Overview
Clinical observations and the results of recent research lend credibility to the
centuries-old belief that the association of people with animals and the natural
environment contributes to overall health and well-being. Recently we have
"rediscovered" that a close relationship between people and the natural
environment, most especially animals, is vital to the well-being of our planet,
its inhabitants and its habitat. This relationship helps fulfill our inherent
need to nurture. The roots of this relationship, often referred to as a "bond,"
go back thousands of years; but urbanization, industrialization, mechanization
and other forces have caused the diminution of the opportunities for nurturing
and affectionate interaction with people and our natural surroundings. This
deprivation of nurturing opportunities has resulted in increased stress and
consequent challenges to our health.
This unhealthy state of affairs is being vigorously addressed by many people in
many disciplines with the object of helping to restore health to communities
everywhere. We in the Delta Society and in our sister organizations in other
countries are directing our efforts to these ends by exploring the interaction
of people, animals and the environment through scientific study, service and
teaching.
In the past two decades, research and clinical observations have shown that
animal association may contribute to:
Higher one-year survival rates following coronary heart disease (Friedmann et
al, 1980; Friedmann and Thomas, 1995)
Reduction in blood pressure and stress level in healthy subjects, as well as
changes in speech pattern and facial expression , and lower plasma
triglyceride and cholesterol levels (Baun et al., 1984; Katcher et al., 1984;
Katcher, 1987; Wilson, 1991; Allen et al., 1991; Anderson et al., 1992)
Improvement in quality of life for elderly persons (Robb, 1987; Stallones,
1990)
Socialization of young children with their peers (Hart et al, 1987; Nielsen
and Delude, 1989)
Development of nurturing behavior and humane attitudes in children who may
grow to be more nurturing adults (Melson, 1990; Ascione, 1992)
A sense of constancy for foster children (Hutton, 1985)
More appropriate social behavior in mentally impaired elderly people and
prisoners (Burke et al, 1988; Jecs, Dawn, personal communication; Lee, David,
personal communication; Hendy, 1984; Katcher et al., 1989)
Success in psychotherapy sessions and in psychiatric institutions in helping
patients work through their anxiety and despair (Peacock, 1984; Beck et al.,
1986; Holcomb and Meacham, 1989)
Improved balance, coordination, mobility, muscular strength, posture and
language ability as a result of therapeutic horseback riding (ITRC, 1988;
Biery and Kauffman, 1989; Dismuke, 1984)
Reduction in the demand for physicians’ services for medically nonserious
problems among Medicare enrollees, and an apparent buffering effect against
psychological stress (Siegel, 1990; Siegel, 1993)
Facilitation of social interaction between strangers (Hunt et al., 1992)
Highly significant reduction in minor health problems and highly significant
improvement in psychological components of general health, plus a dramatic
increase in recreational walks by dog-owners (Serpell, 1991)
Encouragement of preadolescents’ emotional reciprocity and caring
responsibility, as well as lessening feelings of loneliness (Davis and
McCreary Juhasz, 1995)
Those studying the interactions between people, animals and the natural
environment find it very difficult to overestimate the significance of animals
in the lives of people everywhere (Anderson, 1975; Anderson et al., 1984; Arkow,
1986, 1989; Fogle, 1981, 1983, 1986; IIRHPR, 1985; Katcher and Beck, 1983;
Rowan, 1988; and Delta Annual Meeting Abstracts and the journal Anthrozoцs). The
number of animals in our society is impressive. At this time, the generally
cited number of dogs in the U.S. is 55 million, and of cats 60 million.
Determining the number of cats is especially difficult because many people feed
free-ranging cats that are not officially claimed by anyone. In this regard, the
number of stray and feral cats is estimated at 25-40 million. This number is not
included in the owned population. Researchers are now addressing the problems
inherent in estimating dog and cat populations and have proposed ways to arrive
at more realistic population data (Patronek and Glickman, 1994; Patronek, 1995;
Patronek and Rowan, 1995).
Even homeless men and women often contrive to maintain pets whose affection and
companionship are highly important to them (Kidd and Kidd, 1994). This has been
recognized in England, where the Hope Project was started in 1991 to provide
veterinary services to homeless people with dogs, including vaccination,
worming, flea prevention and free neutering (Kase, 1996). Beginning in London,
this project has been extended to other cities.
Animals (or their images) often appear in art, comics, celebrations, dreams (up
to 57 percent of dreams of 4-year-old boys involve animals, according to Van de
Castle, 1983), fables, folklore, food, imagination, language, medicine, music,
photographs, religion, wishes, work and worries. At long last, animals are
gaining some legitimate recognition among more and more members of the
professions involved in providing health care. In fact, we are reaching a point
where, for some conditions, animal interaction is the therapy of choice.
The importance of animals to the well-being of people is becoming more and more
evident. This is especially true as we realize that at no time in history have
so many members of Western society been devoid of healthy interaction among
themselves and with the environment. More and more people are electing to live
alone; many who are married choose not to have children. Singles or couples who
have children are compartmentalized. Many fathers and mothers work outside the
home, usually in different locations and sometimes on different schedules.
Children are usually born in a hospital, spend a great deal of time in daycare
centers, and then proceed to kindergarten, elementary school and high
school-usually all in different locations (the one-room school I attended is a
thing of the past). When at home, children are watching television or wearing
headphones attached to a source of sound, usually loud music. This deprivation
of nurturing opportunities and compartmentalization has resulted in increased
stress, depression, loneliness, and overall serious challenges to the health and
well-being of a significant segment of our population. Companion animals have
refused compartmentalization and serve as nurturers for many people; they also
are objects of nurture, promoting touching, playing, and sharing with few time
restraints.
In a study of a multi-ethnic sample of 877 Los Angeles County adolescents
(Siegel, 1995) about half lived in households that owned pets. Among the pet
owners, 64% reported that their pets were very or extremely important to them;
only 10% said the pets were "not at all" or "not too" important. Adolescents
with no siblings living at home rated their pets as more important than did
others; so did those with sole responsibility for care of the pet.
Many studies demonstrate the importance of touch in human-animal interactions.
Aaron Katcher has been an articulate spokesman relative to the importance of
touch; he reminded us (Katcher, 1981) that in the English language, a companion
animal is a "pet" which means to touch and caress. He found that although men in
Western societies initiate and respond to touching much less frequently than
women, in waiting rooms of veterinary clinics there were no differences between
men and women in the frequency, amount and kind of touching of their pets. It
seems that dogs, and possibly other animals, serve as appropriate and safe
objects of nurture through which both men and women can express and receive
affection, even in public.
Children, especially males, when they reach the ages from 5 to 8, decline and
even resist physical contact by and between parents or other adults. But Katcher
suggests that the presence of a pet can renew the joys of touch for the child
who can set the "rules" and time and nature of affectionate displays.
I believe there is overwhelming evidence that human health and well-being depend
on the quality of social interrelationships (significantly touch) throughout
life (House et al., 1988; Lynch, 1977). One of the most impressive examples of
this is the dire effect on infants resulting from lack of contact with mothers,
a condition seen in both humans and animals (Pauk et al, 1986; Schanberg and
Field, 1987; Bartolme et al, 1987, 1989; Barnes, 1988; Katcher, 1988). When
social contact is absent, infants have been seen to manifest an immobilization
response with decreased activity and sensitivity, increased secretion of
endorphins and concomitant decrease in the secretion of growth hormone.
In many domestic animals, as well as other mammals (Bustad, 1987) and birds
(Gross and Siegel, 1982), gentle handling and social contact increase their
resistance to diseases, their survival from major surgery, their growth,
efficiency of feed utilization and conception rate, and makes them more relaxed
and more easily handled. Of significance, too, is the psychophysiological
response to contact comfort that persists into adulthood. A study of beef and
dairy cows (Sato et al., 1993) showed that closely related and same-age cows
licked each other most often, but such grooming was also frequent among others
in the herd. The researchers suggest that grooming contact may reinforce social
bonds and suppress aggressiveness.
