Sled dog slaughter evokes response from Kerulos faculty member
Kerulos trauma specialist and psychoanalyst Vera Muller-Paisner, LCSW sends comments on a January 31, 2011 news article describing the slaughter of 100 sled dogs in British Columbia:
"According to now multiple news reports, a dog-sledding company worker in British Columbia filed a 'claim for post-traumatic stress in May 2010 after shooting dozens of dogs to death.'
"Tethered and waiting for their turn, a few dogs tried to escape death in their desperation, but were eventually run down or mortally wounded. The dogs were tossed into a mass grave.
A mass grave evokes the immense suffering and horror associated with a brutal method to "get rid of" the living and erase any thought of the victims as sentient beings. The image remains a powerful collective memory of hatred and war.
"Ironically, yet not surprisingly, the person who wanted to obliterate these living beings appears unable to escape the memories of their suffering. The action retains a hold on the psyche of the perpetrator expressed in what is claimed as symptomatic of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
"We see how that even though the worker, the killer, failed to acknowledge the sled dogs as sapient, sentient beings at the time of their deaths, the brutality of the act would not disappear. Dog, human, dolphin, elephant, and other animals have all been victims of persecution and genocide. Perhaps this grisly incident will compel humanity to speak out against all brutality and fight for the dignity of all animal beings in both life and death."
Gay Bradshaw presents at Animal Grantmakers conference
Executive Director Gay Bradshaw recently delivered an invited presentation entitled Now We Are One: Living Beyond Species to the 2010 Animal Grantmakers conference in Baton Rouge, Lousiana (November 14-16). Dr. Bradshaw describes how the emergence of trans-species psychology has catalyzed a fundamental paradigm shift that brings together indigene human and animal rights and cultures.
Elephants on the Edge is 2009 Book of the Year (BOTYA) Award Winner in Psychology
ForeWord Reviews announced the 2009 winners of its Book of the Year Awards at a ceremony at BookExpo America in New York City. Gay Bradshaw's Elephants on the Edge was selected as winner in the psychology catagory.
2010 Green Book Festival honors Elephants on the Edge
The 2010 Green Book Festival has named Gay Bradshaw's, Elephants on the Edge in its annual competition honoring books that contribute to greater understanding, respect for and positive action on the changing worldwide environment. Bradshaw's 2009 book earned an Honorable Mention in the Animals category.
Kerulos faculty Lori Marino gives House testimony on marine mammals
Dr. Lori Marino, Kerulos faculty and founder of Aurelia, will before testify before Congress on marine mammal protection. The House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, led by Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU), will hold an oversight hearing (April 27, 2010, 10 am EDT) on "Marine Mammals in Captivity: What Constitutes Meaningful Public Education?"
The Atlantic Monthly reviews Elephants on the Edge
An existentialist’s tract wrapped in a naturalist’s treatise, this unusual volume explores a mighty species from the inside out. Read more.
Read in depth about Gay Bradshaw's new book.
Kerulos faculty Lori Marino interviewed by Discovery News about dolphin psychological trauma (22 January, 2010)
Lori Marino, lecturer in neuroscience and behavioral biology and one of the world's leading dolphin experts, says that new research reveals that dolphins are only second to man in intelligence. Read the article.
Elephants on the Edge chosen for Scientific American's Top Science Books of 2009 (8 January, 2010)
Kerulos director Gay Bradshaw's new book Elephants on the Edge is a top pick for recommended science books in 2009. Read the list here. As a special celebratory treat, Yale University Press has put together a sampling of the beautiful photographs by Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson featured in Bradshaw's book. You can find them in this Elephants on the Edge photo gallery.
Gay Bradshaw in Psychology Today (31 December 2009)
The year's close brings sad news of the passing of a great man, described here in a tribute in Psychology Today by Director Gay Bradshaw. Read Gay's tribute here.
