It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Scientific first: Researchers find traces of disease in dolphin poop
Reading time: 2minutes
Scientists have found a new non-invasive way to identify a deadly virus in dolphins that could be a testing breakthrough. For the first time, researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi Health and Stranding Lab have successfully detected Fraser’s morbillivirus, which can cause respiratory and neurological disease, in the feces of a dolphin. The findings published in Marine Mammal Science provide a new tool to identify and monitor threats faced by Hawaiʻi’s marine mammals.
This is particularly important for Hawaiʻi’s dolphin populations, where a disease outbreak could have devastating effects. Marine mammals, recognized as sentinels of ocean health, have an important role in maintaining the delicate balance of marine ecosystems.
(Photo credit: U.S. Commander Pacific Fleet Environmental Readiness Division)
Researchers collected feces from a stranded dolphin infected with the virus and conducted experiments to simulate the detection of the disease in seawater. The team demonstrated the surprising ability to detect Fraser’s morbillivirus in dilutions of feces in seawater at a level of 1 to 1,000. Using this non-invasive approach, testing poop collected from live animals in the wild will enable researchers to assess the health status of marine mammals with a hands-off approach.
“This is the first time that a pathogen responsible for mass mortalities of dolphins and whales, and that affects multiple organ systems other than the digestive tract, has been demonstrated in the feces of whales and dolphins,” said Kristi West, lead author and an associate researcher at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology.
Testing in the wild
Morbilliviruses have been responsible for mass mortalities of dolphins and whales during outbreak events. This study recommends that permitted research vessels studying dolphins and whales collect fecal samples using flasks and nets to test for disease.
“It is logistically difficult to test live, wild dolphins for the presence of disease, and the current study provides a method that can be applied to detect infectious disease in live dolphins and whales,” said Cody Clifton, a co-author and graduate student at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
The research was funded by the U.S. Navy and NOAA Fisheries. Reporting distressed or deceased marine mammals provides vital information for understanding causes of mortality and evaluating threats to protected species in Hawaiʻi and the greater Pacific. Sightings can be reported to the NOAA hotline at 1-888-256-9840.
Sunday, December 31, 2023
Scottish union chief calls for clarity on public service cuts
31st December 2023
PA MediaUnison said it would fight any compulsory redundancies
The head of Scotland's largest public services union has urged the Scottish government to be more transparent on potential public sector cuts.
Lilian Macer from Unison Scotland accused ministers of threatening public sector job cuts without consultation.
The government said it would work with trade unions and commit to a policy of no compulsory redundancies.
Ms Macer told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show that workers were worried as no details had been shared about the number of jobs that could be lost. 'Investment and reform'
Deputy first minister and finance secretary Ms Robison said more pressure had been put on her spending plans following Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement in November.
Her assessment was that the public sector would have to change "in terms of its size and shape", adding: "I'm not going to arbitrarily announce a figure that will worry people."
When the Scottish budget for 2024-25 was announced, Ms Robison said the government could not address financial challenges through tax alone or by delivering public services in "traditional ways".
"Our approach must be investment and reform," she said. "Working in partnership with Scotland's trade unions, we'll take action to ensure our services remain sustainable, improve outcomes and support the people in communities who need them most." PA MediaShona Robison said the public sector workforce would have to shrink
But Ms Macer said Scotland should brace itself for cuts to public services as the Scottish government was "looking to attack public services in terms of how they're delivered, and also that workforce".
She added: "I think politicians need to be honest about which vital public services they want Unison members to stop delivering."
Ms Macer said the Scottish government had not contacted the union to discuss any potential cuts to public services or how it would impact the workforce.
She went on: "The Scottish government recognise the value of public services on the one hand, and then on the other hand they're now saying those services will need to be cut.
"That is unacceptable behaviour from the Scottish government. They should be picking up the phone and calling up the union instead without worrying those members of staff delivering those services."
She added: "We've got public sector workers moving into the New Year wondering if their jobs are safe or not."
About 542,800 people work in the public sector in Scotland, with almost half that number in local government.Scottish budget 2024-25: At a glance
Ms Macer confirmed Unison would fight any compulsory redundancies and the union would contact the Scottish government again in the New Year for clarity on the situation.
She added: "Right now, we have huge unmet need in our communities. People waiting on care packages, we've got record numbers of delayed discharges in hospitals.
