normally assigned to office staff, and watch as the researchers feel like the tasks are much more approachable and accessible. That being said, an understaffed, overworked floor staff won’t be willing or able to take on these tasks, so make sure your staffing levels are appropriate for the work load.

Question the 3 Rs, and regulatory burden

The 3 Rs are touted as an excellent message for the public about all of the good we try to do in improving animal research work being done. However, are they really compatible with doing good science, all the time? Are they really always the best option when it comes to ensuring the welfare of animals in research? The same goes for the ever-growing regulatory burden that folks in science must face. Listen to concerns that your research colleagues may have about the concepts within the 3Rs. Think big picture. Think about what makes for good science. Don’t just blindly follow because the 3Rs are the “right thing to do”. Nothing is ever that simple. Look for the nuance.

Update your practices

Encourage and support staff that want to better themselves in the field. Keep up to date with the latest literature on lab animal science. All too often I see people on both sides very stuck in their ways. Always strive to do things in a better way.

Attend lab meetings

What better way to improve cooperation than to have more in-depth knowledge of the protocols being run in your facility? Ask to have staff involved with specific protocol animals sit in on some lab meetings. Staff may be able to provide valuable insight into animal work. This may also be a more informal means for animal users to suggest changes, or inform staff about what is working well. Show interest in the research being done. Be there to celebrate the successes, and provide support for situations where things did not go as hoped.

Be consistent

Don’t play favourites, or let some things slide for some labs, but not others. Think about why this may happen. Is there work you can do, to get every lab on board at a certain level? Try to implement your facility policies the same way for all users. If not possible, be frank and honest about why this is a challenge for your department.

Compromise

Sometimes, in the bigger picture, what we impose on the research being done in our facilities can actually be detrimental to animal welfare. It may mean that more animals get used in the long run, or the results don’t work out due to our interference with the study. Plan for this. Speak openly with the researchers. Be prepared to make compromises that benefit the bigger picture.

Trust

If you are working in an environment where you cannot trust your researchers to adhere to agreed-upon, or regulated procedures, something is wrong. Placing trust in your researchers will help to foster stronger working relationships. This may take some time, and may require incremental changes to get the animal care and research teams on the same page.

Small steps

This is something I have been guilty of. Come into a facility as a new employee, have grand ideas about how I can improve things, start attempting to implement wholesale change. This is one of the fastest ways to sour your relationship with any animal users. Smaller changes, and proving them out as successful to the animal users can help to keep them open minded to additional, larger changes.

Pick your battles

Not every little thing done “wrong” by every animal user is truly worth your time. Are there serial offenders? Sure. However, constantly picking at people who are doing things you don’t like may not help to resolve the issue, especially if a larger issue is at hand. Maybe a sit down chat in an office, away from other people may help?

Lay off the snark

Guilty as charged. I am so snarky. About everything. In some ways I think it can be a coping mechanism. Animal care folks become stressed and can suffer compassion fatigue. It is extremely, extremely important that this does not “leak” from your offices into the wider world of animal research. I have been present for so many meetings and conferences which just become major complaining sessions, feeding this growing snark-fest, and not doing anything to actually prevent the reason for the snark in the first place.  Try to be kinder, and more patient. It will make your work life better overall.

Alright, researchers, if you thought I was going to let you off the hook on this- wrong! Here are some things that you can do, to improve relationships with the animal care team at your institution. This is for you, researchers:

Respect animal care staff

Many of us animal care folks work really hard, and are quite possibly overworked. Also, we really like animals, and some days in a research facility can be hard on us. Compassion fatigue is a real thing. Please be kind and treat all of the animal care staff with respect, and not like your personal maid, or a piece of trash. I promise you that a little kindness and a sympathetic ear can go a long way to fostering a really positive relationship. I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t felt that the way some researchers have treated me has made me dread going into work, or have made me feel like a worthless human being. Oh, and don’t even get me started on how you’ll make our day if you bring us snacks! Just not into the animal facility, please. But that’s a story for another time.