Kerulos faculty member Toni Frohoff featured in Santa Barbara Magazine (December, 2009)
Faculty member Toni Frohoff, one of the world's leading dolphin experts, is featured in the December issue of Santa Barbara Magazine. Toni describes her new program Protect Our Dolphins (POD) and research on the dolphins of Southern California. Read the article.
Troubled teens (Conservation Magazine)
The legacy of human-on-wildlife violence is not just affecting elephants. Cougar researchers discover that teenage lions males are suffering from similar type of trauma as young bull elephants because of hunting and killing of older males. Read the article.
Kerulos faculty Lori Marino in cutting-edge trans-species science symposium (12 December 2009)
Lori Marino will be part of the annual 2010 AAAS symposium on the "Intelligence of Dolphins: Ethical and Policy Implications" (2010 AAAS Annual Meeting (18-22 February 2010).
Gay Bradshaw in Psychology Today (9 December 2009)
In an article in Psychology Today, Gay Bradshaw write about how trans-species science explains what we do naturally--talk with animals. Read the article.
Gay Bradshaw in Psychology Today (7 November, 2009)
A discussion of trans-species psychology and seeing difference from the perspective of sameness. Read the article.
Director Gay Bradshaw's thoughts featured on Huffington Post (6 November, 2009)
Huffington Post editorial by director Gay Bradshaw and faculty Ed Tick on the lessons that veterans and elephants both teach about war and the legacy of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Read the editorial.
Kerulos Faculty Phoebe Green Linden collaborates with World Parrot Trust (27 October, 2009)
Kerulos' Phoebe Greene Linden and her PsittaZen flock are collaborating with the World Parrot Trust to bring awareness of the crisis that is affecting parrots worldwide. WPT is an international leader dedicated to working with "parrot enthusiasts, researchers, local communities and government leaders to encourage effective solutions". Included in their activities is a new educational video.
Director Gay Bradshaw article in Psychology Today (18 October, 2009)
Our connection with other species from the perspective of neuroscience is explored by Gay Bradshaw in Psychology Today, In the eye of the believer.
Director Gay Bradshaw featured on Huffington Post (15 October, 2009)
The gap between what science knows and what it does is commented on in the Huffington Post "The Scientists' Bark" by director Gay Bradshaw. Read the article.
Kerulos Faculty Charlie Russell interviewed by Canada Global TV (8 October, 2009) A discussion regarding trophy hunting of grizzly bears in the Kootenays. A poll shows that 80% of British Columbia residents oppose trophy hunting. Watch the video.
New blog by Gay Bradshaw (5 October, 2009)
Kerulos Director Gay Bradshaw launches a new blog, "Bear in Mind", on Psychology Today website that is devoted to discussions of the new field of trans-species psychology. Visit the blog.
"Elephant Shrink": London Daily Express reviews Kerulso Director Gay Bradshaw's new book Elephants on the Edge (17 September, 2009) Read online article here or download the pdf.
The Psychology of Equine Partnership-Trauma Recovery; Methods of Treatment presented by Vera Muller-Paisner. A video of a Lusitano stallion displaying symptoms of Post -Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as well as his treatment will be shown and explored. Animal guardians, equestrians and trainers will be able to see and experience the struggle of the stallion in trying to overcome his fears and the guardian/trainer working in partnership, providing a suitable environment for learning and desensitization. Bilateral Equine Tapping (BET) is the treatment modality for symptoms of PTSD in horses uses somatic psychotherapy which utilizes cognitive, emotional and sensory/motor experience. For more information, please contact Vera.
EMDR for Horses Mind, Body & Horse
Saturday, October 10, 2009 Saturday, November 7, 2009
Mistover Farm Centered Riding
Pawley, New York Putney Inn
Brattleboro, Vermont
"Kin Under Skin: What elephants and humans have in common" by Gay Bradshaw is published in the current issue of Forbes. Read the article here.
