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Trained Rats are Detecting Tuberculosis and Saving Lives | Georgies Mgode | TEDxKenmoreSquare
| Contributor(s):: Georgies Mgode
Tuberculosis (TB) is the number one global killer by an infectious disease. In Tanzania, a team is embracing an innovative and efficient method to speed up the diagnosis of TB that involves integrating super-sniffer rats to quickly identify patients. These trained rats are helping to save...
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Apopo
Apopo's mission is to develop detection rats technology to provide solutions for global problems and inspire positive social change.
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Pets, Purity and Pollution: Why Conventional Models of Disease Transmission Do Not Work for Pet Rat Owners
| Contributor(s):: Charlotte Robin, Elizabeth Perkins, Francine Watkins, Robert Christley
In the United Kingdom, following the emergence of Seoul hantavirus in pet rat owners in 2012, public health authorities tried to communicate the risk of this zoonotic disease, but had limited success. To explore this lack of engagement with health advice, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured...
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The Influence of Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy on the Establishment of the Therapeutic Alliance with Maltreated Children in Residential Care
| Contributor(s):: Nancy Parish-Plass
Background: A large proportion of maltreated children carry their experiences as secrets into adulthood, leading to the continuation of the maltreatment, developmental trauma, and prevention of treatment. Many undiscovered maltreated children are referred to therapy due to behavioral and...
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The impact of tickling rats on human-animal interactions and rat welfare
| Contributor(s):: Megan Renee LaFollette, Brianna N Gaskill (adviser)
Rats initially fear humans which can lead to negative affect, poor welfare, and difficult handling. Also, modeling and measuring positive affect states in rats can pose an additional challenge. Heterospecific play, or “tickling,” is a handling habituation technique that mimics rat...
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Tickling Rats: Differential Benefits for Pet Store Rats
| Contributor(s):: Whitney Blankenberger
Animal welfare and the effects of the human-animal bond are becoming increasingly important to researchers and the public. Animal use in biomedical research is indispensable and inevitably creates stressful situations for the animals. One way to mediate this stress and improve rat welfare is by...
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The Human-Animal Interaction Scale: development and evaluation
| Contributor(s):: Fournier, A. K., Berry, T. D., Letson, E., Chanen, R.
The purpose of this study was to develop the Human–Animal Interaction Scale (HAIS) and evaluate its reliability and validity. The HAIS is a 24-item self-report instrument designed to describe and quantify behaviors performed by humans and nonhuman animals during an episode of interaction...
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Effacing the human: Rachel Rosenthal, rats and shared creative agency
| Contributor(s):: Carrie Rohman
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Pet Behaviour Science | Open Access Journal
| Contributor(s):: David Menor
Pet Behaviour Science is a new open access journal, which publishes original papers relating to all aspects of the behaviour of pets, including their relationships with humans. As a multidisciplinary journal, Pet Behaviour Science welcomes submissions from the arts and humanities, behavioural and...
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A rat-resistant artificial nest box for cavity-nesting birds
| Contributor(s):: Pitt, W. C., Driscoll, L. C., VanderWerf, E. A.
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Individual hunting behaviour and prey specialisation in the house cat Felis catus: implications for conservation and management
| Contributor(s):: Dickman, C. R., Newsome, T. M.
Predators are often classed as prey specialists if they eat a narrow range of prey types, or as generalists if they hunt multiple prey types. Yet, individual predators often exhibit sex, size, age or personality-related differences in their diets that may alter the impacts of predation on...
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Evaluation of a novel rodenticide: acute sub-lethal effects of a methaemoglobin-inducing agent
| Contributor(s):: Quy, R. J., Gibson, T. J., Lambert, M. S., Eason, C. T., Gregory, N. G.
In a series of experiments the welfare of para-aminovalerophenone (PAVP) sub-lethally poisoned rats ( Rattus norvegicus) was assessed. The experiments: (i) examined the acute methaemoglobin (MetHb) profile over time; (ii) refined the LD50 estimate for PAVP in adult female rats; (iii) developed...
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Evaluation of a novel rodenticide: welfare assessment of fatal methaemoglobinaemia in adult rats ( Rattus norvegicus)
| Contributor(s):: Gibson, T. J., Quy, R. J., Eason, C. T., Gregory, N. G.
This study assessed the welfare of rats ( Rattus norvegicus) poisoned with a lethal dose of the methaemoglobin (MetHb) inducing compound para-aminovalerophenone (PAVP). Twenty rats were orally gavaged with either PAVP (treated) or the vehicle only (control). Spontaneous and evoked behaviours were...
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c 22 Animals for Research Act
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Antimony: The Use, Rights, and Regulation of Laboratory Animals
| Contributor(s):: Brenda L. Thomas
'In recent years, the problem, plight, and philosophy behind the use of animals in laboratories, schools, and industries has caused many to formulate an opinion on animal experimentation. It is simple to postulate a Monday morning quarterback philosophy - merely weigh the...
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Laboratory Animal Act: A Legislative Proposal
| Contributor(s):: David Favre
In one recent experiment, mongrel dogs were anesthetized after which thirty-five percent of their body was burned to the third degree by the application of a two hundred degree centigrade hot plate to their skin.' In 1983, researchers at the New Jersey Medical School...
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Reinforcement for Operational Mine Detection Rats
| Contributor(s):: Amanda Mahoney, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Tess Tewelde, Tekimiti Gilbert, Amy Durgin, Alan Poling
When using animals for the detection of landmines, handlers face challenges of when to reinforce indication responses, as the actual location of landmines in the field is unknown. Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling(Anti-Personnel Landmine Detection Product Development or APOPO)...
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Research in Colombia on Explosives Detection by Rats
| Contributor(s):: Luisa Fernando Mendez Pardo, Andres M. Perez-Acosta
The interdisciplinary research group INVESTUD is investigating the effectiveness of mine-detecting lab rats. In Africa, the APOPO program is well-known for using African giant pouched rats for mine detection, but INVESTUD hopes to build on and even surpass APOPO’s progress to advance...
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Two Strategies for Landmine Detection by Giant Pouched Rats
| Contributor(s):: Alan Poling, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Negussie Beyene, Andrew Sully
This article compares the performance of Giant African Pouched Rats under two different management systems, both appropriate for mine-detection operational use. Employing International Mine Action Standards for accreditation, the researchers outline the process of conditioning and testing these...
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Using Giant African Pouched Rats (Cricetomys Gambianus) to Detect Landmines
| Contributor(s):: Alan Poling, Bart J. Weetjens, Christophe Cox, Negussie W. Beyene, Andrew Sully
Many species have sensitive chemical-detection systems. For millennia, dogs’ exquisite sense of smell has assisted human beings in hunting and in thwarting intruders. Trained dogs have detected landmines and other explosives, illicit drugs, pipeline leaks, and melanomas (Furton & Myers,...