Be reliable

You’ll lose a lot of respect from the animal care staff if you can’t be relied upon, for even the simplest of things. Make a booking? Keep it, or give ample notice if you can’t. Show up on time. Don’t suddenly demand things with very little notice, as the staff are probably already very busy. If the staff ask you to do something, please follow through. If you demonstrate that you can be relied upon, you’ll have a much easier time working with your animal care staff.

Listen

Some of us have been doing this for a really long time. We can spot an unwell animal from across a room. We can place a catheter or a cannula with our eyes closed. We may know the natural history and physiology of your model organism better than you do. So please, lend us your ears. We may have some valuable pearls of wisdom to share.

Get off your high horse

We get it, we really do. You are smart. You have, or are pursuing, an advanced degree. Well, my friend, many of us have advanced training as well, just in a different field than you. Many of us have Bachelor’s degrees, and we have attended specialized college programs, or attended vet school to become experts in the field of lab animal health and welfare. We have continuing education to maintain, and standards to uphold for our national and provincial organizations. So please, don’t talk down to us, or patronize us. We may not be experts in your field, but I can almost guarantee you that you know little about ours. So let’s work together and share knowledge, yeah?

Ask questions

Again, we know. You are very smart. However, working with animals can be unusual and unconventional at times. Ask questions if you aren’t sure. Don’t just do a thing when you are unsure. You can put others, and the animals, at risk. There are no stupid questions, and trust me when I say we’ve heard it all before.

There are so many reasons why working with animals in research can be challenging for all involved. However, let us all remember why we are truly here: we love science. We want to be a part of scientific discovery in one way or another. We should want to shout to the rooftops about how cool science is, and the privilege we all have, in being a part of it. Let’s commit to working together, in collaboration, and not at odds, in order to do what is best for animals, and for science. There has to be a balance.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

There’s a lot to unpack about the fact that the American Zoo & Aquarium Association’s (AZA) new President and CEO Dan Ashe decided to invite the President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Wayne Pacelle, to give the keynote speech at the 2017 AZA national conference this fall. We’re going to start with what is probably the most distressing part of the entire thing: the fact that the ramifications of this choice have the potential to destroy the very fragile cohesion that exists between the already fractured zoo industry. In time, the fallout from that schism might lead to the end of zoological institutions in the United States. 

If that sounds alarmist, consider this: the zoo world is already feeling a huge amount of pressure from animal rights groups who are campaigning to shut them down and is seriously struggling to overcome internal division and fight for its existence in any effective way. That’s while people from different organizations and practices can at least still agree on a common goal. Bringing Pacelle - someone most people in the zoo field utterly distrust - to speak officially at AZA will do such damage to AZA’s relationships with other parts of the zoo world that future collaboration on any topic may be entirely off the table.

The Pertinent History:

To understand why I’m so genuinely worried about the potential fallout from this one dude’s speech at a conference, you’ll want to have some context for the political situation this is creating. I’ve talked about it in other posts on the blog before, but in case you’re new to this, here’s a quick synopsis of a couple decades of politics:

First, the Humane Society of the United States is not associated with your local humane society or animal shelter - it’s a huge animal rights organization that is basically PETA but with better PR and an affection for legislative action instead of shock-and-awe campaigns. During a panel I attended at the 2016 AZA conference, an HSUS surrogate stated openly in response to a question that HSUS and PETA advocate for the same issues and end goals and are mainly differentiated by the tactics they utilize to achieve them. 

Second, HSUS has never truly been supportive of the existence of the zoo industry, with organizational action running the gamut from the support of “humane zoos” run by the AZA in the 1970s to a frustrated declaration in the early 1990s that many zoos - even those that were committed to the conservation of endangered species - needed to close permanently. HSUS has long been involved in and supported attacks on zoos from other animal rights organizations: in the early 2000s HSUS activists took part in campaigns to remove elephants from AZA zoos all over the country, and in in 2013 they were overwhelmingly supportive of the contentious documentary Blackfish and wanted to use it to help end all marine mammal captivity (including in AZA zoos). The current position statement on the HSUS website regarding zoos make it clear that they do not support the current structure of zoos and their conservation programs - the organization wants to see zoos “act as sanctuaries for animals in need rather than breeding them.”