"When we are talking about shrinking the public services, what the cabinet secretary is effectively saying is that services will be cut and workers need to work harder because we won't see more workers in the public services. We need to see a bit more detail." Employee costs
According the Fraser of Allander Institute, the Scottish government is facing a £1.5bn black hole.
In 2021-22, employee costs were the largest element of Scottish local authorities gross service expenditure, accounting for £8.6bn.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: "Ministers have set out in the Scottish budget that they will work in partnership with trade unions to ensure our services remain fiscally sustainable and improve outcomes for the people and communities that need them most.
"Creating financially sustainable person-centred public services is one of our key priorities. That's why we are working across the public sector to reform services, ensuring workforces are sustainable, efficient and meet the needs of the people of Scotland."
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Toxic chemicals found in oil spills and wildfire smoke detected in killer whales
Toxic chemicals produced from oil emissions and wildfire smoke have been found in muscle and liver samples from Southern Resident killer whales and Bigg’s killer whales.
A study published today in Scientific Reportsis the first to find polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in orcas off the coast of B.C., as well as in utero transfer of the chemicals from mother to fetus.
“Killer whales are iconic in the Pacific Northwest—important culturally, economically, ecologically and more. Because they are able to metabolically process PAHs, these are most likely recent exposures. Orcas are our canary in the coal mine for oceans, telling us how healthy our waters are,” said senior author Dr. Juan José Alava, principal investigator of the UBC Ocean Pollution Research Unit and adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University.
PAHs are a type of chemical found in coal, oil and gasoline which research suggests are carcinogenic, mutagenic, and have toxic effects on mammals. Their presence in the ocean comes from several sources, including oil spills, burning coal and forest fire smoke particles.
Researchers analyzed muscle and liver samples from six Bigg’s, or transient, killer whales and six Southern Resident killer whales (SRKWs) stranded in the northeastern Pacific Ocean between 2006 and 2018. They tested for 76 PAHs and found some in all samples, with half the PAHs appearing in at least 50 per cent of the samples. One compound, a PAH derivative called C3-phenanthrenes/anthracenes, accounted for 33 per cent of total contamination across all samples. These forms of PAHs, known as alkylated PAHs, are known to be more persistent, toxic, and to accumulate more in the bodies of organisms or animals than parental PAHs.
No one has studied PAHs in killer whales in B.C. before. However, the researchers noted the average level of contamination in their study was lower than previous studies of cetaceans in the Gulf of California, and almost two times higher than that found in blood samples of captive killer whales from Icelandic waters.
SRKW contaminants largely from human emissions
The contaminants in Bigg’s killer whales were mostly those produced by burning coal and vegetation, as well as forest fires. In SRKWs, they were the kind produced by oil spills and burning of fossil fuels like gasoline. The researchers say this could be due to the animals’ differing habitats. Bigg’s killer whales range from California to southeastern Alaska and into the North Pacific Ocean, while SRKWs stay closer to more polluted urban environments around the Salish Sea.
Feeding preferences, behaviour and metabolism could also impact the amount of contaminants accumulating in the animals.
“B.C.’s coast is experiencing oil pipeline developments, oil tanker traffic, industrial effluents, forest fires, stormwater runoff and wastewater,” said first author Kiah Lee, who conducted the work as an undergraduate student at UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) and is now a masters student at the University of Oslo. “These activities put toxic PAHs into the marine food web and, as we saw here, they can be found in orcas, the apex predator.”
Improve pollution management
“There’s only a small population to draw from—74 individuals in the case of the Southern Residents,” said co-author Dr. Stephen Raverty, IOF adjunct professor and veterinary pathologist with the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Food. “There are many potential causes for their decline, pollution being one.”
One of the whales examined was ‘Luna’, an orca separated from his mother as a calf who had extensive human contact and lived in variable habitats, which may be why Luna showed a mixture of hydrocarbon contaminants.
“The preliminary findings from this study will add key information to inform management approaches in killer whale habitats,” said Paul Cottrell of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “The source of the PAHs is often from human activity and it is important we have baseline data on current PAH levels in killer whales to monitor those trends and impacts in marine ecosystems into the future.”
Ultimately, humans need to reduce and eventually eliminate fossil fuel consumption to help combat climate change and conserve marine biodiversity, said Dr. Alava. “This would also serve to bolster the resilience and health of marine ecosystems, benefiting communities that rely on them such as coastal First Nations peoples as well as future generations.”