As Katcher (1988) has noted "...the process of giving care to others, the acts
of nurturing, touching, holding, protecting, giving food, and guiding, evoked
the same feelings, and the same physiological events as being nurtured. In its
most simple form, when we care for others we feel as if we are cared for. That
is why owners are so certain that their pets give them overwhelming love." In my
observations, nurturing a significant other can relieve depression and
loneliness.
Recommendations
Our knowledge and understanding of the critical importance of the human-animal
bond to individuals and to society is steadily increasing. As we become more
aware of the importance of this interaction, we must begin to formulate ideas
and programs, such as those outlined below, which will serve to promote the
human-animal-environment bond. The following are but a few of the programs of
service and teaching that we can implement in this regard.
Increase support of a data-based research effort on human-animal interactions
and animal-assisted therapy (Beck and Rowan, 1994). For example, there are
studies that suggest a link between closely bonded companion animals and the
long-term health and well-being of people. Because of the cost and complexity
involved in a long-term definitive study, it is recommended that existing
large epidemiological studies be re-examined and follow-up data be obtained
pertaining to any linkage of disease incidence (e.g., cardiovascular disease)
and the presence or absence of a closely bonded animal. Future national health
surveys should include questions related to the presence or absence of closely
bonded animals. Longitudinal studies are a must.
Expand prison programs involving animals. For example, in a program involving
selected maximum security prisoners that train animals to assist people who
have disabilities, dogs have been trained to alert their seizure-prone owners
to an imminent seizure. This remarkable finding needs to be investigated to
determine how to pre-select such dogs for training and what type of training
methods should be utilized.
In conjoint efforts with authorities and qualified personnel, establish
criteria for certification of all classifications of service animals. This
certification should also include animal-assisted therapists and animal
trainers.
Promote programs that train certified service animals. An important new study
(Allen and Blascovich, 1996) found substantial economic as well as
psychological and social benefits when wheelchair mobile individuals with
major disabilities were provided with service dogs. Costs per week for paid
assistance decreased by 68%. Allowing for the cost of training and maintaining
the dogs, this could result in an estimated net savings of $55,000 to $92,000
per person in eight years (estimated service period of a dog). Other
researchers have found evidence that people without disabilities react less
negatively toward those with disabilities when the latter are accompanied by
service dogs (Mader and Hart, 1989; Eddy et al., 1988; Valentine et al.,
1993).
Develop strategies for third-party payments for animal-assisted therapy
Educate authorities regarding the need many people have for close attachment
to an animal. Through information sessions, publication, and consultancy to
legislative bodies, make it possible for more people to have legal access to
close animal interaction and train animal owners in responsible animal care
and obedience training of their dogs (see Hart et al., 1985).
Encourage the development of bioparks as described and promoted by Dr. Michael
Robinson (1988a), director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington Zoo.
These bioparks would serve to educate children and adults, giving them real
hands-on experience in converted zoological gardens where visitors would learn
about animals not only by sight and sound but also by smell and touch. Such
exposure, properly organized and implemented, could fulfill some of our
recommendations.
It is a matter of urgency that the education and training effort be improved
and expanded in several areas, including:
Education of youth in practical aspects of nurturing one another, animals
and our natural environment.
Training of veterinarians, animal technicians, social workers, and health
care professionals in grief counseling for those who have suffered the loss
of closely bonded animals. We should also encourage more groups to form
regular grief-counseling sessions.
There is an increasing need to address the plight of AIDS (acquired
immuno-deficiency syndrome) victims, most especially children. Many AIDS
patients could benefit by animal association. Authorities should be informed
that removing companion animals from these patients would accomplish very
little in eliminating disease, and would remove for some the only source of
unconditional love, security, acceptance, forgiveness, fun and touch.
Well-screened healthy animals should be made available, along with informed,
well-trained volunteers committed to helping in this effort. Delta Society has
information available on the subject of animals and AIDS.
The consequences of loss of suitable objects of nurture have been inestimable,
and to counteract this downward spiral, we must also mobilize our communities to
address this situation now and for the future. I naively propose a solution that
is unique in today’s world in that it will be fun and the cost will be modest.
