Perceptions of community cats and preferences for their management in Guelph, Ontario. Part II: A qualitative analysis.

Implementation of cat population management strategies that are effective and supported by the community requires knowledge of local contexts, public values, and preferences. From 2014 to 2015 the Guelph Cat Population Taskforce surveyed Guelph, Ontario residents to investigate attitudes and values concerning community cats and preferences for cat population management. Responses from 449 individuals were received through a combination of paper and online surveys.

Perceptions of community cats and preferences for their management in Guelph, Ontario. Part I: A quantitative analysis.

In 2014, 116 Guelph residents were surveyed to investigate attitudes about community cats and preferences for population management. There are an estimated 29 579 owned cats in Guelph, an estimated 40% of residents allow outdoor access to their cat(s), and 8054 households (15%) feed community cats. Participants reported more concern with community cat welfare than nuisance behavior.

Compassionate Conservation: Exploring the Lives of African Wild Dogs () in Botswana.

This paper argues for a more compassionate conservation by positioning animals as subjects in research and scholarship. Compassionate conservation is a multidisciplinary field of study that broadly attends to the ethical dimensions of conservation by merging conservation biology and animal welfare science. However, animal geography is rarely discussed in the compassionate conservation scholarship despite sharing similar tenets.

Using physical and emotional parameters to assess donkey welfare in Botswana.

Introduction: Working donkeys in Maun, Botswana contribute to people's livelihoods substantially through the provision of transport, ploughing and income generating activities. However, working donkeys suffer from various welfare issues that were investigated in this study to provide preliminary insights on their health and well-being.

Materials And Methods: An assessment protocol involving direct observations of the donkeys was developed and operationalised to assess physical and emotional welfare.

HIV/AIDS messages in Malawi and their implications for effective responses.

This paper explores the nature of HIV/AIDS education and information networks in Malawi, with a focus on Dedza district. We consider the role of institutional and personal actors involved in Malawi's recently instated and decentralised behaviour-change intervention strategy, as well as the form and function of interpersonal social networks that mediate this information. The research reveals that the organisational capacity of actors and the conflicting messages regarding promotion of condom use may prevent Malawi from achieving a coordinated and effective decentralised response to the HIV epidemic.

Civil society organisations and the national HIV/AIDS response in Botswana.

This paper provides preliminary empirical evidence regarding the perceived role and actual experiences of HIV/AIDS intervention-focused civil society organisations (CSOs) in Botswana's national response. Key informants see the national response as government-centred and the role of CSOs within interventions as negligible. Despite secondary evidence that indicates a fairly robust and diverse civil society community, interviews with CSO personnel revealed that the roles and experiences of grassroots organisations are currently hampered by spatial, institutional and socio-cultural dynamics of intervention operationalisation.