ISAZ International Society for Anthrozoology Conference June 22-25 2021 “The changing nature of human-animal relationships: Theory, research and practice.” SCAS are excited to announce that our submission to have a Pets in Housing workshop at this year’s ISAZ Conference has been accepted.
Human and Animal Welfare in AAI: Learnings from the UK and across the globe Missed the conference in September? You can still buy access to the recordings here! This year’s annual SCAS conference brought together academics, practitioners and others with an interest in emerging issues associated with Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI). An inspirational keynote address […]
Interventions with companion animals are an everyday occurrence to so many people and occur in a huge variety of settings. When these interactions are positive, it can be very rewarding for both the humans and animals involved; but when things don’t go right the consequences can be devastating. The 2019 SCAS conference focused on the […]
SCAS Chairman, Dr Elizabeth Ormerod writes: One of the workshops at the 2018 IAHAIO conference in Amsterdam was delivered by the Dolphin Swim Club, an innovative cutting-edge programme which employs virtual reality (VR) technology. By wearing waterproof VR goggles showing underwater video footage of dolphins, people perceive that they are underwater swimming with them. This […]
You may have been watching “Operation Meet the Street” on BBC television this morning (or recently) and have arrived at the Society for Companion Animal Studies website looking for more information about how pets can be helpful in combating loneliness and about the human-animal bond in general. We’ve prepared this page as an aid to […]
The Introduction to Animal-Assisted Interventions course was developed in 2010 as an introduction to the key concepts underlying animal-assisted interventions (AAI) and became our most popular course. Please note that no intakes are currently scheduled. Please do not send any payment for this course as it is not running at present. The course is suitable for anyone […]
SCAS are delighted to announce the publication of the first Animal-assisted Interventions Code of Practice for the UK. As public awareness of the benefits of animal-assisted interventions increases and more providers are looking to set up programmes, there is an ever growing need to ensure a consistent, responsible and safe approach to these interventions. With the help of […]
While some care homes do recognise the benefits of older people owning pets and as a result accept residents’ animals, pet-keeping rules are often drawn up arbitrarily and applied inconsistently. This can make the process of finding the right accommodation for you and your pet quite a challenge so we have listed below some suggestions of what to bear […]
There are a number of ways in which people refer to the inclusion of animals in therapeutic practice. The definition adopted by SCAS is: Animal-assisted Interventions: Any intervention that intentionally includes or incorporates animals as part of a therapeutic or ameliorative process of milieu (Kruger and Serpell, 2006). AAI includes ‘animal-assisted activities’ (AAA) and ‘animal-assisted […]
The human-companion animal bond is of great public interest as well as a growing area of study for the scientific community. The study of human-animal (all species) interaction, still in its infancy, is known as anthrozoology, but the field is multi-disciplinary – students and researchers in other diverse disciplines in both human welfare and animal […]