A growing awareness about the extent of plastic debris in the world’s oceans has prompted a number of studies into its impact on marine life. Graphic images of the stomach contents of dead turtles, fish, and seabirds have all suggested marine animals regularly ingest decaying bits of plastic, with lethal […]
Kiwi Post: the face of loss
On March 12 one of our best friends died, after a good, long life, aged 80. John was a local sheep farmer, and one of the first people we met when we moved to Southland and into his farm cottage over 20 years ago. We arrived in Winton for a […]
Abstracts: Associations between increased body condition score, bodyweight, age and breed with urethral obstruction in male castrated cats
Identifying potential risk factors for urethral obstruction in male cats may help in disease prevention. The aims of this study were to assess whether breed, pedigree status, age, bodyweight and body condition score (BCS) are risk factors for urethral obstruction in castrated male cats using a primary care population. Within […]
Abstracts: Lameness and its relationship with health and production measures in broiler chickens
The aim of this study was to explore lameness and the associations between lameness and health/production measures of animal welfare in commercial broiler production, using the Welfare Quality protocol for broilers. A total of 50 flocks were included in the sample and farm visits were conducted for lameness scoring at […]
Vet Ethics: Can you be cruel to a robot pet?
Popular culture has started to examine the question of whether it is wrong to harm robots. In the series Westworld, the android inhabitants of a Wild West-style theme park are sometimes treated decently by the human visitors. But they are often mistreated and deliberately damaged, sometimes sadistically and immorally. Or […]