CCSAW Associated Faculty

Historically, the University of Guelph has attracted faculty with active interests in animal welfare and related ethical issues. Many have received awards for their outstanding contributions to improving the lives of companion, agricultural and laboratory animals. CSAW Associated Faculty provide a broad base of expertise in a variety of areas, and most individuals are involved in work that encompasses several areas of interest:

Care and use of animals used in teaching and research. The University's reputation for providing exemplary animal care is due to the combined efforts of many individuals who serve on the Animal Care Committee, develop techniques to improve or replace the use of animals, explore the relationships between experimenter and animal subject and examine the ethics of animal use.

Farm Animal Welfare. The University is an international leader in research and teaching on the welfare of agricultural animals. Our Faculty was integral in the initial drafting of the Canadian Recommended Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals, and offered the first formal undergraduate degree course in Farm Animal Care and Welfare in the world. Some key research areas are exploring methods for assessing welfare, exploring the ethical implications arising from human-animal relationships, and investigating relationships between management and animal welfare.

Companion Animals. Many humans benefit psychologically and emotionally from animals used for companionship and sport. Faculty committed to promoting the well-being of these animals have concentrated on improving behavioural management and health care, finding effective relief of pain for injured or post-operative animals and exploring human-animal bond.

Fish and Wildlife. Human behaviour and technology often affect the welfare of wild animals. Faculty explore humane issues in hunting, trapping and fishing, work to improve the health and well-being of wild populations and examine the welfare implications of keeping exotic species in captivity.

Animal Ethics. The use of non-human animals raises numerous ethical questions. Faculty consider the welfare consequences of transgenics and biotechnology, standards for the treatment of animals used for food and research and human-animal relationships both at individual and global levels.

Faculty Profiles

Jim Atkinson, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

Nutritional factors influencing the bahaviour and welfare of companion and captive animals.
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Andrew Bailey, Department of Philosophy

The scientific problem of phenomenal consciousness, especially the relationship between information-processing/functional properties of brains and the qualitative 'feels' of consciousness; Implications for animal welfare, particularly for the question of using relatively easily accessible behavioural and physiological data (such as studies of pain behaviour and nociception) as a proxy for subjective conscious awareness (such as conscious sensation of pain or discomfort) in non-human species.
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Ian Barker, Department of Pathobiology

Wildlife and zoo animal pathology; epidemiology of Lyme disease, gastrointestinal pathology.
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Dave Barney, Manager of Animal Care at the Toronto Zoo, Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science

Animal nutrition and ethology; Nutrition, enrichment and training of the Toronto Zoo collection.

Ken Bateman, Department of Population Medicine

Beef health management; Respiratory disease of cattle.
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Gregoy Bedecarrats, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

Hormonal control of reproduction, behaviour, and immune function in poultry; Impact of water and feed deprivation on the welfare of turkey breeder hens during forced moulting; Finding alternative moulting techniques which would mimic naturally occurring hormonal changes and thereby reduce stress and mortality.
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Denna Benn, Animal Care Services

Compliance issues and 'best practices' pertaining to the use of animals in research and teaching endeavours.

Renée Bergeron, Campus d'Alfred

Effects of nutritional and environmental factors on behaviour and welfare of farm animals; Stress related to handling, transportation and pre-slaughter management, and its effects on welfare, physiology and meat quality.
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Herman Boermans, Department of Biomedical Science

Clinical toxicology and immunotoxicology; Development of immunoassay techniques in diagnostic toxicology.
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Ron Brooks, Department of Integrative Biology

Life history of turtles, particularly the relationships among age at first reproduction, reproductive output, body size and growth rates and longevity; Changes in correlation among life history measures when these measures are examined among species, among populations, among individuals and within individuals over time; Social behaviour of small mammals particularly infanticide and parental care and the evolution of these behaviour patterns.
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Jason Coe, Department of Population Medicine

Veterinary communication, human-Animal Bond, pedagogy of communication in veterinary education
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Peter Conlon, Department of Biomedical Science

Pharmacology; Pharmacology of inflammation; Platelet function; Veterinarian-client interactions.
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Brenda Coomber, Co-Director, Institute for Comparative Cancer investigation, Department of Biomedical Science

The research group studies cancer biology using in vitro as well as in vivo models, including naturally occurring cancers in companion animals. In particular, we focus on non-cytotoxic anti-cancer approaches, such as anti-angiogenic therapy; Angiogenesis and anti-angiogenic therapy in cancer, tumour biology, microenvironment and mutagenesis, epigenetic changes in cancer, cancer cell survival in suspension.
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John Cranfield, Department of Agricultural Economics and Business

Consumer behaviour and demand analysis; Industrial organization aspects of agri-food markets; Issues related to optimal advertising by commodity agencies.
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Hank Davis, Department of Psychology

Individual human recognition by a variety of species.