As more Canadians leave the workforce over the next few decades, experts say this will likely exacerbate existing labour shortages. In this stock image, a senior couple appears stressed while looking at bills.
(Getty Images / whyframestudio)
There will likely be more Canadians leaving the workforce than entering it over the next few decades as the country’s senior population grows, according to new data from Statistics Canada. Experts say this will not only exacerbate existing labour shortages, but could result in higher wages for employees.
As of November 2023, there were approximately 2.7 million Canadians aged 15 to 24 who said they were employed, compared to more than 4.4 million people aged 55 and older(opens in a new tab) who had a job. This is based on data from Statistics Canada’s latest labour force survey, which also shows a wide difference in the total population of Canadians 15 to 24 years of age compared to those aged 55 and older, with 4.7 million and 12.4 million people, respectively.
“This means that there are potentially more people prepared to leave the labour force because of retirement than there are entrants to replace these workers,” reads a note prepared by Jane Badets, senior adviser at Environics Analytics, a marketing and analytical services company owned by Bell Canada.
This comes amid new statistics from Environics Analytics that show Canada’s senior population is projected to surpass 11 million by 2043. The data, based on a special analysis for CTV News, paints the senior population as the fastest-growing age group in the country. LABOUR SHORTAGE LINKED TO AN AGING POPULATION: EXPERTS
Canada is already facing labour shortages(opens in a new tab) across several sectors, largely due to the country’s aging population, said Stephen Tapp, chief economist for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Over the next few years, more Canadians born between 1946 and 1964 – also known as the baby boomer generation – will be entering their senior years and likely retiring. Without a boost in the number of young Canadians entering the workforce, existing labour gaps will only become larger, Tapp said.
“(We’re) in a more labour-scarce world,” Tapp told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview. “Things are getting tighter and more difficult … It will get worse over the next 10 to 15 years.”
Businesses of all sizes and across every industry have complained of labour shortages for months(opens in a new tab), with experts saying Canada’s aging workforce is among the factors to blame. These shortages could lead to a reduction in labour input as well as economic growth, a recent study shows.
Conducted by the RAND Corporation, a research organization based in the United States, the study published in 2016 and revised in 2022(opens in a new tab) shows a link between an aging workforce and national economic performance. Looking at U.S. data, researchers discovered that with each 10 per cent increase in the fraction of the population aged 60 and older, per-capita GDP decreased by 5.5 per cent.
A study published in August by the Fraser Institute(opens in a new tab), a conservative think tank, came to a similar conclusion. Researchers determined that every 10 per cent increase in the senior population is linked to a slight decrease in the real GDP per capita growth rate.
“This result implies that, in 2021 dollars, Canada’s GDP per capita will be lower by $4,300 (per person) by 2043 under Statistics Canada’s slow-aging population projection scenario and by $11,200 under its fast-aging scenario,” reads a press release issued earlier this year(opens in a new tab).
Adding to this is what is expected to be an increase in the number of Canadians who are retiring year-over-year. An analysis of labour force survey data by the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) revealed 73,000 more people retired in the year ending August 2022(opens in a new tab) compared to the year prior.
HEALTH CARE, CONSTRUCTION WILL NEED MORE WORKERS
Some sectors can expect to see greater labour shortages than others, Tapp said. Amid a lack of nurses and physicians, Canada’s health-care sector is likely to continue facing labour shortages as demand for services increases with an aging population, said Ted McDonald, a political science professor at the University of New Brunswick.
“Those labour shortages have direct implications for patient outcomes as well as the broader economy,” McDonald told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview.
Across all industries, the job vacancy rate was 3.9 per cent as of September, but within the health-care and social assistance sector, that rate was 5.6 per cent. Other sectors with job vacancy rates above the four-per-cent mark include construction, and accommodation and food services, at 4.7 and 6.2 per cent, respectively.
Sectors such as transportation are also likely to experience tighter labour market conditions in the years to come, as they have a higher number of older workers, according to a research note produced by Environics Analytics.
The ratio of older to younger workers varies by occupation, according to the latest census data from 2021. Younger workers include employees aged 25 to 34, whereas older workers includes those aged 55 and above. Examples of some of the occupations that have more older than younger workers include bus drivers and other transit operators. In these occupations, the number of older employees is more than four times higher than the number of younger employees.