Third, HSUS has a history of shady behavior, including: having their lawsuit against Ringling thrown out of court after it was discovered the key witness in the case had been paid to testify and had lied under oath; making an agreement with the Ohio Farm Bureau in which HSUS promised not to push for tighter animal welfare regulations for farm animals if the state of Ohio helped crack down on exotic pets - including a clause that allowed HSUS to pursue the very ballot initiatives against agriculture groups if they felt recommendations they made regarding dangerous wild animals were not being implemented appropriately; and suing the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office for harassment after refusing to comply with multiple requests for the organization’s fundraising records for an audit.  

Fourth, a partnership between HSUS and AZA facilities has appeared to be developing during recent years, a trend on which AZA leadership has pretty much declined to comment, leaving many zoo staffers highly uneasy. Trade organizations are supposed to protect the interests of their members and some in the zoo field have expressed the sentiment that collusion with a group viewed as the enemy - especially without any explanation - is inappropriate and unwanted.

Lastly, HSUS has implemented even harsher attacks on non-AZA facilities during their burgeoning partnership - campaigning for government agencies to shut down all unaccredited zoos, writing legislation to protect exotic animals that proposes to regulate any non-AZA facility out of existence, and actively condemning alternate accrediting groups and any facilities they list on their membership rolls.

Needless to say, there’s not a lot of love for HSUS from people who work in the zoo field. Most people who work at zoos did not start out with jobs at AZA institutions, and remember well the treatment their previous employers received from HSUS and their cohort. Many have worked at zoos that HSUS has defamed or sued, or have friends and colleagues at such facilities.  

All this history sets us up for the really important point we’re at now: AZA leadership has made the decision to have Pacelle represent the zoo industry in the eyes of the public by having him give the keynote at the organization’s national conference… when the majority of their membership body does not support the actions or goals of HSUS.

I predict this leading to two irreversible major schisms that will redraw the entire political landscape of the zoo industry.

Conflict #1: AZA vs literally everyone else involved in the zoo industry.

The first big political schism has already been in motion for years and will simply be expedited and cemented by Pacelle’s keynote address: a divide between AZA and the rest of the zoo field.

In a sense, this divide has always existed, as AZA has been trying to get rid of non-AZA facilities since the organization incorporated in the 1970s. When they couldn’t convince congress to legislate other zoos out of existence, they created their accreditation standards to differentiate AZA’s standard of care from the rest of the industry and used that credibility to deflect animal protectionism criticisms of inhumane treatment onto “the other guys.” While these disagreements used to be cordial in nature, enmity between AZA and rest of the industry has grown in recent years, with AZA actively joining animal rights groups in lambasting the other main zoo accrediting group, the Zoological Association of America (ZAA), and unaccredited “roadside” zoos. During a panel at the 2016 AZA conference, the AZA moderator joined an HSUS surrogate in decrying the validity of ZAA’s existence to a room full of conference attendees, only to be unable to define the purpose of the ZAA or provide any real information about the organization when questioned. This rhetoric can be viewed as both overly-aggressive and short-sighted, as there are a number of stellar zoos that are accredited both by AZA and ZAA, and ZAA-accredited facilities contribute significantly to the success of some of AZA’s conservation breeding programs.

As discussed recently on this blog, there are a number of reasons a good zoo might choose not to pursue AZA accreditation - and the behavior of AZA towards facilities external to their accreditation is absolutely one of them. As the apparent partnership between HSUS and AZA has evolved in recent years, AZA rhetoric about ZAA and unaccredited facilities has begun to mirror the messaging of the animal rights movement. This is really upsetting to a lot of people in the zoo field, as most zookeepers and other zoo staff don’t start their careers at prestigious AZA institutions - they started wherever they can get a volunteer gig or an internship and worked their way up to whatever job they have now. So, in calling for all unaccredited zoos to be shut down or decrying ZAA’s animal care standards, AZA leadership has been lambasting the friends, coworkers, and mentors of their own zoo employees. Slowly but surely the larger zoo community has started to be alienated by this exclusionary behavior by AZA’s management, and non-AZA facilities and staff have become increasingly reluctant to partner with an organization that will simultaneously accept their labor and publicly trash their facilities.