Don Dedrick, Department of Philosophy

The evolution of culture and cognition; animal cognition; Categorization (especially colour categorization); Cognitive Science and its Foundations; Evolutionary Psychology.
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Trevor DeVries, Department of Animal and Poultry Science, Kemptville Campus

Dairy cattle behaviour, nutrition and welfare, with a focus on feeding behaviour and diet selection, and how these are influenced by diet, management and housing systems.
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Cate Dewey, Department of Population Medicine

Swine health management; Prevention of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus transmission by early weaning along with evaluation of vaccines; Aspects of Segregated Early Weaning of swine, swine transport considerations.
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Todd Duffield, Department of Population Medicine

Use of NSAIDs in dehorning dairy calves; Prevention of subclinical ketosis; Impact of Ionophores in dairy cattle; Impact and prevention of production limiting disease (ie.. Neospora caninum, Johnes disease).
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Ian Duncan, University Chair in Animal Welfare, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

Developing methods of “asking” farm animals what they feel about the conditions in which they are kept and the procedures to which they are subjected; Poultry welfare expertise.
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Robert Friendship, Department of Population Medicine

Swine health, particularly control of infectious diseases, including the effects of housing, management, biosecurity, and nutrition on health and welfare.
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Michele Guerin, Department of Population Medicine

Poultry health management, food safety/zoonotic diseases/veterinary public health, poultry welfare, food quality, environmental issues related to poultry management.
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Larry Grovum, Department of Biomedical Science

Mechanisms controlling food intake, salivation, rumination and mixing in the reticulorumen in sheep are being studied to understand and manipulate control systems to improve rumen function and ruminant productivity.
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Derek Haley, Department of Population Medicine

Applied ethology; Advancing our basic understanding of animal behaviour to improve the ways we manage our agricultural animal species, including finding ways to provide quality of life for animals (animal welfare); Maternal and parent-offspring behaviour.
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Brad Hanna, Department of Biomedical Science

Electrophysiological characterization of ion channels containing disease-related mutations; Investigation of potential new ion channelopathies in animals.
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Jean Harvey, Department of Philosophy

The history of and contemporary work on "ethics and animals"; analyzing and critically assessing the ethical positions involved; Actively involved in moving the philosophical thinking forward on such issues.

Karen Houle, Department of Philosophy

Critical review of the history of the concept of "the animal" as a political or moral being, and the arguments for the demarcation of human from non-human animals offered by Western thinkers; Implications for practical lives of animals, human and non-human.
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Bruce Hunter, Department of Pathobiology

Avian diseases; nursing disease of mink; pulmonary function in turkeys; circovirus infection in pigeons.
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Walter Johnson, Department of Population Medicine

Bovine uterine disease; Bovine cystic ovarian disease; Synchronization programs for beef herd management.
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Niel Karrow, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

Immunogenetics, neuroendocrine immunoregulation, inflammatory diseases
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Ken Leslie, Department of Population Medicine

Assessment of pain, and general well-being of various dairy cattle production groups; Assessment of sickness behavior in calves with diarrhea and at the time of weaning, when it is common for calves to have respiratory disease; Assessment and alleviation of pain at calving is of great interest.
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Kerry Lissemore, Department of Population Medicine

Lameness in dairy cows, specifically the identification of risk factors and early detection methods in order to either prevent the problem or detect it sooner and initiate appropriate treatment; Issues of pain control involving the use of NSAIDs at the time of dehorning as well as looking at their effect at parturition.
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Georgia Mason, Canada Research Chair in Animal Welfare, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

Techniques used to assess animal welfare scientifically; in how chronic captive conditions affect welfare and brain function; and in understanding why some species, strains and individuals cope poorly with captivity, while others adapt well.
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Karol Mathews, Department of Clinical Studies

Emergency and critical care, pain management, renal transplantation.
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John McDermott, Department of Population Medicine

Epidemiology of tropical infectious diseases; Quantitative epidemiology (mathematical and statistical modelling); Community-based programmes for health and natural resource management; Delivery of animal health services in developing countries.
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John McMurtry, Department of Philosophy

Value theory, ethics, social and political philosophy, Asian/Indian and Chinese philosophy, philosophy of science and technology, philosophy of economics, philosophy of education, philosophy and literature, philosophy of history, post-Kant continental philosophy, the logic of natural language, and philosophy of the environment; Relating philosophical research to the way we live.
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Katrina Merkies, Department of Animal and Poultry Science, Kemptville Campus

