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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Sep 5

Hi all, if you haven't seen it, I'm doing an AMA here on BlueSky on the @wildanimalinitv.bsky.social feed. About 15 minutes left to submit questions! But you can watch the videos anytime.

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Reposted by Bonnie Flint (she/her)

Wild Animal Initiative @wildanimalinitv.bsky.social · Sep 1

Reminder: Live on Friday, September 5 at 11 am ET, Researcher and Education Specialist @dr-bff.bsky.social will be answering your questions about conducting welfare research on wild animals. Respond to this post or DM us to submit yours now.

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Jul 10

Does poverty play into this? I'd love to see the same type of graph but with poverty instead of percent Baptist. higher or lower correlation?

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Jun 15

I was in Dublin in 2023 and they had a similar banner then. 🥰🏳️‍🌈

A small pride banner on Christ Church in Dublin.

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Apr 15

Hi Christine! I've got an idea for this. What's the best way for me to contact you to discuss it? Thanks!

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Reposted by Bonnie Flint (she/her)

Wild Animal Initiative @wildanimalinitv.bsky.social · Feb 13

Would you take 5 seconds to help us earn a grant from @projectforawesome.bsky.social? Vote for us here: buff.ly/43cwDSz

Last year, each winning organization received $37,297, so your vote could help us earn that much or more. You don't even have to submit your email address to vote!

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Jan 16

47 seconds is 10 years in dog time.

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Jan 1

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Jan 1

1917 Alexander Graham Bell: “[The unchecked burning of
fossil fuels] would have a sort of greenhouse effect.” “The
net result is the greenhouse becomes a sort of hot-house."

So irritating that climate change is veeeery old news and we still aren't fixing it.

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Jan 1

1824 Joseph Fourier proposes greenhouse effect
1856 Eunice Newton Foote experimentally confirms greenhouse effect
1859 John Tyndall measures gases’
absorption
1896 Svante Arrhenius derives CO2 greenhouse formula

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 30

Hmm. Fair enough. I guess that's not how I've thought of it, I've always thought that the perp at least has to know that they are causing suffering for it to be cruel. But I'll accept your definition and update my thinking accordingly!

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 30

My point being, I don't think predators are cruel, even if they enjoy hunting, & they also make prey suffer. Theyre only cruel if they enjoy the suffering of the prey for the sake of the suffering itself. There may be some species that can & do, but I think it's rare, bc it's cognitively advanced.

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 30

So the dog is only cruel if the dog likes the squeak because it wants to make the prey suffer. It's more likely that dogs like the squeak because its associated with hunting & eating (evolutionarily pleasurable because it allows them to survive), not specifically with the suffering of the prey.

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 30

Agree. But I think of cruelty as enjoying the suffering of others (for the sake of the suffering itself)...

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 30

Agree 100%. Various types of evidence would be needed to decide that the emotions are the same for a given behavior. We also have no way to really understand what cat "happiness" truly feels like to a cat, even if we have a whole bunch of evidence that cat happiness exists!

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 30

Correct, and also there's no reason that the same emotion-behavior link can't exist in both cats and humans (similar neuroanatomy). Scientists look for more evidence than just "humans have emotion x thus cats do too." There are multiple ways to figure out an animal's emotional states.

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Reposted by Bonnie Flint (she/her)

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · Dec 30

Would appreciate a RT from the scientists for this one! We have 665 scientists in the spring database and I want to get us to about 1000 before we set the teachers loose on the database for January matches.

Skype a Scientist @skypeascientist.bsky.social · Dec 30

Scientists!

We are trying to get 1000 of us into the volunteer database by Jan 1.

You'll be volunteering to speak with classrooms over video chat about your work, and answer their questions! You can volunteer for up to 5 sessions per semester.

Sign up here! www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 30

However, I think few animals enjoy causing suffering in others, b/c that is not fitness enhancing. So I agree that few other animals are likely to be as cruel as humans (& they also might not have the cognitive ability to understand the suffering they are causing).

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 30

The leading hypothesis for the evolution of emotions is to drive animals toward fitness-enhancing situations & away from harmful ones. So our best understanding of emotions is that they drive behavior (e.g. The suffering of hunger and the pleasure of eating driving foraging behavior).

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 30

I appreciate that you didn't assert this very confidently. So you will probably be interested to learn that scientists (comparative psychologists, animal cognition scientists, animal welfare scientists) are quite confident that at least mammals most likely have a similar emotional landscape as us.

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 30

I was honored to attend one of those lessons when I was in his area. He taught about being a humble servant, like the donkey that Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Afterwards he graciously received each group who came to speak with him and let them take photos with him.

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Reposted by Bonnie Flint (she/her)

Wild Animal Initiative @wildanimalinitv.bsky.social · Dec 30

Last year, we launched our house sparrow research project to learn how varying environmental conditions affect the welfare of these common birds. Here's an update on the project's progress:

Progress on our house sparrow research project — Wild Animal Initiative

December 12, 2024 I’m pleased to report back to you with an update on the house sparrow research project we launched last year. Through this project, we hope to gain insight on how varying…

buff.ly

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 29

Oxytocin and prolactin are the hormones that cause milk production and letdown.

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Reposted by Bonnie Flint (she/her)

Mal Graham @wildanigraham.bsky.social · Dec 17

We’re looking for new board members
@wildanimalinitv.bsky.social !
If you have experience with nonprofit leadership and are committed to wild animal welfare, check out this volunteer opportunity: www.wildanimalinitiative.org/board-member

Careers: Board member — Wild Animal Initiative

Work at Wild Animal Initiative

www.wildanimalinitiative.org

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Bonnie Flint (she/her) @dr-bff.bsky.social · Dec 15

I had a praying mantis for a class pet once, it was awesome to watch, but I didn't let the students hold it.