Chimpanzees Suffer Psychologically Like Humans (9 September, 2009)
"Psychologists G.A. Bradshaw, Ph.D., Ph.D., Theodora Capaldo, Ed.D., Lorin Lindner, Ph.D., and Gloria Grow, Fauna sanctuary director, examined the case histories of three chimpanzees -- Billy Jo, Tom, and Regis -- all used in research before rescue into sanctuary. The study underscores the ethical implications of cross-fostering nonhuman primates and their use in research...." Read more.
In Episode 9 Samadhi Podcast, Kerulos Faculty Lori Marino discusses cetacean evolutionary neurobiology and its implications (9 September, 2009) Listen to the podcast.
New collaborative article on chimpanzee trauma released
A new article on chimpanzees in Developmental Psychology has been created in collaboration with the Fauna Foundation and the New England Anti-Vivisection Society
The concept of self, who and how we think of ourselves, has been considered chiefly a human possession, indeed definitional to human identity. This assumption has stimulated research for decades to discover if other species share this privileged capacity.Trans-species models of brain, behavior, and mind newly to emerge from neurosciences show that all vertebrates have brain structures and mechanisms that underlie the capacity for culture, emotions, intelligence, susceptibility to trauma, cognition--even a sense of self. This understanding is "mirrored" in ethological evidence.
This second Kerulos collaborative study on chimpanzee trauma recovery demonstrates the comparability of human and chimpanzee selves not only in terms of behavior but importantly, psychology. We are now able to consider human and animal psychology and psychiatry under one conceptual umbrella. This has both significance scientifically and ethically.
The confirmation of a chimpanzee self comparable to that of human renders species differences to the level of cultural differences rather than biological ones. For example, gibbons do not "pass" the Mirror Self Recognition (MSR) test as neuroscience might predict. Instead of seeing gibbons as less advanced than humans or without a sense of self as measured by MSR, as implied by the past, anthroopocentric paradigm, the current, trans-species science re-frames inquiry to ask: "Of what value is the concept of self to modern human culture and how does this influence both what we know about the human mind and how we live ?" and "What insights can we gain from gibbon culture, values and psychology that might contribute to human mental health, psychiatry, and cultural wellbeing?"
The article articulates a scientific foundation for arguments that condemn the use of animals in ways that are prohibited for humans. The criteria that disbars use of humans legally and ethically in experiments are met by chimpanzees and other animals. As a society we are faced with either eschewing science as an epistemic basis for shaping ethics, or changing law and ethics to match science.
Kerulos Research Findings to be Presented at Rome Conference (26 August, 2009)
Results from the Kerulos study conducted in collaboration with NEAVS and Fauna Foundation on Complex PTSD and trauma recovery in cross-fostered chimpanzees will be presented at the 7th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, Rome, Italy, August 30-September 3, 2009.
A new book by Gay Bradshaw, Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach Us about Humanity, will be published by Yale University Press. The book is an in-depth psychological portrait of elephants in captivity and in the wild. In the traumatic breakdown of individual elephants and their culture worldwide, Bradshaw discusses the striking parallels between species and the urgent need for radical cultural change of modern human society.
From Publishers Weekly:
Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach Us About Humanity G.A. Bradshaw. Yale Univ., $30 (352p) ISBN 978-0-300-12731-7
"This thoughtful book by animal trauma specialist Bradshaw draws analogies between human and animal culture to illustrate the profound “breakdown” occurring in elephant societies. Extraordinarily sensitive and social, elephants' survival has long depended on their matriarchal lineage—now sundered by culling the herds, which disrupts the hierarchy—and their psyches have been broken by prolonged isolation and separation, painful hooks used as training tools and general cruelty. Captured elephants meet the criteria of the psychiatirc handbook DSM for suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Drawing on research on animal trauma, concentration camp survivors and Konrad Lorenz–type ethology, Bradshaw makes a multidisciplinary condemnation of elephant abuse and celebrates those working on rehabilitating and healing the animals—including an elephant massage therapist and the owners of an elephant sanctuary in the Tennessee hills. In the end, anthropomorphizing isn't the issue; Bradshaw says that instead of giving animals human feelings, we should observe that they have feelings that correlate with what we may feel in similar circumstances. With its heartbreaking findings and irrefutable conclusions, this book bears careful reading and consideration."