Bringing Pacelle in for the keynote at the 2017 conference - a position offered as an honor to the selected presenter, and whose presentation sets the tone for entire meeting - will cement the impression that AZA is aligning with the animal rights movement against the rest of the industry. This move makes it seem pretty likely that AZA will now be partnering with HSUS in exactly the way Pacelle described months ago in a blog post: “[working] to expose these bad actors, to pass meaningful legislation to help all animals, to educate the public about the wide set of animal welfare issues, and to blow the lid off phony accreditation programs that have little meaning or value.” (AZA management did not respond to an email looking to ascertain if Pacelle’s statement was an accurate characterization of their partnership, and has made no public statement regarding any collaboration with HSUS that I’m aware of as of the writing of this post.) This allegiance starts, apparently, by giving HSUS the top billing at their national conference in order to gain AZA credibility in the eyes of the animal rights movement. It’ll be to the detriment of the other sectors of the zoo world, but AZA’s previous behavior has indicated that their management is willing to throw other organizations under the bus in order to survive the onslaught of animal rights attacks. Anyone not part of an AZA institution - or even those working for an AZA facility who owe their careers to a non-AZA job or mentor - are going to have a really hard time justifying their support of that move.

Conflict #2: Actual zookeepers vs AZA’s chosen representatives

The second schism I’m expecting isn’t written on the wall as clearly as the first, but has the potential to be a lot more messy.

It sounds like Pacelle’s keynote will be on the topic of animal welfare - which makes sense, given his decade-long reciprocal relationship with the Detroit Zoo’s Center for Zoo Animal Welfare and the fact that the Detroit Zoo has an unusually large presence on the conference schedule this year. At first blush, you’d think that’s a good thing, because the need for high-quality animal welfare is something that both animal activists and animal caretakers should be able to agree on.

The problem is that HSUS has a really spotty history when it comes to both assessing and providing appropriate welfare for the animals under their purview. HSUS was a prominent engineer in the orca Keiko’s release in 2002, and Pacelle’s latest book represents the transfer as a success because “[he] had been given a fuller, richer, and more natural taste of life as a free orca” - however, reports indicate that once freed, Keiko was unable to integrate into pods he encountered, solicited attention from boats and humans, and died from pneumonia after less than a year and half in the wild. In the mid 1990s, an HSUS-backed attempt to rehabilitate navy dolphins - one that eschewed the input from the only zoo scientists known to have facilitated successful dolphin releases - resulted in two injured, underweight dolphins and the leads of the project being tried for seven violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In both of these examples, the noticeable pattern is that HSUS chose to work with activists who had no scientific background or animal management training instead of the appropriate experts - to the detriment of the animals involved.

Pacelle has been involved with the Center for Zoo Animal Welfare (CZAW) at the Detroit Zoo since 2011, but some of actions of CZAW also raise serious questions about the extent of their credibility as a pro-zoo organization. For instance, advisory committee members include representatives from multiple animal rights organizations known to be anti-zoo (including the Performing Animal Welfare Society, known for petitioning for zoo elephants to be sent to their sanctuary); a director who made waves for attending an animal law symposium composed almost entirely of animal rights advocates; and a history of hosting very exclusive invite-only symposiums to which both HSUS and PETA representatives have been in regular attendance. Most concerning, though, is that an attendee at CZAW’s 2017 symposium reported that the first day was spent putting zoos on the defensive, forcing them to justify their right to exist to the animal rights organization representatives in their midst. That was a meeting held at a zoo with a facility specifically dedicated to animal welfare research, by a pro-welfare organization that has existed for almost a decade, with the purpose of creating “processes to safeguard the well-being of animals and fundamental animal welfare policy for zoos and aquariums developed to ensure all animals are able to thrive” … and they’re still having to debate that zoos should even exist with the leaders in the field who were hand-picked to attend? Something about that dynamic just doesn’t feel right. Detroit Zoo is participating in number of sessions related to animal welfare at AZA 2017, however, so no matter how weird their operations appear externally they’ve got the support of AZA management.

