The Stephen & Christine Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, the largest non-profit animal hospital in the world, announced today that it has successfully met its $100 million Gift of Love Capital Campaign goal. The Campaign was launched in 2019 to fund a transformational center-wide expansion and modernization project, with construction breaking ground in 2021. "We are so thankful for the commitment, support, and generosity of our donors, and it is with deep gratitude that we celebrate this milestone of our Gift of Love Capital Campaign fundraising efforts," said Kathryn Coyne, President and Chief Executive Officer of AMC.
"Our deep appreciation and thanks go to our many generous benefactors, who understood the need to expand and modernize our facility and responded to the challenge," said Robert Liberman, Board Chair, Schwarzman Animal Medical Center. "For over a century, the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center has been a trailblazer in the veterinary field, and with a new hospital AMC will continue to lead the way, delivering the highest level of compassionate and collaborative patient care, driving pioneering research, educating the next generation of industry leaders, and discovering new diagnostic, prevention, and treatment methodologies that impact both animal and human medicine."
The Campaign goal was reached with a final $5 million gift from Chris and Trustee Bruce Crawford, bringing their total campaign contribution to $10 million. "We have supported the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center for many years because of the unparalleled care provided to animals," said Chris and Bruce Crawford. "We make this gift in honor of retiring President & CEO Kate Coyne, whose vision and leadership inspired this campaign, and made this dream a reality."
Major supporters of the Gift of Love Capital Campaign in addition to the Crawfords include Stephen and Christine Schwarzman--whose record-setting $25 million gift was the largest in AMC's 113-year history, as well as The Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation, Elaine and Ken Langone, Katharine Rayner, Emilia Saint-Amand Krimendahl, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Lisa and David Schiff, and Charles and Ann Johnson. In addition, many other generous donors contributed to the Campaign at all levels, ensuring success.
Over the last decade, AMC's caseload has grown by more than 50 percent. The Gift of Love Campaign contributions will transform the hospital facility, originally built in 1960, and will feature:
- New state-of-the-art surgical suites
- An expanded and enhanced emergency room anchoring our Level 1 Trauma Center
- More than double the space for both the intensive care and special care units
- A new outdoor dog run and park for hospitalized patients
- A client-friendly warm and welcoming first-floor lobby
- An expanded and modernized hi-tech education and conference center
Construction is scheduled for completion in 2024
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University Products LLC recently alerted cattle ranchers to an official move by the FDA that will soon make it much harder to access antimicrobial drugs. The Center for Veterinary Medicine's (CVM) Guidance for Industry #263 goes into effect on June 12, 2023. The guidance applies to all food animals and animals not intended for food, and includes penicillin, sulfa-based drugs, boluses, intramammary mastitis tubes, and topical products. For decades, antimicrobials were used to treat seasonal diseases like anaplasmosis in cattle, but there are better options – like vaccines produced by University Products.
Additionally, as of February 21, 2023, the FDA will again hold veterinarians to federal requirements for a veterinarian-client-patient relationship which "requires animal examination and/or medically appropriate and timely visits to the premises where the animal(s) are kept." These requirements, temporarily put aside for the COVID-19 pandemic, can no longer "be met solely through telemedicine."
"In the past, before the FDA tightened antibiotic restrictions, ranchers treated anaplasmosis infections indiscriminately with an oxytetracycline or chlortetracycline supplied in feed and mineral supplements," said Dr. Donald Luther, University Products vaccine developer. "All of these treatments required a Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD). But even without restrictions, what decades of using these medicines have shown us is this: most cows do not eat enough feed for an effective dose and ultimately spread anaplasmosis to the herd anyway."
"It is difficult to know which cows have been infected and which cows are not until it is too late. And research has also found that this treatment is scattershot at best when used for anaplasmosis. But even worse, it has extremely harmful effects overall. Constant antibiotic use produces antimicrobial-resistant 'super bugs' that are almost completely immune to these medicines. So eventually, the whole cycle becomes a waste of time and money, while also breeding far more dangerous variations of illness. Frankly, the only effective treatment that makes sense anymore is vaccination."