The solution proposed is to bring nurturing instruction into the elementary and
secondary school system. Children should be taught to care for living things
including each other, animals, plants, soil and the environment-to become
stewards of this planet by "hands-on" experience in tending the earth and its
creatures. Involving students in a "big brother" and "big sister" arrangement
for care and instruction at all grade levels in nurturing of animals and plants
will promote cooperation, compassion and enhance nurturing skills. Group
projects in each class should also be promoted, as well as projects which
involve animals in their natural habitat. As Konrad Lorenz, to whom we pay
tribute at this conference, taught us, we could learn a great deal more about
animals by observing them in their natural habitat.
As a result of 10 years experience with our curriculum, Learning and Living
Together-Building the Human Animal Bond (Vaughan et al., 1986), we have found it
to be helpful in teaching children from preschool to the 6th grade. Additional
lessons on Reverence for Life, Behavior of Animals and Tending the Earth are
being considered for later inclusion. I also initiated a course entitled
"Reverence for Life" which I have taught at the university level for more than
fifteen years.
Other beneficial programs have been instituted at Canyon Park Elementary School
in Santee, California, at Gullett Elementary School in Austin, Texas, and at the
Ott Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizona (Kaye, 1984).
Another outstanding model for children and youth is the one developed by Dr. Sam
Ross and his associates at Green Chimneys in Brewster, New York, to address the
needs of vulnerable children and teenagers from the inner city. These youngsters
have learned the rewards of nurturing, including gaining competence in
farm-related tasks, thereby enhancing self-esteem and developing a reverence for
all of life. This is a far better choice than dropping out of school for careers
in crime, addiction and violence, options which compromise health and lead to an
early death. The Green Chimneys experience should have wide appeal and broad
application. It could well serve as a national, even a world, model for the
general reform of education starting with the very young (Ross 1981; Ross et al,
1984).
Admittedly, there’s a big jump from a child learning nurture. of a guinea pig in
a classroom to saving the rainforest. However, nurturing one another and animals
and plants and practicing conservation is a big first step. Paraphrasing Dr.
Katcher, proper care of the family pet is the first lesson in the book of
environmental ethics (Katcher, 1988). We must immerse students in living things.
The growing interest in nourishing and caring for plants and animals must be
encouraged, especially in our children, for we need to preserve and care for the
life of the entire planet.
Recently, we have come to realize how fragile our planet is (Robinson, 1989).
Children must come to realize that nature is not an enemy to conquer, but an
entity in need of tender care and concern. Our future together here on planet
Earth depends upon our addressing this need with careful haste. Animal, plant
and soil specialists at the local level need to work together with educators,
health professionals, lawyers, philosophers, politicians, scientists (including
molecular biologists) and theologians to implement such a program (see Wilson,
1989 and other articles in the September, 1989 issue of Scientific American).
National and world priorities must be reordered to address a great deficiency on
planet Earth (Bustad, 1989). At a time when nations are planning cooperative
efforts to place people on Mars, the very future of the health and well-being on
our own planet is in jeopardy. We have defined and described probably less than
10% of the species on planet Earth. There are frequent reports that list the
number of species on the endangered list or that are now extinct. The truth is
that we really don’t know how many species are endangered or lost because we
don’t know what we have.
We are now at a time where we are experiencing not only an increased cooperation
between nations, but also a growing sensitivity and reverence for life and a
greater interest in curricular change in our school systems. We must take this
opportunity to promote international cooperation in defining our species, and to
work together in nurturing people, animals, plants and our environment, thereby
contributing to a secure future for this planet. With an emphasis on nurture of
people, animals and environment, chances of attaining peace will also be greatly
enhanced. Animals and children can help promote a state of peaceful coexistence
between people and the rest of this remarkable planet.
I believe, as I conclude, that an interesting area with great potential for
benefiting and enriching the lives and conditions of people and animals is
opening to us in research, service and teaching. By working with colleagues
worldwide in a variety of disciplines, we can develop new and creative ways to
realize the great potential inherent in people-animal-environmental interactions
properly studied and utilized. On the basis of my experience for the last two
decades, I am devoting my remaining days to this adventure-a call for
compassion, educated concern, nurturance and its early incorporation into our
educational curriculum, and reverence for all of life. My plea is that we heed
the words of Alfred Tennyson: "Come, my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a
newer world."
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