Free range eggs may have to be renamed because of bird flu restrictions.

Free range eggs may have to be renamed because of bird flu restrictions. UK egg producers have warned that the future of the premium free range sector is at risk should the eggs lose their prized status because of the ongoing threat of bird flu. Flocks of free range hens are being housed indoors because of the bird flu outbreak and if they are unable to go back outside by the end of February the eggs will be downgraded to “barn produced”, the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) has said. continue

Animal rights activists compromise birds’ health.

When activists trespass on farms, they are violating the law as well as biosecurity protocols. During the 2017 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), Hannah Thompson-Weeman, vice president of communications for the Animal Agriculture Alliance, talked about some of the tactics that animal rights activists use in hopes of getting their message out that they believe animals are harmed in agricultural production. But whether they realize it or not, they could be doing more harm to poultry. One animal rights group, Direct Action Everywhere, has started to conduct what it refers to “stealth visits” to turkey and layer farms, Thompson-Weeman said. What is a stealth visit? Well, it’s not exactly on the up-and-up. In layman’s terms, it is trespassing in order to obtain photographs, video footage and to free birds they think are suffering. “They go in after hours, get access to a barn, and bring in their video crew, bring in their open rescue volunteers,” she said. continue

RESEARCH: Emotional fever in fish.

RESEARCH: Emotional fever in fish. A research by a team of scientists has shown that the zebra fish are sentient and as such are capable of exhibiting emotional fever. A paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the team describes their experiments with stressing zebra fish, how the fish reacted, and why they believe it should now be added to the list of organisms labeled as sentient beings. RESEARCH: Emotional fever in fish. Earlier research has shown that mammals and birds and a species of lizard respond to stress by experiencing an increase in body temperature on the order of 1- 2 C°—a reaction that some have suggested indicates that the creature is a sentient being—one that is able to perceive or feels things, whether emotional or physically. The study was conducted by placing 72 zebra fish in a net in water that was 1 C° colder than was normal for them. They also had a control group that was left alone with no changes to their environment. RESEARCH: Emotional fever in fish. All of the fish were then transferred to a tank that had sections heated to different levels, which the fish could access freely if they wished. The team watched to see which section the fish would swim to, and noted that those fish that had been stressed spent more time in the sections that were slightly warmer than normal, than did the control fish. This caused the body temperature of the fish to rise from 2 to 4 C°, which the team claims showed the fish experienced elevated body temperatures in response to stress, demonstrating emotional fever, and therefore they should qualify as sentient beings.

RESEARCH : Fish communicate with one another using urine.

RESEARCH : Fish communicate with one another using urine. A paper published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology by a team of researchers has shown that at least one species of fish communicates with others of its kind using chemicals in its urine. The researchers inserted a partition in the middle of a fish tank that prevented fish on either side from interacting physically with one another. In some scenarios, the barrier had tiny holes to allow water to pass between the sides, while in others it did not. RESEARCH : Fish communicate with one another using urine. Also, some barriers were opaque and others were transparent. In addition, the researchers injected the fish with a blue dye that allowed them to see and measure urine being expelled by the fish once in the tank. The researchers measured how much urine was expelled under a variety of situations—in which only one fish was in the tank; in which there were two but they could not see each other; in which there were two and they could see each other but were or were not able to communicate via urine through the barrier—the team also used a variety of fish sizes and noted fish behavior throughout each test. The researchers looked at their results and noted that when two fish saw one another in the tank, they raised their fins and approached each other in an aggressive manner, and both emitted more urine than when they were not able to see another fish. They found that only when the urine was allowed to move through the barrier was there a noticeable change in behavior of the fish—in such cases, the smaller fish generally reduced its aggressiveness, yielding to the larger one. The researchers also noted that when the urine was not able to pass through the barrier and the fish were able to see one another, both emitted more urine than in any other scenario, apparently aware that their message was not getting through.

USDA removes animal welfare reports from its website.

The Agriculture Department has removed animal welfare inspection reports, enforcement records and other information about the treatment of animals from its website, citing privacy and other laws. Tanya Espinosa, a spokeswoman for USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the information was removed from the site around 11 a.m. Friday. She would not say if the removal was temporary or permanent in the new Trump administration. The information is used by advocacy groups and other members of the public to look up information on commercial dog and horse breeders, some of whom have had a history of abuse. The reports included lists of animal welfare violations at those facilities and also at animal testing labs, and whether those violations have been corrected. n place of the online database is a new message from the department saying it is "implementing actions to remove documents" related to the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act that contain personal information. continue

Pet snake stuck in owner's earlobe.

Most people don’t expect their pets to send them to the emergency room, but that’s exactly what happened to one Oregon woman. Ashley Glaw, of Portland, took to social media and posted a photo from the emergency room after her pet snake decided that her gauged earlobe would be a nice place to hang out. Glaw said she was holding her snake Bart when he caught sight of the hole in her earlobe. She said Bart went through the hole so quickly that she didn’t have time to stop him. Then, he got stuck. Luckily, Glaw and Bart are both fine after doctors made a small cut in her ear and wiggled Bart free with the help of some Vaseline. source

Pot for pets: The future of veterinary medicine.

Cannabis for canines and cats is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to treat pain for your four-legged friend. It’s such a growing trend that many veterinarians are turning to holistic healing, using oils and even edibles. Could medical marijuana hold the key to helping our pets. A tiny pooch was helpless, suffering from a seizure, it was a terrifying moment for the family, seeing Sadie in pain. Sadie was given cannabis oil as she began having a seizure, and within seconds, the seizure stopped. Dr. Anne Lampru is a holistic veterinarian in Tampa and has been treating man’s best friend for 37 years. Over time, she began to realize that a more natural, organic approach to medicine was not only popular, but practical. Dr. Lampru uses a variety of cannabis products to help sick or injured pets, from edibles, to capsules, to oils. “Pain relief, cancer control, anti-nausea, for those that are on chemotherapy, it’s effective,” said Lampru. “This is just the cannabinoid oil. This is not anything with the psychoactive effect at all.” more