As more of Canada’s older employees exit the workforce, transferring their knowledge to younger workers can become a challenge, Tapp said. As a result, providing adequate training will be key, he said. This not only includes properly training new hires, but also offering technical training to older employees who may choose to continue working beyond the age of 65. Some of these workers may need to be trained on how to use new tools or technology to perform old tasks, he said.
“If we have older people staying in the labour force longer, they're going to need to stay up on their on their skillsets and to be retrained more frequently than they would have been before,” he said.
WAGES WILL SEE AN INCREASE: EXPERT
Although the road ahead may present challenges for employers facing an increasingly tight market, conditions may be beneficial for workers, said Tapp.
With more Canadians expected to leave the workforce than enter it, workplaces may struggle with obtaining and retaining employees. As an incentive when hiring, they may be more likely to offer increased wage rates to fill gaps within their labour force, he said.
“In any kind of market where there’s fewer workers … the market is going to have to pay them more and their wages are going to be increased to entice them to come in,” he said. “It’s good news if you’re looking from a household perspective … The balance of power has really shifted.”
Tapp said he expects to see wages increase more than two per cent each year to account for annual inflation.
Another trend McDonald expects to see emerge is a continued boom in the use of artificial intelligence technology. Struggles to secure labour will likely prompt more businesses to explore ways to automate processes, he said, which may allow them to hire fewer people.
“You look at alternative ways to continue to operate,” McDonald said.
SOME DELAY RETIREMENT TO KEEP WORKING
While Canada’s workforce may be aging, some employees are continuing to work for longer, data shows. In 2022, nearly one million Canadians were working at the age of 65 or older, making up five per cent of the total labour force in Canada that year, Statistics Canada data shows(opens in a new tab).
Additionally, the average retirement age in Canada has been steadily increasing over the last two decades. In 2022, the average retirement age was 64.6 years(opens in a new tab). This is approximately four years older than the average age reported in 1998, which was 60.9.
CTVNews.ca heard from a handful of Canadians who said they are considering delaying their retirement in an effort to save more money – Anita Newson is one of them. Living in Halifax, the 60-year-old said she plans to delay her retirement “indefinitely” due to the elevated cost of living.
“I had hoped to pay off some debt and retire this year but that didn't happen and I am actually further in debt,” she wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca. “I may not ever retire.”
Instead, Newson said she plans to work for as long as her health permits. In response to the rising cost of daily expenses, Newson said she has begun to scale back spending on birthdays and holidays, as well as eating at restaurants and visiting movie theatres.
“It is becoming more frightening thinking about how I will support myself when and if I retire,” she wrote. “I am a renter and rent goes up every year, pensions do not.”
Newson said she only expects her pension to be able to cover her monthly rent payments, leaving her with no choice but to continue working to cover other expenses such as food.
Stewart Turnbull said he finds himself in a similar position. The 56-year-old living in Victoria, B.C., owns a single-family home and works full-time as a customer service manager. Upon retiring, he planned to sell his home and purchase a smaller property farther from the downtown core, he said.
However, when his three-year mortgage agreement went up for renewal in March, the rise in interest rates increased his payments by about $900 per month, he said.
Turnbull and his partner recently put their home up for sale, but they are unsure of whether they will receive enough money to purchase a new home and comfortably retire at 65. Without much money accumulated in savings, Turnbull said he is not convinced his pension will be enough to cover daily expenses if he stopped working.
“We are trying to leverage whatever equity we have in this house into sort of a rescue mission after interest rates totally annihilated any extra money we had on a monthly basis,” he told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview. “I hoped it would be worth enough that we could possibly retire but I’m not 100 per cent sure that that’s going to happen.”
Stewart Turnbull, 56, planned to sell his home in Victoria, B.C., and use the extra money to retire. But with increasing mortgage payments as a result of high interest rates, and little money saved up, he's unsure of whether selling his home will leave him with enough money to comfortably retire at 65. Turnbull, left, appears in this image with his partner.
(HANDOUT / CTVNews.ca)
Instead, Turnbull is not planning for retirement and anticipates he will have to continue working beyond the age of 65 to continue to afford his daily expenses. He has also made some lifestyle changes over recent months in order to adjust to the elevated cost of living. This includes hanging his clothes to dry in order to lower his electricity bill, and downgrading his cell phone bill so monthly fees are less expensive, he said.
