pets, people and urban places

Pets in the city:Living together in urban areas

Melanie Rock, MSW, PhD (Anthropology), RSWAssociate Scientific Director, O’Brien Institute for Public Health

Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine

Department of Ecosystem and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Department of Anthropology & Archaeology, Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Social Work

Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education

www.ucalgary.ca/mrock

Welcome!

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Melanie Rock

Associate Scientific Director, O’Brien Institute for Public Health

Medical anthropologist, health promoter and social worker

Competitive funding (e.g., CIHR, SSHRC) since 2004 for human-animal studies vis-à-vis healthy cities, communities

Born, raised in rural Alberta @rock_m (on Twitter)

mailto:@rock_m

mailto:@rock_m

mailto:@rock_m

Pets in Canada – By the numbers

56% of Canadian households have dogs and/or cats

23% had only cats 20% had only dogs 13% had dogs AND cats

12% had fish 5% had birds 2% had rabbits, hamsters 1% had another species of pet

Pets in Canada – Money matters

Diabetes Diabetic Pet-Care

http://www.flickr.com/photos/qualm/356126823/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/qualm/356126823/

Multi-species families

‘She would absolutely cry when it was needle time. And that, that I think is why I was so upset.’

(cited in Rock & Babinec, 2010)


‘I watched him, and he was real sluggish, and he was going out to pee a lot, and drinking a lot of water. And, see, ‘cause I got diabetes, I know that’s what you do.’(cited in Rock & Babinec, 2008)


‘I had him crash on me a couple of times where his blood sugar went so low that he became very disoriented and couldn’t walk.’

(cited in Rock & Babinec, 2008)

Diabetic pet-care Dog-walking


(cited in Degeling & Rock, 2013)

‘It was not just a walking experience, it was a . . . it was a total, an all-in experience… So the dog might get out of bed and get you going in the morning, and you enjoyed it all the way through.’


Dog-owners 3x more likely to walk year-round in their neigbourhoods, compared with non-dog-owners in Calgary

Multi-species communities

Frequent dog-walkers felt more connected to neighbourhoods, compared with non-dog-owners & infrequent dog-walkers in Calgary

Multi-species communities ?

‘A specific group of people, often living in a defined geographical area, who share a common culture, values and norms, are arranged in a social structure according to relationships which the community has developed over a period of time.’ World Health Organization Health Promotion Glossary ( Nutbeam 1998)

Multi-species public health ?

‘the efforts organized by society to protect, promote, and restore the people’s health’Dictionary of Epidemiology (Last 2001)

Multi-species publics ?

Concerning the people as a whole

Performed, perceived, or exists in ways that are open to all

Rational thought Rational speech Rational writing

Problems produce publics,to seek solutions

Calgary = Model City for Policies on Pets



[email protected]

Calgary = Model City, yet…

Outdoor signage publicizing public engagement (Photograph credits: Lindsay Burton and Kenda Swanson).


Source: 2012 Annual Report, Animal and Bylaw Services, City of Calgary

CALGARY -- A judge has ruled that a man who killed an Alberta peace officer who had come to his property to investigate a dog complaint is not criminally responsible.

Dawn Rault, MA (Human Security & Peacebuilding) - PhD Candidate

Summary

People’s pets = family members •Pets = private property, too

Pets create communities •Pets may divide communities

Pets participate in public life•People’s pets influence politics

With gratitude…

Funders: SSHRC, CIHR, ProvAB

UCalgary (O’Brien Institute for Public Health, Cumming School of Medicine,

Vice-President Research / Human Dynamics)

Partnered organizations: City of Calgary, Calgary Humane Society, Meow Foundation

Collaborators & Students (past & present)

Please visit:www.ucalgary.ca/mrock

http://www.ucalgary.ca/mrock

Thank you

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Information presented today was a summary of the scholar’s research and the opinions expressed were based on the scholar’s field of study

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pets, people and urban places

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