Impact

BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL HEALING

Courtesy of Samara Says. Animal Assisted Therapy.

Beautiful Beasts have soul. Today, we are featuring exciting new initiatives that touch their souls and ours -- some where we are rescuing the beasts and some where they are rescuing us.

Beautiful beasts can help humans to heal. We’ve known, for a while now, how pets can help humans avert loneliness. We have anecdotal evidence on how animals can assist in human recovery from illness.

Animals have been brought into hospitals and nursing homes for a while now to help bring companionship and cheer to the sick. They’ve been used to help children with autism and other disorders. But now, a new study is underway which hopes to determine if animals can help pediatric oncology patients to thrive.

The landmark study, supported by Zoetis, a leading veterinary pharmaceutical company, and American Humane Association, is now underway at five children’s hospitals across the US.

The full clinical trial of the Canines and Childhood Cancer (CCC) Study is the first-of-its-kind. It will examine how animal-assisted therapy affects stress and anxiety among children with cancer and their parents/guardians.

Children, aged 3 through 12, who are newly diagnosed with childhood cancer, and who are undergoing regular chemotherapy treatments, are elligible subjects.

The hospitals participating in this clinical trial are St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa, FL; Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN; Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel in Portland, OR; UC Davis Children’s Hospital in Sacramento, CA; and UMass Memorial Children's Medical Center in Worcester, MA, in partnership with Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts in North Grafton, MA.

Vanessa Mariani, Director of Academic & Professional Affairs at Zoetis, sees great prospects. “These incredible partnerships with participating sites and the collaboration between children’s health providers, patients, and veterinarians is a model that we hope to continue advancing in the future for the benefit of children and animals through strong science,” she explains.

The CCC Study is unique because it will not only measure the well-being effects of animal-assisted therapy on patients and their families, but also on the therapy dogs themselves.

Prior to launching this 12-month clinical trial, the American Humane Association research team and Zoetis published a comprehensive literature review on pediatric oncology and animal-assisted therapy, and conducted a six-month pilot study in early 2013. The literature review and findings from the pilot study can be downloaded here.

A chimp named Wounda, which means “close to die,” has been close to death many times. She became the 15th chimpanzee released onto the densely forested Tchindzoulou Island. Wounda can now roam freely, immersed in the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of the jungle. Watch the incredible video of Wounda’s release and your heart will belong to these Beautiful Beasts.

It is all thanks to the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) which founded the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in the Republic of Congo over twenty years ago. Dr. Jane Goodall founded the sanctuary to provide care and hope to the chimpanzee victims of the illegal commercial bushmeat and pet trades.

Now the rescued animals need more space and JGI is expanding through its Chimpanzee Guardian Programs. But it needs your help.

They are hoping to raise enough money to ultimately have about 60 chimpanzees on the island by next year, in time for Goodall’s 80th birthday, next year. “To bring them all out to the island, to give them all their freedom --that would be the best birthday present I could have. So I hope that you help us,” says Goodall.

FERAL HORSES SANCTUARY

Feral horses are beautiful beasts. You can see them in their full wild glory just outside of Calgary, in Alberta Province, Canada.

There is a local debate about “what to do” about these horses, because some complain that they eat up too much grass and damage the land. These people want the horses slaughtered.

The Free Spirit Sanctuary, run by Dr. Sandie Hucal, gives these horses a chance to live their beautiful lives out in peace.

But she needs more land to support the herd and, in particular support the pregnant mares. Hucal is working hard to retain usage rights to just 30 more hectares for now. And she’s trying to find buyers for those she can’t protect.

Hucal says that the ideal location would include enough space for the horses “to remain as wild as possible,” with a mix of pasture and trees, a water source, and secure fencing.

For more information about Free Spirit Sanctuary, or if you’d like to help, check out the Facebook page.

WE ANIMALS

“We Animals,” by award-winning photographer and animal activist Jo-Anne McArthur, is a new book that is both disturbing and beautiful. Drawn from many photos taken over 15 years, We Animals focuses on animals in the human environment, including animals used for food, fashion, entertainment, and research, as well as those who were rescued and brought to live in sanctuaries.

The images are powerful. They go to dark places, exposing sometimes secret practices. But they also show some beautiful positive outcomes.

”For the animals' sake, I beg that you will not only look but feel. For if we truly understand their suffering then, surely, we shall no longer condone it. And the heart-warming images at the end of the book show us the road to compassion.”

-- Dr. Jane Goodall, primatologist and author, Reason for Hope

“Jo-Anne McArthur's striking photography and incisive commentary will make you rethink how you relate to other animals. Her camera takes us into some of the darkest places of exploitation and mistreatment to let us see what is too often hidden from us. But she also celebrates tenderness, compassion and the joy of being alive for human and nonhuman alike.”

-- Joaquin Phoenix, actor

Lantern Books ( 2013)

Enter this week’s BN Competition. Our theme this week is Beautiful Beasts. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 02.23.14.

PHOTO CREDITS

1. Courtesy of Samara Says. Animal Assisted Therapy.

2. Courtesy of Ranch Ehrlo Society. Animal Assisted Therapy.

3. Courtesy of Speech Therapy for Autism. Animal Assisted Therapy.

4. by Shawn Calhoun. Dogs used for stress and anxiety relief.

5. Courtesy of Headspace. Animal Assisted Therapy.

6. Courtesy of Prweb. Reading buddy.

7. Courtesy of The Water Bowl. Therapy comfort dogs.

8. Courtesy of NewsTube. Wounda the Chimpanzee.

9. Courtesy of Jane Goodall Institute. Wounda the Chimpanzee.

10. Courtesy of Jane Goodall Institute. Wounda the Chimpanzee.

11. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute. Mother Chimpanzee and her baby.

12. by James Marvin Phelps. A wild mare with her calf.

13. by BlueRidgeKitties. Pregnant mare.

14. Courtesy of Lantern Books. We Animals.

15. Courtesy of Vegan Publishers. Jo-Anne McArthur.