“It has become clear to me that retirement is no longer an option,” he wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca.
National labour force survey results(opens in a new tab) released in August show that many Canadian workers would delay their retirement if given the option to work fewer hours without affecting their pension. Additionally, employees aged 65 and older have been making up a larger proportion of the total working population in Canada over the last few years, data shows.
In 2010, employed seniors made up three per cent of the total workforce, according to Statistics Canada. Fast forward to 2022, and working seniors accounted for five per cent of all Canadians employed that year.
But according to Tapp, this could be due to the growing number of seniors in Canada as opposed to a shift in retirement patterns.
WHAT ROLE DOES IMMIGRATION PLAY?
In order to fill existing gaps within the country’s workforce throughout the years, the federal government appears to be relying on immigration, McDonald said.
Over the last decade, the share of new and recent immigrant workers grew the most quickly in accommodation and food services, as well as transportation and warehousing, according to 2021 Statistics Canada census data(opens in a new tab). Other sectors that saw relatively high levels of immigrant workers include manufacturing and health services.
FULL-BODY FORENSIC RECONSTRUCTION OF A WOOLLY DOG BASED ON A 160-YEAR-OLD PELT IN THE SMITHSONIAN’S COLLECTION AS WELL AS ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS.
THE RECONSTRUCTED WOOLLY DOG STANDS AGAINST A STYLIZED BACKGROUND OF A COAST SALISH WEAVING MOTIF FROM A HISTORIC DOG-WOOL BLANKET. THE PORTRAYAL OF THE WEAVING MOTIF WAS DESIGNED UNDER ADVISEMENT OF THE STUDY’S COAST SALISH ADVISORY GROUP.
RESEARCHERS FROM THE Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History LED A NEW ANALYSIS THAT SHEDS LIGHT ON THE ANCESTRY AND GENETICS OF WOOLLY DOGS, A NOW EXTINCT BREED OF DOG THAT WAS A FIXTURE OF INDIGENOUS COAST SALISH COMMUNITIES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FOR MILLENNIA. THE STUDY’S FINDINGS, PUBLISHED TODAY, DEC. 14, IN THE JOURNAL Science, INCLUDE INTERVIEWS CONTRIBUTED BY SEVERAL COAST SALISH CO-AUTHORS, INCLUDING ELDERS, KNOWLEDGE KEEPERS AND MASTER WEAVERS, WHO PROVIDED CRUCIAL CONTEXT ABOUT THE ROLE WOOLLY DOGS PLAYED IN COAST SALISH SOCIETY.
Researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History led a new analysis that sheds light on the ancestry and genetics of woolly dogs, a now extinct breed of dog that was a fixture of Indigenous Coast Salish communities in the Pacific Northwest for millennia. Anthropologist Logan Kistler and evolutionary molecular biologist Audrey Lin analyzed genetic clues preserved in the pelt of “Mutton,” the only known woolly dog fleece in the world, to pinpoint the genes responsible for their highly sought-after woolly fur.
The study’s findings, published today, Dec. 14, in the journal Science, include interviews contributed by several Coast Salish co-authors, including Elders, Knowledge Keepers and Master Weavers, who provided crucial context about the role woolly dogs played in Coast Salish society.
“Coast Salish traditional perspective was the entire context for understanding the study’s findings,” said Kistler, the museum’s curator of archaeobotany and archaeogenomics.
Coast Salish tribal nations in Washington state and British Columbia bred and cared for woolly dogs for thousands of years. Prized for their thick undercoats, the dogs were sheared like sheep and often kept in pens or on islands to carefully manage their breeding and to care for the canines’ health and vitality. Coast Salish weavers used the dogs’ wool to craft blankets and other woven items that served a variety of ceremonial and spiritual purposes. Woolly dogs themselves possessed spiritual significance and were often treated as beloved family members. As emblems for many Coast Salish communities, woolly dogs adorned woven baskets and other art forms.
By the mid-19th century, this once thriving dog wool-weaving tradition was in decline. In the late 1850s, naturalist and ethnographer George Gibbs cared for a woolly dog named Mutton. When Mutton died in 1859, Gibbs sent his pelt to the nascent Smithsonian Institution, where the fleece has resided ever since. However, few were aware of the pelt’s existence until it was rediscovered in the early 2000s.
Lin first learned about Mutton when she was a Peter Buck postdoctoral fellow at the museum in 2021.
