The Link, One Health, and Social Capital: A New Strategy for Empathy Education and Social Work

For 150 years, animal welfare and veterinary advocates have promoted a doctrine that animal welfare will be enhanced by teaching children kindness to animals and responsible animal husbandry practices. However, these efforts have been stymied by societal and professional perceptions that “animal” causes are less worthy than “human” services. Ten significant challenges have made it difficult, if not impossible, to gain access to educators’ curricula and social work training. In a society that continues to place humans’ interests above animals’, it is time to try a new approach that focuses on the human benefits of animal welfare. In particular, a five-part plan that emphasizes The Link between animal abuse and human violence, the physiological and mental health benefits of animal companionship, and the potential of pets to improve social capital and community well-being may hold keys to getting human-animal bond messaging more widely accepted in schools, universities, and professional training programs.

Phil Arkow is coordinator of the National Link Coalition and a consultant for the ASPCA and the Animals & Society Institute. He chairs the Latham Foundation’s Animal Abuse and Family Violence Prevention Project and formerly directed Link programs at the American Humane Association. He co-founded the National Link Coalition, the National Animal Control Association, and two state Animal Welfare Federations. He teaches Certificate courses in Animal-Assisted Therapy at Harcum College and Camden County College, and trains internationally on a variety of human-animal bond topics. He has served with the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Delta Society, and the American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians.