An Individual's Lived Experiences of Taking Cannabis-Based Medicinal Products (CBMPs) to Treat Anxiety.

This report documents the case of a patient (the author) participating in a clinical trial of medical cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.)-the Sapphire Access Scheme, run by the Sapphire Medical Clinic as part of the UK Medical Cannabis Registry-to explore the impacts of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) on anxiety. For most of my life, I have experienced often very serious bouts of poor mental health arising, in part, from childhood abuse, and have been diagnosed with several mental health conditions which constitute disabilities. I have received various conventional treatments and multiple alternative therapies. However, none of these have enabled me to consistently manage my conditions long-term, and I often suffer relapses. As part of the Sapphire Access Scheme, I complete regular quantitative questionnaires regarding the impacts of the CBMPs on my anxiety and have also obtained the clinic's permission to qualitatively document and write up the impacts of CBMPs on my mental health. Here, I present a preliminary autoethnographic exploration of my lived experiences of CBMP use over the first four months of the trial, which show that even within such a short space of time, CBMPs have had a positive impact on treating what had previously been treatment-refractive chronic anxiety.

Does the sound environment influence the behaviour of zoo-housed birds? A preliminary investigation of ten species across two zoos.

In the zoo, the sound environment experienced by captive wild animals will contain numerous anthropogenic features that may elicit different responses to those stimulated by naturally created, or more biologically relevant, sounds. Husbandry activities, visitor presence and neighbouring species (free-living and captive) will all influence the sounds around zoo-housed species; an animal's behavioural responses may therefore provide an insight into how its welfare state is influenced by this changing sound environment. This project aimed to investigate how animal behaviour was influenced by the sound environment at two large UK zoos; one situated in a more rural location and the other in an urban location. Species were selected based on their location in the zoo, the relevance of sound to their natural ecology (e.g., as a form of communication and/or for anti-predator responses) and their novelty as research subjects in the scientific literature. Behavioural data collection was conducted for five days per enclosure per zoo at the population and individual level for birds housed in different styles of enclosure. Instantaneous sampling at one-minute intervals was used to collect information on state behaviours, assessed using a pre-determined species-specific ethogram. Event behaviours were collected continuously for each observation period. The sound environment around or in the enclosure was recorded continuously during each behavioural recording session using a recorder mounted on a tripod. Results showed a variety of responses to the presence of visitors and potential associated changes to sound around the enclosure with some behaviours being more influenced by the presence of visitors (and increases in the volume of sound) compared to others, e.g., vigilance and vocalisations. Overall, birds showed few of the changes thought to indicate poor or impoverished welfare states linked to changes to the sound environment in their enclosure or to the presence of visitors, but we recommend that zoos consider further measurement and recording of sound on a species-by-species basis to capture individual responses and behavioural changes to variation in visitor number and the sound environment.

Visitor presence and a changing soundscape, alongside environmental parameters, can predict enclosure usage in captive flamingos.

The sound environment of a zoo animal is a complex milieu of animal and human-generated sounds; coming from the species itself, other species, visitors, keepers and other zoo-users. Research determining how different components of the sound environment affect animal behaviour is surprisingly lacking but could have real-world impacts for animal welfare and zoo enclosure design. The current study investigated the effects of the sound environment on two flocks of flamingos housed in open-air enclosures at British zoos. Measures of how each flock used its enclosure (as a response variable) and environmental variables (Inband Power and Peak Frequency were recorded as characteristics of the sound environment, as well as temperature, humidity and cloud cover, and finally visitor presence-all as potential predictor variables) were made over a 2-month period. Assessment of space use by zoo animals is often used as a measure of the appropriateness of an exhibit and to understand welfare. Given that flamingo activity is influenced by weather and that the sound environment of the zoo is likely to be influenced by the number and the presence of visitors, it was assumed that these predictor variables would influence where the flamingos were located at different times of the day. As expected, there was a complicated relationship between enclosure use and Inband Power (average spectral density, a measure of sound energy) in both flocks; visitors generated salient sound but other visitor characteristics such as their physical presence may have impacted the movement of the birds around their enclosures. Results show a complex picture where environmental conditions influence flamingo enclosure usage as well as visitor presence and sounds around/in the enclosure. Findings are not consistent between the two flocks, with one flock demonstrating distinct temporal change to enclosure zone occupancy and the other responsive to humidity and cloud cover variation. We believe enclosure use can provide a valuable indication of how birds react to their soundscape; however, our findings suggest more work is needed to unpick the components of captive sound environments, and their relative effects on how animals use their space.

Care as an Alternative to Euthanasia? Reconceptualizing Veterinary Palliative and End-of-life Care.

Palliative care is routinely offered to humans in the United Kingdom, while euthanasia remains illegal. The converse is true for nonhuman animals (henceforth animals). Indeed, euthanasia is widely accepted as the appropriate course of action for "suffering" animals, and for those whose behaviors or suspected ill health are thought to pose a threat to others. This article details examples of nonhuman death at a multi-faith ashram whose members vehemently oppose all forms of killing on religious grounds. Through exploring their efforts in palliative care for animals, and their emphasis on natural death as a means of respecting the sanctity of life, the practical, emotional, and theoretical viability of caring for, instead of killing, other animals at the ends of their lives is considered. In the process, normative distinctions between different categories of animals, (including humans), and different approaches to end of life care (palliative care, euthanasia, natural death) are called into question. Indeed, paying mindful attention to the diverse ways in which individual animals are cared for as they die reveals the potential violence inherent in both palliative care leading to natural death, and euthanasia, blurring perceptions of good and bad death in both veterinary and human medicine.