Animal Welfare Information Center

FoxNews.com - Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-WV died early Monday morning after a legendary career in Washington, here are some facts and remembrances from covering the 92-year old senator for years on Capitol Hill. Sen. Byrd was an avid dog lover. http://congress.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/28/a-look-back-at-covering-sen-robert-byrd-facts-and-remembrances/

New York Times - Scientists and animal rights advocates have enlisted DNA evidence to do for man's best friend what the judicial system has long done for human crime victims. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/science/27dna.html

@TheHorse - Dr. Wesley Bissett, DVM, PhD, serves as lead faculty member on the project. "The unit has to be prepared to treat a wide variety of issues: hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and wildfires," he explained. Team members are divided into strike teams to target either large or small animals. http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=16570

MedicalNewsToday.com - Michigan State University veterinarians are taking part in a two-year, $5.3 million project to analyze five cancers in dogs, research that could offer new insight into canine cancer genes and their potential impact on the human form of the disease. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/192574.php

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2010- Today United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack welcomed the announcement that the United States and Russia have reached an agreement to permit the resumption of U.S. poultry exports to Russia. http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2010/06/0343.xml

Madison, Wis., Workshop is the Third of Five on Competition Issues in Agriculture. http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2010/06/0345.xml

ScienceDaily - Crayfish make surprisingly complex, cost-benefit calculations, finds a University of Maryland study -- opening the door to a new line of research that may help unravel the cellular brain activity involved in human decisions. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100615191751.htm

ScienceDaily - Great ape gestures have intentional meaning and are made with the expectation of specific behavioral responses, according to Erica Cartmill and Richard Byrne from the University of St. Andrews in the UK. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100617075201.htm

ScienceDaily - Sense of direction is represented in the brains of newborn rats before they have explored their environment, according to new research by scientists at University College London.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100617150932.htm

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today announced it is hosting a red meat mobile slaughter unit information session on June 24. The goals of this information session are to educate farmers, ranchers and processors on how to set up mobile slaughter units, receive the federal grant of inspection and meet USDA food safety requirements. The session is being held in response to interest in USDA's efforts to support local/regional slaughter through the "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative. http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2010/06/0318.xml

WorldPoultry.net - American Humane Certified, the American Humane Assn. animal welfare certification program, has announced that it now accepts enriched colony cages as humane systems for housing laying hens. http://www.worldpoultry.net/news/american-humane-certified-endorses-colonies-for-hens-7602.html http://thehumanetouch.org/news-events/139-american-humane-approves-enriched-colony-hen-housing-as-humane-alternative-to-conventional-cages

MedicalNewsToday.com - A review of 100 attacks on guide dogs (dogs that help blind people get around) by other dogs report that there are over 3 attacks each month in the UK, with bull breeds accounting for approximately 40% of all attacks, according to a report published in this week's Veterinary Record, a BMJ publication. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/192385.php

EurekAlert.org - More than five tonnes of illegal bushmeat is being smuggled in personal luggage each week through one of Europe's busiest airports, reveals new research published in Conservation Letters today. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/zsol-ibt061610.php

National Geographic - The discovery is still disturbing, because it suggests the 2009 H1N1 virus could be reshaping its genetic code in animal hosts in other parts of the world. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100617-swine-flu-h1n1-pigs-science/

Whale Not Found in Oiled Water, but Cause of Death Unknown. http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100617_whale.html

The Scotsman - Scottish scientists are creating pigs that are genetically modified to suffer from incurable human diseases – so they can be used by drug companies to test new therapies.http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/news/Scientists-create-39sick-pigs39-to.6366995.jp

The National Academy of Sciences recognized the National Agricultural Library's (NAL) Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) for assistance given to the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research during their recent revision of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The acknowledgment reads:

The Committee to Update the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals expresses its appreciation to the Animal Welfare Information Center, National Agricultural Library, USDA, for its assistance in compiling bibliographies and references. This task would have been formidable without their help.

The Guide is used by the Public Health Service as its animal care standards for Federal grant-holders receiving money from the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is also used by the National Science Foundation for its grant-holders. The Guide’s 8th edition was released June 9, 2010.

The PubMed Search Builder section of the Advanced Search page will soon be modified to provide users with a more cohesive method to build searches. The Search History and More Resources sections will not change. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj10/mj10_pm_adv_search_page.html

SacBee.com - Canine genetic database at UCD targets dogfighting crimes http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/16/2825845/canine-genetic-database-at-ucd.html#ixzz0r2ib9G1l

ScienceDaily - Scientists are reporting the first evidence that a plastic antibody works in the bloodstream of a living animal. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100609111314.htm