wpostServer: http://css.washingtonpost.com/wpost
The growing field of animal studies Humane Society University and other schools offer courses and degrees in the once-esoteric field of animal studies.
Geese take a stroll at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville. Only recently has animal studies become an academic field, with courses popping up around the world, including at Harvard and Dartmouth universities in the United States and the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Three U.S. schools offer degree-granting human-animal studies programs: Humane Society University, Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky., and Carroll College in Helena, Mont.
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Related Content
Jonathan Balcombe, right, chair of Humane Society University’s animal studies department, with students Kristin Lamoureux, left, and Carolyn Spiegel at the offices of the Humane Society of the United States in Washington, where classes meet. HSU courses include “Understanding the Human-Animal Bond,” “Animal Behavior, Animal Minds and Animal Protection” and “Sociology of Animal Abuse.”
Linda Davidson
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Lamoureux and Spiegel during class; others participate via the Internet. Lamoureux is a professor of tourism at George Washington University who rescues boxer dogs in her spare time. She’s not looking for a second career, she says, but “I recognize this university would give me the tools to combine what I love: my passion for volunteering for animal rescue and the skills I have as a business professor. In the rescue community, there’s a big need for better business practices.”
Linda Davidson
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Pat Gegenheimer cleans the pigs’ barn at the Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville, where Balcombe and others volunteer. In all, more than 300 academic animal studies courses are offered worldwide in 29 disciplines at law schools, colleges and universities, scattered through anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, literature, American studies and women’s studies departments, according to the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Animals and Society Institute.
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Balcombe tends to sheep at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary. “One hundred years ago, you could fill one middle [book]shelf on animal rights,” he says. “Today, there are several books coming out a week. It is a growing social movement.”
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Monte the goat greets a volunteer at Poplar Spring.
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Harrison the rooster at the sanctuary. Thirty-seven adjunct professors teach at HSU along with four HSUS staffers. Faculty members teach online from locales such as the Bahamas and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China, whose conservation education director teaches “Animal Protection and the Environment.” Other teachers include a sociology professor from the University of Colorado, a philosophy professor from Morehouse College in Atlanta and the founder of the Vegan Retreat Center in Rocheport, Mo.
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Goats graze at the sanctuary. “Initially, [Humane Society University] courses were occupationally defined, such as teaching people how to run shelters better,” says Kenneth Shapiro, executive director of Animals and Society Institute. “But now they’re moving into this larger field of human-animal studies, and they are bringing in major faculty to run the program. These are established teachers; they’re not just pulling in activists from off the street.”
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Edward the peacock displays his feathers at Poplar Spring. Courses at HSU, which is seeking accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, span all sorts of aspects of animal welfare, with names such as “Animals, Advocacy and Corporate Change” and “Special Issues in Companion Animal Policy: Dangerous Dogs.” Shapiro says: “These are not just animal advocacy courses. Human-animal studies is an academic field that provides scholarship on issues raised by the animal protection movement. It will generate jobs for people going into the shelter or zoo business and animal law.”
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Nobby the goose at Poplar Spring. At the University of Maryland, Professor W. Ray Stricklin reports that the 65 seats in his “Animal Welfare and Bioethics” course quickly fill up; a majority of his students, he says, are interested in attending veterinary school because of their concern about animal treatment.
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Balcombe spends Saturdays at the sanctuary, cleaning animal stalls, refreshing the water, scooping the poop and herding the chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl and peacocks into a barn to avoid local hawks.
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Balcombe, of Germantown, has a doctorate from the University of Tennessee in ethology, the study of animal behavior. “The main reason I did a PhD was to be a more effective spokesperson for the rights of animals,” he says. A vegan, the owner of two cats and the author of several books on animal emotions, he jokes that he was born with an “animal protection gene.”
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Balcombe and other volunteers help overweight and aged Parker the pig get upright.
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Deb Durant and Balcombe with Heidi the cow. Administrators at the nonprofit Humane Society University split course offerings into five eight-week terms. Tuition is $350 per credit hour for undergraduates; $450 per credit hour for graduates. Class sizes range from five to 10 students. Typically, bachelor’s students have taken two years of college elsewhere, and HSU courses complete their junior and senior year.
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
Balcombe and Pat Gegenheimer at the sanctuary. “[British philosopher] John Stuart Mill said all social movements have three stages: ridicule, discussion and adoption,” Balcombe says. “We’re over the ridicule part.”
Marvin Joseph
/
THE WASHINGTON POST
FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES
MLB power rankings
Barry Svrluga assesses the best teams in Major League Baseball through Thursday.
Photos of the day
Cyclone Mahasen, Texas tornadoes, puffin census, melting Swiss glacier and more.
Eye on entertainment
Claire Julien, David Hasselhoff, Freida Pinto, Candice Glover, Martin Short and more.
The Johnstown Flood of 1889
On May 31, 1889, the South Fork dam that held Lake Conemaugh failed, and 20 million tons of water descended upon Johnstown, Pa. The flood claimed the lives of 2,209 people and spurred...
Turkey faces a refugee crisis
More than 400,000 Syrians have crossed into Turkey seeking refuge from the conflict at home. Finding its resources stretched, Turkey is urgently appealing for international aid and...
???initialComments:true! pubdate:04/12/2012 10:05 EDT! commentPeriod:14! commentEndDate:4/26/12 10:5 EDT! currentDate:5/18/13 8:0 EDT! allowComments:false! displayComments:true!
Section:/lifestyle/magazine
![Balcombe tends to sheep at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary. “One hundred years ago, you could fill one middle [book]shelf on animal rights,” he says. “Today, there are several books coming out a week. It is a growing social movement.”](/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/03/05/Magazine/Images/MGanistudies209_1330977841.jpg)
![Goats graze at the sanctuary. “Initially, [Humane Society University] courses were occupationally defined, such as teaching people how to run shelters better,” says Kenneth Shapiro, executive director of Animals and Society Institute. “But now they’re moving into this larger field of human-animal studies, and they are bringing in major faculty to run the program. These are established teachers; they’re not just pulling in activists from off the street.”](/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/03/05/Magazine/Images/MGanistudies228_1330979041.jpg)
![Balcombe and Pat Gegenheimer at the sanctuary. “[British philosopher] John Stuart Mill said all social movements have three stages: ridicule, discussion and adoption,” Balcombe says. “We’re over the ridicule part.”](/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/03/05/Magazine/Images/MGanistudies201_1330977601.jpg)
Loading...
Comments