When Jill Robinson moved to Hong Kong in 1985, she soon joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). Her responsibilities for the position back then included many investigative work in live animal markets and animal protection programmes throughout Asia. 

There was a time that Jill had the opportunity to visit a bear bile farm and it inspired her to found Animals Asia Foundation with the mission of further improving animal welfare and providing sanctuary for bears rescued from the bear bile industry.

Jill shares some of the practical work of the Animals Asia Foundation, including the collaborations with both local communities and governments. She also explains how and why some of the work is done differently in different countries. 

Jill said, “We are all connected. We all have our individual personalities and characters” and she strongly believes that every individual, animal or human, is worthy of respect. One of her philosophies is to work from...

Award-winning animal welfare attorney and author James Gesualdi, works on animal law since 1989. He is the founding Member and former Chair of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Animals and the Law; Founding Co-Chair of the Suffolk County Bar Association Animal Law Committee; and Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Animal Law Committee.   

James has a B.A., magna cum laude, with highest honours in Government by the St. Lawrence University; a M.A., in Political Science by the State University of New York at Stony Brook; and a J.D. with Distinction by the Hofstra University School of Law. He was also a recipient of both the Animals and the Law’s Exemplary Service Award in 2018 and Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law Award in 2019. 

James shares his encounter with a well-known performing dolphin, Little Bit, and how this inspired him into serving people and animals through the power of...

Happy World Chimpanzee Day! 

On July 14th, we celebrated World Chimpanzee Day, including some care tips for chimpanzees in an interactive PDF. Learn more and explore the links about chimpanzee care, welfare, and conservation. You can download the PDF HERE

Access to all our webinars, resources and materials, become a member of PAWS HERE

Clive Wynne is the founding director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University. He is also the Director of Research at Wolf Park in the USA and the author of many books, including his latest ‘Dog is Love’. 

Clive is from Britain and he was inspired to study animals while he was studying in London. Later, he went to University of Edinburgh to study for a PhD and further studied animal behaviour and minds, psychology and cognition. 

Afterwards, Clive had the opportunity to study the behaviour of marsupials in Australia. Then, he went to University of Florida, where he developed a keen interest in animal-human relationship, especially that of dogs and humans, and he then expanded this context to other canines. 

When speaking of his past and current research interests, Clive starts by talking about the issues of animal shelters in the US, and in particular dogs. As the number of euthanasia cases in shelters have decreased in the past few...

Dr Marek Špinka is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Animal Science in Prague and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Charles University in Prague. Marek Špinka shares how he began his career studying animals. He wasn’t like many others who knew that they wanted to study animals at a young age. During his university years, he was inspired by his biology professor who always had thought-provoking questions for the class.

Marek then discusses how his original interests in ethics, philosophy, and human psychology still intersect with comparative psychology and animal ethics, which he teaches at university. He mentions that it is enriching to stop considering animals and humans as separate because we are all animals, just different. During his ethics course, he encourages students to think about their ethical judgements and to consider the other sides of arguments before making these judgements.

Marek moves on to discuss his experiences...

Happy Zoo and Aquarium Month! 

In June, we celebrated Zoo and Aquarium Month, including some news and care tips from different institutions in an interactive PDF. Learn more and explore the links about care, welfare, and conservation. You can download the PDF HERE

Access to all our webinars, resources and materials, become a member of PAWS HERE

Dr. James Karl Fischer operates the Zoological Lighting Institute (ZLI), a charity dedicated to supporting and advocating for photobiology research in wildlife conservation and animal care.

Dr. Fischer completed advanced degrees in physics and architecture at Wesleyan University and began his career as an architect, serving as a liaison to architects around the globe. He was inspired to found ZLI after a conversation with a zookeeper who wanted to study the effect of lighting on seahorse colouration, when he realised that there was a huge need to provide animal keepers with the necessary support and funding to conduct more comprehensive studies on light and animal behaviour and physiology.

James tells us about how light is central to various aspects of animal life, and how the ZLI supports research into topics including photobiology, sensory ecology and the impact of light on ecosystems. He discusses the way that light influences behaviour and ecology not only in the context of...

Media contact: Sabrina Brando

Founder and Director

AnimalConcepts

[email protected]

+34644805737

Press Release

AnimalConcepts is delighted to share an event in collaboration with Omuta City Zoo that is now available online as a recording on YouTube. This event was held live on 16 June 2021. We would like to thank Omuta City Zoo again for the invitation! 

The webinar titled 'Animal welfare is a goal and an end in itself' invited the audience to consider an animal's life 24/7 across lifespan. To think about animal wellbeing connected to, but also independent, from other the goals. It highlighted that while other goals such as e.g., conservation, education, and research are important - sometimes called 'greater goals', focusing on the animals and their wellbeing is a goal in itself and it is a greater goal in itself too.

The webinar was fully booked, attracting 50 participants and more views are expected via the online...

Happy World Giraffe Day! 

On June 21st, we celebrated World Giraffe Day, including some care tips for giraffes in an interactive PDF. Learn more and explore the links about giraffe care, welfare, and conservation. You can download the PDF HERE

Access to all our webinars, resources and materials, become a member of PAWS HERE

Craig Saffoe is the Curator of Large Carnivores at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park located in Washington DC. Overall, he has over 27 years working with animals within zoos.

Craig started his career thinking that the only career available in the animal industry, is to become a veterinarian. As such he went to get a degree in Animal Science with a pre-vet track at North Carolina State University.  Whilst there he was inspired by a single professor to explore animal husbandry careers. She also helped him to get an internship at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Zoo in 1994. From here, he got hired as an animal keeper and moved through the ranks becoming a curator. Throughout this process, Craig says he “cannot stress enough to the people with whom I work that the most fun part of this career field in my mind is that I feel like I have never stopped learning”.

Craig highlights that during his career he has noticed that the zoological and aquatic...