Louisiana-based University Products produces the only clinically tested and effective vaccine against anaplasmosis that is approved for experimental use and has been successfully deployed in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and South America for over two decades.
"And just as importantly, we have to think of what consumers want," explained Dr. Luther. "The industry has changed, society has changed. As veterinarians, we can make all sorts of legitimate rational and evidence-based arguments about the therapeutic effects of antibiotics and their uses. How these medicines have revolutionized animal agriculture and food production in a wide variety of good ways. But as ranchers, we also have to face the bottom line. Customers don't want to consume cattle that have been routinely fed antibiotics. They have made that fact very clear. Fortunately, we have an alternative ready for widespread seasonal epidemics like anaplasmosis. We have a vaccine, and it works. We are also in the research phase for a vaccine to fight another tick-borne bovine disease: Theileria orientalis."
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Recent temperatures in Greenland’s ice sheet—one of the primary culprits behind rising seas—were the warmest they’ve been in at least 1,000 years, according to a new report, as scientists warn the melting of Greenland’s ice could threaten coastal communities around the world.
Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany analyzed Greenland’s massive ice sheet by drilling up to 100 feet into its core to reconstruct the temperature of north and central Greenland back to the year 1000.
Between 2001 and 2011, the ice was roughly 1.7 degrees Celsius (3 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer, on average, than it was between 1961 and 1990, and 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than in the 20th century, overall, according to the study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Researchers attribute Greenland’s “recent extreme” temperature rise to human-caused global warming, although they note a slower long-term rate of warming has been observed on the island since 1800.
The warming was likely also affected by periods of warmer weather caused by a phenomenon known as Greenland blocking, a meteorological event that leaves high pressure systems over Greenland, pushing warmer air farther north.
Antarctica and Greenland—the “largest contributor” to sea-level rise, lead author Maria Horhold told CNN—contain the most fresh water on Earth’s surface, mostly locked in vast ice sheets. Scientists believe their glaciers, along with others in Alaska, Nepal and the Alps, as well as arctic permafrost in Siberia, will contribute most heavily to rising seas. A total loss of Greenland’s ice could bring the world’s oceans up roughly seven meters, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—a devastating blow to coastal communities, which are already grappling with the effects of rising seas and intensifying storm systems.
Scientists predict the world’s temperature will increase by nearly 3 degrees Celsius by 2100 if current emission levels continue, according to a U.N. report released last October, with greenhouse gas emissions rising 10.6% above 2010 levels by 2030—well above the 43% reduction the U.N. said was necessary to meet the monumental Paris Climate Agreement goal of capping rising temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. That rise in temperature could be felt the most around the Earth’s poles. According to a study published in Communications Earth & Environment last August, the Arctic has been warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the world since 1979—a potential death sentence for the Arctic’s ice sheet.
20. That’s how many inches Horhold told CNN she expects the sea to rise by the end of the century as a direct result of melting ice on Greenland. That rise in sea levels will affect “millions of people” in low-lying coastal areas, if carbon emissions continue at their current pace, she said.
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Two New Jersey veterans say now-Congressman George Santos promised to raise funds for lifesaving surgery for one of their dogs in 2016, then became elusive and took off with the money. Santos, the embattled freshman Republican, faces growing pressure to resign after he lied and misrepresented his educational, work and family history. Santos has admitted to “embellishing” his resume, but has maintained he is “not a criminal.”
Rich Osthoff, a US Navy veteran, told CNN his pit bull Sapphire began developing a tumor in 2015, and it continued to grow in 2016. Osthoff said he was homeless, living in a tent, at the time after losing his job and house. Osthoff’s mentor and friend Michael Boll, founder of New Jersey Veterans Network, told CNN he took Osthoff under his wing as part of the charity’s mentorship program and tried to get help for his dog.
Boll said a mutual friend connected the two veterans with Santos, who told them Santos was frequently involved with helping and rescuing animals. Boll and Osthoff both knew Santos by the name Anthony Devolder, they said. Santos set up a GoFundMe for Osthoff’s pit bull, Sapphire, Boll said. A post from the Facebook profile of George Devolder links to a GoFundMe raising surgery funds for the dog.
“Sapphire is a 10 year old red nose pit bull that has been keeping this man company, she does not deserve to die because of this tumor, she deserves to be treated and cared for,” the Facebook post reads in part. “Will you help this baby and her daddy stay together for a few more years? Does he not deserve to have her? Let’s all come together to help this family of two stay healthy!” the post says.
CNN has reached out to Santos’ lawyer and his congressional office for comment. Santos told the news outlet Semafor that the story, first reported by Patch.com, was “fake” and that he had “no clue who this is.” The fundraiser eventually raised around $3,000, according to Boll. But things went south after Osthoff tried to access the GoFundMe money, he said.
At one point, Santos told Osthoff directly that he wouldn’t be getting the money. Osthoff said he accused Santos of running a bogus charity, and Santos became confrontational. “He got so angry with me and he blew up and refused to give me the money and then just wouldn’t answer the calls anymore,” he said.
In a statement to CNN, GoFundMe which has zero tolerance for misuse of their platform said it removed the fundraiser from its platform after receiving a report about it. Santos eventually stopped replying to messages from Boll and Osthoff, and Osthoff says he never received payment from the fundraiser. Osthoff said his dog passed away about six months after his last contact with Santos.
Osthoff said he contacted the police about his interactions with Santos but said “it didn’t go anywhere at all.” “In December I started seeing him on TV,” Osthoff told CNN. “I recognized his face, and it just turned my stomach when I saw him.” “That he was now given a position where he affects thousands of people’s lives…it’s really disheartening to know that,” Boll said.
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Most people are familiar with what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is in humans, but few people realize that it is something that dogs can also suffer from. In fact, according to the Texas A & M School of Veterinary Medicine, up to 17% of dogs are affected with canine PTSD. Knowing what it may look like and what to do about it can make a world of difference for the dogs and the families they live with.
“We have seen many rescue dogs with PTSD, and it's a sad situation,” explains Robert Misseri, founder of Guardians of Rescue. "Once you learn the signs of the condition, you will see it more and more in dogs that have experienced trauma. It’s important that rescue dogs get the help they need. Never give up on a dog that may have PTSD it’s the understanding what the dog is going through that will help you maintain a better relationship.”
Canine PTSD is often seen in dogs working for the police and military because of what they are exposed to. It can also happen when dogs experience terrifying weather conditions, such as hurricanes or tornadoes. But many dogs have canine PTSD because of the conditions they live in.
Often, canine PTSD results from irresponsible owners, silent disease, being bred in puppy mills, living attached to a chain, living out on the streets, and spending long periods in cold and dark environments. Dogs that have been neglected and abused may continue to have the condition. Dogs that have canine PTSD may be fearful, timid, aggressive, suffer from anxiety, cling to their owners, or seem depressed.
Those who suspect canine PTSD should speak with a veterinarian. There are ways to help address it, including behavior modification techniques and medication. According to Texas A& M, a combination of behavior therapy and medication provide the best results for most dogs. Behavior modification focuses on exposing the dog to lower stress levels and gradually building tolerance. This is used with other factors, including increasing mental stimulation and exercise.
“A stressed and anxious dog rescued will need help to find a loving home to be adopted into,” added Misseri. "Due the numerous cruelty and hoarding cases we handle annually, we have seen the heartbreaking effects that neglect, over-breeding for profit, and isolation have caused. We rescue many dogs each year that need help due to canine PTSD. Patience and empathy goes a long way. We appreciate all the support we get from the community to help us provide the dogs with loving homes and the therapy they need.”
Guardians of Rescue is a grassroots organization with people around the country working together to save animals whenever and wherever they are suffering.To donate or learn more, visit the site: www.guardiansofrescue.org.
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Red, an 85-95 lb male golden retriever Saint Bernard mix, ingested alcoholic Jell-O shots his owners, Tyler Kronstedt and his fiancée of Andover, Minnesota, had left out by mistake. They returned home from a New Year’s Eve party, with undiagnosed COVID at the time, and placed 15 leftover Jell-O shots they made in a plastic bag. Because they were weary and not feeling great, they forgot to throw the alcohol away before going to sleep.
The pet owners awoke to Red making a lot of ruckus in the middle of the night and found Jell-O shots sprawled across the floor and their dog drunk, staggering upstairs, and walking into walls. In a dvm360® interview, senior toxicologist at Pet Poison Helpline, Renee Schmid, DVM, DABT, DABVT, explained Red’s clinical presentation. “He was really presenting kind of as a drunk person, he was stumbling around, he was staggering, having a difficult time walking and moving and just really kind of lethargic and out of sorts.”
The hospital confirmed Red had ingested alcohol and when he arrived, he was hypoglycemic (low blood sugar), which was corrected with intravenous dextrose supplementation. This could be fatal if not treated. He was also given anti-nausea medication. It was recommended to keep Red in the hospital to ensure the hypoglycemia didn’t return plus watch for alcohol poisoning, metabolic acidosis, and neurologic changes; however, the pet parents couldn’t due to financial limitations.
Red’s owner, Kronstedt, stated in the news release,1 “We couldn't afford to keep Red in the hospital for observation, so the Pet Poison Helpline team told us what symptoms to watch for and we took him home. I laid next to him on the floor overnight, waking up every hour to make sure he drank water and tried to eat something."1 Kronstedt was advised that feeding a small amount of food frequently can help reduce the severity of hypoglycemia and prevent it from recurring.
By the next day, Red was feeling OK again. “He's been doing great. Yeah, it was about a day or so before he was back to his old normal self...The owners were extremely grateful that he improved and that he was able to recover,” remarked Schmid, in the interview.
In the interview, Schmid shared that fortunately, Red was successfully treated in this scenario, however, alcohol can be deadly to pets. “Because of that change in some of their electrolytes and because of the change in their blood glucose, [dogs that have ingested alcohol] can have some respiratory depression. So, if somebody isn't really watching them, and keeping an eye, being astute to any of those potential changes, and treating that as they come along, it can definitely be fatal to them.” She emphasized that all kinds of alcohol are toxic to dogs and the stronger the alcohol, the more of a threat it poses.
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Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) has announced the research grant to Colorado State University (CSU). The pilot study aims to measure the Allostatic Load (AL) of dogs, which is understood as the ‘wear and tear’ on the body due to chronic or frequent stressors.
AL in humans is affected by genetics and personality, and high AL is a predictor of negative health outcomes including heart disease and cognitive decline. After successfully validating AL in primates, the research team seeks to validate canine AL for the first time.
“Developing a reliable method of measuring chronic stress will help ensure we are taking proper care of working dogs as well as pet dogs,” says CSU association professor, Barbara Wolfe, DVM, PhD, DACZM,, principal investigator of the project. “If successful, this tool could be utilized to predict success in working dogs and identify when working dogs are experiencing unhealthy levels of stress.”
The study will involve analysis of early life events and lifestyle factors that may influence AL in Labrador retrievers raised and trained to be as guide dogs, as well as in Labrador retrievers raised as pets. Researchers will use blood sampling to compare biomarkers associated with AL to these lifestyle and event factors to determine any association between AL and potential stressors.
While many studies to date have used a single biomarker, such as cortisol, to determine canine stress, measuring AL tests multiple biomarkers of stress which allows for a more accurate measure of the accumulation of stress over time.
“This project reflects HABRI’s deep commitment to animal care and welfare,” says the institute’s president, Steven Feldman. “Understanding how to improve the lives of our canine companions is crucial to strengthening the human-animal bond.”
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During the 40th Annual Veterinary Meeting and Expo (VMX), Clear Health Pass –a bioinformatics, bio-surveillance, and health diagnostic platform for humans and pets—announced the launch of its Covid Pet Test. The test aims to keep pets safe by providing a way for pet parents to test them for COVID-19.
“With 68% of US households having pets, the demand for this innovative test is clear. In 2023, we estimate that 76 million US pet owners will be infected with Covid-19, making the Covid Pet Test a vital tool in the fight against COVID-19. We look forward to working with the veterinary community in our efforts further to develop our research on Covid-19 and our beloved pets," explained John-Michael Cataldi, CEO of Clear Health Pass, in a company release.1
According to the release,1 pet parents will be able to obtain the test from their veterinarian who will then register their collection kit via a QR code on either their computer or mobile device. Then, pet owners will have to collect a fecal sample using the Covid Pet Test’s collection device and ship it in a FedEx priority overnight shipping PAK.
Once shipped, the sample will go directly to the lab and will get tested by PCR. The results will then be sent to the veterinarian and pet owner over text and web application within 48 hours. Any pets that test positive will receive additional information based on CDC and FDA guidelines.
Clear Health Pass partnered with Premiere Medical Lab Network to create these tests. The test was developed to specifically target canine and feline infections through qualitative detection of nucleic acids from the SARS-CoV-2.1 The Covid Pet Test uses a propriety Pet Fecal Covid-19 Assay which allows reliable and rapid isolation of high-quality total RNA from the fresh pet stool samples evaluations utilizes a multiplex real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
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Researchers at Cornell University believe equine parvovirus-hepatitis virus (EqPV-H) causes poor performance in athletic horses, including racehorses.*
“Poor performance describes horses that simply are not living up to athletic expectations. Many health conditions can contribute to poor performance, including inflammatory airway disease, dynamic upper airway conditions such as dorsal displacement of the soft palate, or even tying-up,” explained Kathleen Crandell, Ph.D., a nutritionist for Kentucky Equine Research. Add EqPV-H to that list of possibilities.
Since researchers first identified the virus in 2018, genetic material (DNA) of EqPV-H virus has been found in between 7% and 37% of tested horses around the world. Experimental studies found that the virus has an affinity for the liver, resulting in subclinical or mild disease, meaning these horses show little to no sign of liver infection. However, infection may result in elevations in liver enzymes, such as gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase.
Interestingly, about 37% of racehorses diagnosed with GGT syndrome tested positive for EqPV-H. Despite being commonly found in horses, the relevance of EqPV-H in horses remains unclear. Should horse owners and trainers be concerned about horses that test positive for EqPV-H?
To gain additional information on this virus, Cornell researchers collected 191 liver samples from Thoroughbred racehorses from New York state. Total DNA was extracted from the liver samples and tested for the presence of EqPV-H DNA. Sections of liver samples that tested positive for EqPV-H DNA were examined microscopically to directly visualize the location of that viral DNA.
Of the 119 liver samples, 42 (22%) were positive for EqPV-H, which was similar to previously reported rates of infection. Viral DNA was subsequently found in 31 of those 42 liver samples evaluated microscopically, with the DNA found in necrotic (dead) areas of liver tissue in 11 of the 42 samples (26%).
“This means that naturally acquired EqPV-H infection appears to cause mild hepatitis with liver cell necrosis. The overall impact of this mild hepatitis on racehorse performance, however, needs further evaluation,” Crandell said. As mentioned, many causes of poor performance exist, potentially including poorly described conditions such as liver disease, EqPV-H, and GGT syndrome.
“Oxidative stress could play a role in poor performance, including GGT syndrome. Nutritional strategies can manage oxidative stress, such as supplementing the horse’s diet with an antioxidant such as Nano-Q10, which contains a highly available source of coenzyme Q10,” she recommended.
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Officials have identified a woman and her 1-year-old son who were killed by a polar bear in a remote village in western Alaska.
Summer Myomick, 24, of Saint Michael, Alaska, and her 1-year-old son Clyde were attacked and killed by a polar bear near a school in Wales, on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska State Troopers said.
"Initial reports indicate that a polar bear had entered the community and had chased multiple residents," troopers wrote. "The bear fatally attacked an adult female and juvenile male."
The bear was shot and killed by a local resident as it attacked the pair, troopers said.
An Alaska State Trooper and an official with the state Department of Fish and Game traveled to Wales to investigate the attack, Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for Alaska State Troopers, said in a statement to CBS News.
The investigators learned the mother and son were walking between the school and a clinic when the attack occurred, McDaniel disclosed.
Their remains have been taken to the state Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, McDaniel added.