AZA is struggling under the onslaught of animal rights attacks right now - the pressure on them can be assessed by simply counting the number of accredited zoos fighting against AR campaigns that want to confiscate their elephants - and is likely aligning with HSUS in an attempt to regain some public confidence in the quality of their animal care. It’s likely that, given the heavy presence of the Detroit Zoo on the 2017 conference schedule, Pacelle will be speaking about animal welfare - specifically about his desire for HSUS and AZA to collaborate to ensure that “good zoos” become part of the “humane economy” Pacelle promotes. However, when HSUS has previously decided to compromise with an organization it has been publicly attacking, that offer has always come with strings attached. In order for Seaworld to get the public support of HSUS, CEO Joel Manby had to agree to retire the orca breeding program. The Ohio Farm Bureau had to agree to support legislation restricting exotic animal ownership in order for HSUS to stop pushing bills forcing more welfare regulations for farm animals. What will AZA have to give HSUS to gain their public stamp of approval? It’s probable that, like Seaworld, AZA will have to capitulate on some topic important to the animal rights movement. Pacelle’s most recent book hints at what those priority topics might be - mainly, the cessation of all elephant and marine mammal captivity. It would not be surprising if Pacelle eventually pushes publicly for AZA to, on the basis of improved animal welfare, either send all their elephants to sanctuaries run by animal rights organizations or cease marine mammal exhibition entirely. 

This creates a situation with a lot of potential for conflict between the opinions of the zoo staff who actually work with animals and the authorities on welfare their trade organization has decided to publicly support. When Seaworld decided to partner with HSUS, staffers were livid - and that was just the choice to stop a breeding program. If Pacelle and HSUS - distrusted outsiders without actual exotic animal experience - attempt to force major changes to the ways zoos manage their animals without actual evidence that it improves animal welfare, there would be a massive amount of resistance from the animal care staff at AZA accredited institutions. Any suggestion of ending conservation breeding programs and transferring zoo residents to sanctuaries would cause internal turmoil. AZA management has previously attempted to punish zoos that disagreed with new regulations handed down by threatening to withdraw their accreditation - and the grants and federal exemptions for a facility that accreditation ensures - and might continue to utilize that tactic in such an instance. There’s already a precedent for zoos purposefully splitting from AZA over just such a disagreement (the Pittsburgh Zoo forfeited AZA accreditation in 2015 over new protected-contact elephant management requirements) and if AZA allows Pacelle to influence new welfare-based animal care regulations it is likely to cause such a divide that staff - and potentially even entire zoos - will choose to terminate their relationship with the trade group.

Tl;dr: How things evolve around Pacelle’s keynote at AZA is incredibly important, because it has the potential to be so divisive as to permanently alter AZA’s relationship with rest of the zoo industry. The choice to feature him is already alienating a lot of people just by the fact that it aligns the trade organization - and therefore the facilities they accredit - with an animal rights organization that has historically opposed the many of the basic objectives of zoos in such a public and positive manner. If the HSUS presence causes the maximum amount of potential fallout I’m expecting, it could very leave the animal management field so scattered and at-odds with each other that animal rights organizations will easily make zoological institutions and their conversations programs as we know them today extinct.  

This post contains outside links, and therefore it will not show up in Tumblr’s tag search. If you think it’s important information other people should see, please consider reblogging it. 

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

The LUSH Charity Pot that supports an organization that straight-up lies about successful conservation efforts to push their agenda.

I am pretty damn angry at LUSH this morning, because one of the organizations they are currently running a Charity Pot for - CompassionWorks International - has spent the day purposefully slandering and lambasting all conservation efforts done by any and every zoo. In fact, their webpage declares that they exist to do battle against “the circus, the rodeo, marine mammal confinement, zoos, horse racing, trophy hunting, factory farming and other industries that put dollars ahead of lives.” I commend LUSH’s commitment to moving away from animal testing, but what the support of this wholly unprofessional non-profit dedicated to misleading the public in support of an anti-science, anti-conservation agenda - loses the company my support, and I hope, yours. 

