Center for the Study of Animal Well-Being
The Center for the Study of Animal Well-Being (CSAW) at Washington State
University is a cooperative effort between the
College of Veterinary Medicine
and the
Department of Animal
Sciences
in the
College of
Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. The
goals of CSAW are to generate and disseminate new knowledge
aimed at improving the well-being of animals, to enhance the
mutual benefits of human-animal interactions and to develop and
present educational and public service programs on animal
well-being and human-animal interactions.
Both domestic and wild animals represent emotional, ecological,
and economical values to humanity. There is public concern about
animal use in education, research, food production,
entertainment, and as companions. It is important for society to
learn more about the biological and psychological needs of all
animals in order to determine what factors of animal care and
use controlled by humans are truly in the animals' best
interest.
Dr. Sylvie Cloutier
A research assistant professor of CSAW, Dr. Cloutier studies factors affecting
the behavior and well-being of animals used in agricultural production and
laboratory animals used in biomedical research. Of particular interest, is her
work towards improving the quality of interactions between animals and human
caretakers/researchers. It is her hope that this research will lead to
improvements in the reliability of animal models and the validity of research
data collected from animals used in biomedical research and of animal
well-being.
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Dr. Ruth C. Newberry
Dr. Ruth C. Newberry is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the
Department of Animal Sciences and the Department of Veterinary and Comparative
Anatomy, Pharmacology and Physiology, Dr. Newberry investigates factors
contributing to the expression of different forms of abnormal behavior in
domestic animals. Specifically, she studies effects of early experience,
environmental enrichment and social housing strategies, using play behavior and
vocalizations as indicators of animal well-being. This information is used to
develop humane animal care methods that reduce the risk of animal injury and
promote animal well-being. Dr. Newberry is a Past President of the International
Society for Applied Ethology and a scientific advisor to various groups
addressing issues of farm animal well-being.
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Dr. Jaak Panksepp
The newest addition to CSAW, recently appointed as the Baily Endowed Chair for
Animal Well-Being Science at WSU College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Panksepp’s
internationally recognized work has focused on the nature of the basic emotional
systems of the mammalian brain, with the most recent work devoted to analyzing
the brain mechanisms that mediate separation distress and social bonding. His
discovery of the nature of social joy by studying the psychobiological controls
of juvenile playfulness and the accompanying laughter-type sounds has redefined
many of the current models of animal emotion understanding. Currently, his work
is aimed at deepening and broadening our understanding of these systems
biologically as well as exploring the consequences of this knowledge for
understanding animal and human mental health issues. |
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Read
about doctoral candidate, Lindsay Ellsworth, and her work demonstrating how
dog-interaction activities improve mood among teenagers living in residential
treatment centers