Kerulos faculty and collaborators Eileen McCarthy and Joseph Yenkosky, Midwest Avian Adoption and Rescue Services (MAARS), reported on a joint study with Kerulos at the 30th Annual AAV conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 9-16, 2009 (http://www.conferenceoffice.com/aav/).The study took place at the new Avian Recovery and Counseling Center (ARCC) where psychotherapeutic approaches to parrot trauma recovery are being developed.
Kerulos Center Director Interviewed by Animal Planet (11 August, 2009)
Kerulos director Dr. Gay Bradshaw was interviewed by Animal Planet blogger Wendee Holtcamp in regard to undercover video showing elephant abuse. People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) aired footage from an undercover video showing conditions under which elephants live in a circus. Increased concern from the public reflects a deepening awareness of human-animal comparability. Read the AP blog and view the PETA video here.
Kerulos Faculty Member Toni Frohoff Interviewed About Baja Whales on NPR's "Fresh Air" (12 July, 2009)
An interview with Kerulos board member and co-founder of TI Toni Frohoff and journalist Charles Siebert aired July 13, 2009 on the nationally-syndicated radio program, Fresh Air, from National Public Radio. Many of the topics explored in The New York Times Magazine article, Watching Whales Watching Us (See July 11, 2009), were discussed in depth, as well as the plight of captive chimpanzees. Listen to the interview here.
Kerulos Faculty Member Toni Frohoff Featured in New York Times Magazine Story on Baja Whales (11 July, 2009)
Kerulos faculty member Toni Frohoff's work with whales and other marine mammals was highlighted recently in a New York Times Magazine cover story by Charles Siebert (July 12, 2009). In the article, Watching Whales Watching Us, Siebert explores the world of the gray whale in their breeding grounds, the lagoons of Baja California, Mexico. Frohoff's research and perspectives on interspecies communication figure prominently in the narrative.
Two New Publications from Kerulos Faculty (1 December, 2008)
Bradshaw. G.A. (2008). What's love got to do with it? Everything. Interspecies love. Best Friends Magazine. November/December.
Borchers, J.G., and Bradshaw, G.A. (December, 2008). How green is my valley—and mind. Ecotherapy and the greening of psychology. Counseling Today, pp. 38-41.
See more publications.
Re-framing the Pit Bull-Human Issue: Science, Myth, and Cultural Change (30 August, 2008)
On September 16-18, The Kerulos Center will host a workshop, Reframing the Pitbull-Human Issue: Science, Myth, and Cultural Change in collaboration with Animals & Society Institute, Best Friends Animal Society, and Animal Farm Foundation. The workshop will take place in Jacksonville, OR. (For details, see Education & Training).
Psychiatric Assesment of Non-human Great Apes (8 April, 2008)
The first peer-reviewed psychiatric assessment of non-humans appears in the Spring 2008 issue of Journal of Trauma and DissociationThe article, entitled Building an Inner Sanctuary: Trauma-Induced Symptoms in Non-Human Great Apes was written by Gay Bradshaw, Theo Capaldo, Loren Lindner, and Gloria Grow. To request a copy of the article please contact The Kerulos Center or the journal editors, referencing vol. 9, issue 1, pp. 9-34.
photo credits
"Jeannie and Gloria holding hands", courtesy Gloria Grow, Fauna Foundation
"Angel and Eileen McCarthy", courtesy Eileen McCarthy, Midwest Avian Adoption and Rescue Service (MAARS)
"Bobbie and Joe Yenkosky", courtesy Joe Yenkosky, MidWest Avian Adoption and Rescue Services (MAARS)
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