Reproductive physiology, particularly the effect of cryopreservation on stallion semen fertility; Reproductive behavior in stallions and mares; Equine behavior in general.
I believe that these noble animals have much to teach us in terms of social dynamics!
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Stephen Miller, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

Genetic evaluation for growth, feed and carcass traits considering longitudinal data; Economic selection procedures for beef cattle across breeds considering an optimal product and flexible marketing and production parameters; Incorporation of non-additive genetic effects in multi-breed genetic evaluation, selection and mate allocation procedure; Advanced recording, evaluation and reproductive technologies in beef nucleus herds.
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Suzanne Millman, Iowa State University, Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Population Medicine

Techniques for assessing animal welfare in clinical and farm environments, behaviour needs of animals during states of illness and injury, and behaviour problems in livestock and horses.
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Anne Milne, College of Arts

Research and writing focused on representations of animals and the labouring classes in restoration and eighteenth-century British texts (both literary and non-literary), animal welfare, agrarian studies, ecocriticism, ecofeminism and environmental education.
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Richard Moccia, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

On-going development of research and educational programs which facilitate the orderly growth of the aquaculture industry in Canada; Sentience, pain, fear and stress in fish.
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Susan Nance, History Department

History of communication and live performance. Use of animal welfare science research as a body of theory with which to understand the lives of historical animals and their effect on human activities; e.g. examining the lives of captive elephants in 19th century circuses; examining the emergence of rodeo 'rough stock' (bulls and horses used for bucking events) that seeks to understand how humans, cattle and horses have been interdependent in the past; the rise and fall of greyhound racing over the course of the twentieth century.
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Nate Perkins, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development

The interaction of environment and behaviour; In particular, human behaviour and natural environments. There are many striking similarities in animal and human welfare scholarship and my work benefits from some knowledge of animal welfare.
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Margaret Quinton, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

Statistical and mathematical modeling, the analysis of research data, and the development of new techniques applied to genetics and other disciplines in animal science.
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James Squires, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

The use of biochemical and molecular biological techniques to study problems important to Animal and Poultry Science, with the goal of improving the productivity, health and welfare of commercial animals, in particular swine and poultry.
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Melissa Sinclair, Department of Clinical Studies

Large and Small Animal Anesthesia, Pain Management, Alpha2-agonists, Cardiopulmonary Response to Anesthesia and Surgery, Non-Invasive Cardiovascular Monitoring Techniques.
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Dale Smith, Department of Pathobiology

Diseases of Wildlife and Zoo Animals.
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Elizabeth Stone, Dean, Ontario Veterinary College

Dr. Stone is the university-designated official with overall responsibility and authority for ensuring that the Campbell Centre is fulfilling its mandate.

Vernon Thomas, Department of Integrative Biology

The use of science in producing revised policies for wild life management; The problem of lead toxicity to wild life, specifically as it affects waterfowl and loons; Non-toxic substitutes and how provincial and federal policy and legislation on this topic needs to be revised to achieve a common North American reform; the application of ecological principles to agriculture so that extensification of land uses may retain habitat features conducive to wild life diversity as well as produce commodities profitably.
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Stephanie Torrey, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

Behaviour and welfare of poultry species, with a focus on the development of feeding and drinking behaviour and oral stereotypies.

Patricia Turner, Department of Pathobiology

Laboratory animal behaviour and welfare; Refining the care and use of research animals; Understanding the mouse and rat as research models.
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Glen Van Der Kraak, Department of Integrative Biology

Multifactorial Regulation of Ovarian Function in Teleosts; Evaluation of Reproductive Fitness in Fish; Early Run Mortality in Sockeye Salmon; Ecotoxicological Effects of Atrazine on Amphibians.
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Alexander Valverde, Department of Clinical Studies

Pain management in farm animals and horses; Potency of inhalation anesthetics; Epidural opioids; Cardiorespiratory effects of anesthetic drugs and sympathomimetics
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David Waltner-Toews, Department of Population Medicine

Community-based ecosystem approaches to health and agriculture, particularly internationally; climate change and infectious diseases of people and animals.
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Tina Widowski, Director, Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, Department of Animal and Poultry Science

How various housing and management practices affect the behavioural biology and welfare of farm animals; Fundamental research exploring underlying developmental and physiological mechanisms of behaviour; Applied research addressing practical approaches to solving behaviour problems and improving welfare on farms.
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Paul Woods, Co-Director, Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation, Department of Clinical Studies

Oncology and infectious disease.
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Stephanie Yue Cottee, Coordinator, MSc. by Coursework Specializing in Animal Welfare

Fish behaviour and welfare.

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