Animal Emotions

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Science Shows Caged Animals Get Really Bored

We've known all along that this is true and now research shows we are correct.

Even the best of zoos and laboratories cannot provide what their nonhuman animal (animal) inhabitants want and need. And now, a detailed scientific study shows that caged animals get incredibly bored in their impoverished surrounds. The abstract of the original study titled "Environmental Enrichment Reduces Signs of Boredom in Caged Mink" can be found here. Excerpts read: 


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In a nutshell, mink in the NE (“non-enriched”) cages spent more of their time lying down and just sitting around idly. But when presented with enriching stimuli “ranging from appealing treats to neutral objects to undesirable things, such as leather gloves used to catch the animals” they got up and investigated these items more quickly and for longer periods of time than other mink. 

This is an extremely important study because it provides scientific validation for what many people already knew based on observing the behavior of these and other animals in captivity. Let's hope that as long as there are animals in captivity they are given the very best treatment they can get, and that this is mandated by the regulations and laws that are in place and implemented in the future. Surely, we can do no less as all animals depend on our goodwill for how they are treated. 

We can do anything we want to other animal beings. That's how powerful we really are. However, power does not mean we have license to abuse them because we can.

The teaser image can be found here.



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