Yesterday, April the giraffe gave birth. While the rest of us were learning from a close-up view of a natural process we’d never get to see otherwise, CompassionWorks International posted this:

Needless to say, zoo staff around the world were pretty upset by this misrepresentation of the ethos of good, modern zoos, and tried to contact their page to do education about how AZA-accredited zoos are the leaders in conservation projects around the world. Rather than engaging in a dialogue with them - as is the appropriate response from an organization whose actual agenda is to educate the public - CompassionWorks International deleted all the comments they disagreed with, reveling in the ‘battle’ with evil zookeepers, and then blocking anyone who dared to try to do any education on or related to their page. Here are just a sample of their posts about it:

LUSH, this is not what I want my money to support - and I have been an avid supporter of your company. CompassionWorks International has proved themselves to not be an organization that legitimately campaigns for the betterment of animals - they’re exploiting and perpetuating misinformation and using shock value to prop-up an agenda. They have taunted, blasphemed, and blocked people in the last 24 hours who have spent their entire lives working to support endangered species and they have deleted posts talking about successful conservation projects they were unable to refute. CompassionWorks International is blatantly lying when they say that good zoos do not contribute to conservation; a small samples of species zoos have brought back from the brink of extinction and re-established in the wild contains black-footed ferrets, Cayman blue iguanas, Araban oryx, Attwater’s prarie chickens, whooping cranes, red wolves, and golden lion tamarins).

LUSH, your support of this company and their online behavior is appalling. I expect better of a company that is actually dedicated to improving animal welfare. I expect you, at the very least, to actually vet the ethos of the organizations my money goes to support when I buy your products - much less, I actually expected you to support organizations involved in active efforts to improve welfare, not run radical animal rights campaigns that dupe the public with twisted rhetoric and tear-jerking photos. 

Followers, I don’t usually use this blog to be a political platform, but I’m appalled and pissed off, and this falls under the realm for this blog of being a critical consumer of organizations and companies involved in animal advocacy. If you  disagree with LUSH’s support of this non-profit, like I do, you can email them at [email protected], tweet at them at @lushcosmetics, or tag them on tumblr at @lushcosmetics. 

I suggest you tag @lushcosmetics in your reblog so that they notice, and include a note about your favorite successful conservation project that zoos have supported. 

[nerdrvt]

Reblogging because I recently attended an “animal welfare” conference that was more of an “animal rights” conference, where @lushcosmetics had their products in the swag bags for the attendees. This was a conference where there was a plenary about ‘bridging the gap between animal rights and animal welfare’ where Rob Laidlaw from Zoocheck declared several times that we ‘must declare war on zoos’. Credible threats of violence are totally mature and sane, right?

[designinbiology]

Transgenic Xenopus Mandala

The mandala depicts a series of fluorescent protein expressing transgenic Xenopus tadpoles, froglets, and embryos. The author created these organisms using REMI, (Restriction Enzyme Mediated Integration), a technique in which an in vitro synthesized transgene is inserted into genome of a sperm nuclei. The genetically modified sperm nuclei are then directly inserted into unfertilized frog egg, which will subsequently divide and eventually become an adult frog whose cells and germ cells contains the original transgene. In this piece, the author imaged the F1 progeny of a variety of transgenic Xenopus lines. It is then converted their flouresence signals into CMYK channels and subsequently collaged the images to create the mandala shown.

by Nick R. Love

brought to you by Graphic Services for Science

[nerdrvt]

Have a derpcat. I wrote a short thing about keeping cats indoors many years ago for a vet clinic I used to work for. I thought I’d share it here now. Feel free to comment and add other suggestions.

Safe at Home: Tips for Keeping Indoor Cats Happy and Healthy 

Increasingly, cat owners are choosing to keep their cats indoors, and disallowing them to roam freely in the outdoors. Cats allowed to roam face many risks including parasites, serious injury, fatal disease, environmental toxins, and becoming lost. Roaming cats also pose a serious risk to our native wildlife, causing bird numbers to dwindle over the last several decades. Contrary to popular belief, domestic cats are not native to Canada, and allowing them to roam has a harmful impact on urban and rural environments. Happily, there are many ways cat owners can keep their cats indoors, while helping to keep them active, healthy and happy. Here are some tips to keep your indoor cats happy:

Trim your cat’s claws regularly. A veterinarian or Registered Veterinary Technician can show you how. This is a great way to limit damage to furnishings. A product called Soft Paws, which are plastic adhesive nail tips, can also be used to limit any indoor damages.

