Who adopted who?
Did wolves self-domesticate and become dogs? Or did we forcibly do so? This and other news for the week ending February 14, 2025
In the news: The Science of Humane Sheltering. Yet another reason to stop feeding dogs and cats raw pet food. Protecting cats from bird flu and media sensationalism. Do you have what it takes to save lives? Legislation seeks to eliminate sales tax to feed all family members. Most of the world’s dogs live in homes and that’s where they belong. The question of whether wolves domesticated themselves and how long it took to evolve into dogs has been answered.
These are some of the stories making headlines in animal protection:
The Science of Humane Sheltering
Introducing the latest free guide from The No Kill Advocacy Center.
Shelters are stressful environments that negatively impact health, behavior, and adoption opportunities. For example, many traditional practices — such as restricting visual access and limiting interaction — lead to frustration and misbehavior in dogs, increasing the time it takes for them to be adopted.
The Humane Sheltering Science Guide presents research-backed recommendations for improving the welfare of shelter animals, shortening length of stay, and increasing placement rates for dogs, cats, rabbits, and other animals.
The Guide also highlights the financial and community benefits of humane sheltering. Killing animals is costly, while lifesaving programs — such as working with rescue groups, facilitating adoptions, and implementing community cat programs — reduce expenses and improve public perception. Case studies show these policies increase adoption rates, boost local economies, and attract new businesses.
Using the Guide, shelters can prioritize enrichment, behavioral support, and medical care to create a more humane and effective animal welfare system.
Read or download “The Science of Humane Animal Sheltering”:
The Humane Sheltering Science Guide is part of The No Kill Advocacy Center’s No Kill Toolkit, a collection of 31 free guides for No Kill advocates, policymakers, board members, shelter managers, rescuers, media, and other stakeholders. Read or download any of them:
Yet another reason to stop feeding dogs and cats raw pet food
As reported several times over the last few months, raw milk and raw cat food tainted with H5N1 (bird flu) have been responsible for cat deaths. Health officials in various cities urge people not to give their cats raw milk or cat food. Unfortunately, skepticism about public health measures has resulted in dismissing these claims, and the products are becoming more popular than ever. Cats are paying the price.
So are dogs. In addition to several recalls for salmonella-tainted raw dog food, including just last week, Consumer Reports “tested 58 dog foods from brands including Blue Buffalo, Hill’s Science Diet, and Purina for key nutrients and dangerous contaminants.”
The only foods with concerning contaminants were raw. According to CR,
We found Listeria monocytogenes, the type of listeria bacteria that is known to cause illness, in one sample of Raw Bistro’s Free Range Chicken Entrée and one sample of Viva for Dogs Ground Beef meal—both frozen raw dog foods. The other two samples of Viva for Dogs Ground Beef raw meal we tested contained Listeria innocua, which does not typically cause sickness but is sometimes considered an indicator of the potential presence of harmful listeria bacteria. Viva Raw recalled five products in July 2024 for Listeria monocytogenes contamination, though the list of recalled products did not include the product we tested.
As reported so many times before, pet food recalls are not uncommon. The Journal of Food Production analyzed all 3,691 FDA pet product recalls over the last 20 years (2003-2022) and found that the vast majority — 68% — were pet food related. Of these, over half were Class I recalls, meaning there was “a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.” And these recalls “have increased in recent years.”
Protecting cats from bird flu and media sensationalism
In the last week, several headlines have announced that “House Cats With Bird Flu Could Pose a Risk to Public Health” and that “Rising Bird Flu Cases in Cats Spark Warning for Pet Owners Nationwide.”