Wales is a small town of about 150 people, just over 100 miles northwest of Nome.
Fatal polar bear attacks have been rare in Alaska's recent history. In 1990, a polar bear killed a man farther north of Wales in the village of Point Lay. Biologists later said the animal showed signs of starvation, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Alaska scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in 2019 found changes in sea ice habitat had coincided with evidence that polar bears' use of land was increasing and that the chances of a polar bear encounter had increased.
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Crocodiles were mummified in a unique way at the Egyptian site of Qubbat al-Hawā during the 5th Century BC, according to a study published January 18, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Bea De Cupere of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium, and the University of Jaén, Spain, and colleagues.
Mummified animals, including crocodiles, are common finds at Egyptian archaeological sites. Despite several hundred mummified crocodiles being available in museum collections worldwide, they are not often examined thoroughly. In this study, the authors provide a detailed analysis of the morphology and preservation of ten crocodile mummies found in rock tombs at the site of Qubbat al-Hawā on the west bank of the Nile.
The mummies included five isolated skulls and five partial skeletons, which the researchers were able to examine without unwrapping or using CT-scanning and radiography. Based on the morphology of the crocodiles, two species were identified: West African and Nile crocodiles, with specimens ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 meters in length.
The preservation style of the mummies is different from that found at other sites, most notably lacking evidence of resin use or carcass evisceration as part of the mummification process. The style of preservation suggests a pre-Ptolemaic age, which is consistent with the final phase of funerary use of Qubbat al-Hawā during the 5th Century BC.
Comparing mummies between archaeological sites is useful for identifying trends in animal use and mummification practices over time. The limitations of this study included the lack of available ancient DNA and radiocarbon, which would be useful for refining the identification and dating of the remains. Future studies incorporating these techniques will further inform scientific understanding of ancient Egyptian cultural practices.
The authors add, "Ten crocodile mummies, including five more or less complete bodies and five heads, were found in an undisturbed tomb at Qubbat al-Hawā (Aswan, Egypt). The mummies were in varying states of preservation and completeness."
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The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) and Pet Partners announced a grant to Purdue University for a research project that will investigate the impact interacting with a dog has on human brain activity. Researchers will use Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure the neural responses correlating with human-dog interaction, and potential factors that influence these responses.
“We hear stories every day about how our Pet Partners registered therapy dogs and their handlers make a positive difference in peoples’ lives,” said C. Annie Peters, president & CEO of Pet Partners. “We’re proud to fund this research project, which will use imaging technology to gain a deeper understanding of what happens inside the brain when a dog brings comfort to someone in need.”
A large body of research demonstrates the benefits of the human-animal bond for the mental and physical health and wellbeing of people. The most typically deployed measures of these benefits are self-reporting and psychological evaluation, which do not reveal the underlying mechanisms of the human-animal bond, such as changes in brain activity. fNIRS is one of the most common non-invasive functional imaging methods which uses near-infrared light to estimate neural or brain activity.
“Despite analyzing inter-species interactions and dealing with social behaviors, human-animal interaction research from the neuroscience approach is scarce,” said the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Niwako Ogata, associate professor of animal behavior at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine. “With the brain imaging expertise of Dr. Yunjie Tong, assistant professor in Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and our collaborators on our inter-disciplinary team approach, we will produce methodologically rigorous evidence regarding the neural correlates of the human-animal bond, enhancing our understanding of the human-animal bond and serving as the basis of future research.”
This project will enroll healthy, dog-owning adult participants to undergo a psychosocial and physiological stress test in a controlled laboratory setting. Participants will interact with both a familiar and unfamiliar dog during the recovery period from the stress test as researchers evaluate the neural response using fNIRS, in addition to more standard saliva testing and self-reports to verify the fNIRS findings. Researchers will also observe canine behavior and heart rate variability to analyze how the dog processes this interaction.
“This study represents important foundational science on the underpinnings of the human-animal bond,” said Steven Feldman, president of HABRI. “In supporting this project, HABRI and Pet Partners hope to not only advance the field of human-animal interaction but to also help support the proliferation of safe, effective animal-assisted interventions for people of all ages and health conditions.”
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