Provide plenty of scratching areas such as posts, boxes, and even cleaned and dried logs. Make sure any scratching area is placed sturdily so your cat feels comfortable using it. Also note that some cats prefer to scratch vertically (against something) or horizontally (on the floor), so be sure to provide your cat with the type of surface they prefer.

A cat tree can have multiple uses, and will provide hours of entertainment each day. Cats love to perch up high and survey their domain or look out a window. A tree will also double as a scratching post.

You can never have enough toys! Providing toys at all times will stimulate a cat’s natural instincts to hunt and stalk, and provide them with exercise. Toys can be complex or inexpensive, and simple things such as paper balls, catnip mice, or a length of string. However, do not leave strings for your cat to play with unattended, as they can be accidentally swallowed. Keep a number of toys around and rotate them regularly to keep things interesting for your cat.

If you are away for long periods of time during the day, consider adopting a second cat for company. Multiple cats will provide many hours of exercise and stimulation for each other.  Ask your veterinarian about the process of introducing a new cat to an existing one.

Harness training your cat can allow you to spend quality time with them safely outdoors. You can also provide screened in enclosures for your cat to experience the outdoors safely on a porch or in a yard.

Keeping cats indoors is a viable, safe option for most cat owners today. It will keep your cat safe from a number of dangers found outside, and help to ensure a long life. Ask your veterinarian or Registered Veterinary Technician for more information on keeping cats indoors, and alternatives to letting your cat roam.

For more info, Nature Canada has a great website: Cats and Birds

[nerdrvt]

Why I am proud to be a Registered Veterinary Technician in animal research

Christine Archer is a registered veterinary technician at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. She has worked in animal research for over seven years. She currently works with aquatic ani…

I wrote a thing!

[effyeahtorontozoo]

[micdotcom]

The White House has great news for animal lovers

Months after a Minnesota hunter illegally killed Zimbabwe’s famed Cecil the lion, the White House is taking action. The Obama administration’s latest conservation move, in response to wildlife shifts in Africa, may ensure that something like Cecil the Lion’s death never happens again.

[moreanimalia]

Except that this is not necessarily great news because regulated hunting is a good source of income for people in developing countries. Just because you love animals does not mean you automatically despise hunting!

[crotalinae]

Just as an FYI since it seems the majority of people are thinking this will stop imports of trophy hunted lions… it won’t.

Leopards are already ESA Threatened, have been for a while, and they’re still imported regularly, there is just extra paperwork involved. 

The same rules will likely apply for lions (the official federal registrar publication isn’t out yet), hunting can still occur for the threatened populations and imports will likely will occur in similar numbers to pre-listing.

Lions have been CITES listed for a while (meaning the numbers of lions moving around the world is already tracked), but with a Threatened listing (assuming it is done the same way as the Leopard, and not the Lechwe, which requires only a CITES permit, no ESA permit) USFWS will have the ability to close imports, or limit imports, from any given country if the science shows that hunting isn’t benefiting those lions.

[nerdrvt]

Going out for dinner with folks from work can be interesting. They start talking about adult stuff. Houses, kids, pensions, aging parents...

... and I'm just sitting there like "no, thank you. Want to see some pictures of my cats?" "Have you tried the Junk Jet in Fallout 4?!".

[nerdrvt]

Woodland Park Zoo Aug 2015 by Christine A

[nerdrvt]

Woodland Park Zoo Aug 2015 by Christine A

[nerdrvt]

Woodland Park Zoo Aug 2015 by Christine A

[nerdrvt]

Woodland Park Zoo Aug 2015 by Christine A

[nerdrvt]

Woodland Park Zoo Aug 2015 by Christine A

[nerdrvt]

Woodland Park Zoo Aug 2015 by Christine A

[nerdrvt]

Woodland Park Zoo Aug 2015 by Christine A

[effyeahtorontozoo]

Rare stick insect to go international to save its species

Hundreds of precious Lord Howe Island stick insect eggs will be sent overseas as part of a captive breeding program for the critically endangered Australian insect - which until 2001 was thought extinct.

Looks like Toronto Zoo is getting Lord Howe Island stick insects! Very cool. If you have a chance, check out their backstory.