“When I saw Mutton in person for the first time, I was just overcome with excitement,” said Lin, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the American Museum of Natural History. “I had heard from some other people that he was a bit scraggly, but I thought he was gorgeous.”
She was surprised to find out that virtually no work had been done on the genetics of woolly dogs, which disappeared around the turn of the 20th century. She teamed up with Kistler and they reached out to several Coast Salish communities to gauge their interest in working together on a potential research project on woolly dogs.
Many in the Coast Salish communities were eager to share their knowledge.
“We were very excited to participate in a study that embraces the most sophisticated Western science with the most established Traditional Knowledge,” said Michael Pavel, an Elder from the Skokomish/Twana Coast Salish community in Washington, who remembers hearing about woolly dogs early in his childhood. “It was incredibly rewarding to contribute to this effort to embrace and celebrate our understanding of the woolly dog.”
To complement the perspectives they received from Pavel and other Coast Salish people from British Columbia and Washington state (the text from their interviews is available in the study’s supplementary materials), Lin, Kistler and their colleagues began analyzing Mutton’s genetic code. They sequenced the woolly dog genome and compared it with the genomes of ancient and modern breeds of dogs to determine what set woolly dogs apart. They also identified certain chemical signatures called isotopes in Mutton’s pelt to determine the dog’s diet and teamed up with noted natural history illustrator Karen Carr to create a life-like reconstruction of what Mutton looked like in the 1850s. Carr’s work is the first in-depth reconstruction of a Coast Salish woolly dog in nearly three decades.
Based on the genetic data, the team estimated that woolly dogs diverged from other breeds up to 5,000 years ago—a date that lines up with archaeological remains from the region. They also discovered that Mutton was genetically similar to pre-colonial dogs from Newfoundland and British Columbia. The researchers estimate that nearly 85% of Mutton’s ancestry can be linked to pre-colonial dogs. This ancient ancestry is surprising because Mutton lived decades after the introduction of European dog breeds. This makes it likely that Coast Salish communities continued to maintain woolly dogs’ unique genetic makeup until right before the dogs were wiped out.
In total, the team analyzed more than 11,000 different genes in Mutton’s genome to determine what gave woolly dogs their fluffy fleece and wool fibers that could be spun together to create yarn. They identified 28 genes that have links to hair growth and follicle regeneration. These included a gene that causes a woolly hair phenotype in humans, and another linked to curly hair in other dogs. Similar genes were even activated in the genomes of woolly mammoths.
However, Mutton’s genetics could tell the researchers little about what caused the dogs to decline. Traditionally, scholars have speculated that the arrival of machine-made blankets to the region in the early 19th century made woolly dogs expendable. But insights from Pavel and other traditional experts revealed that it was improbable that such a central part of Coast Salish society could be replaced.
Instead, woolly dogs were likely doomed by numerous factors impacting the Coast Salish tribal nations after European settlers arrived. Due to disease and colonial policies of cultural genocide, displacement and forced assimilation, it likely became increasingly difficult or forbidden for Coast Salish communities to maintain their woolly dogs.
“It was thousands of years of very careful maintenance lost within a couple of generations,” Lin said.
But despite their disappearance, the memory of woolly dogs is still embedded into Coast Salish society. And Pavel thinks their understanding of woolly dogs is only getting clearer thanks to the new research effort.
“All of our communities held a certain aspect of knowledge about the woolly dog,” Pavel said. “But when woven together, as a result of participating in this study, we now have a much more complete understanding.”
The study included authors affiliated with Vancouver Island University, University of Utah, University of Victoria, The Evergreen State College, Skokomish Nation, Squamish Nation, Musqueam First Nation, Karen Carr Studio, Queen Mary University of London, Texas A&M University, Simon Fraser University, The Francis Crick Institute, University of East Anglia, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, University of Oxford, University of York, Centre for Paleogenetics in Sweden, Stockholm University, Swedish Museum of Natural History, University of Copenhagen, the National Institutes of Health in the United States, Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of California at Davis, University of Copenhagen and Cardiff University.
This research was supported by the Smithsonian, European Molecular Biology Organization, the Vallee Foundation, the European Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Francis Crick Institute, Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
About the National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is connecting people everywhere with Earth’s unfolding story. It is one of the most visited natural history museums in the world. Opened in 1910, the museum is dedicated to maintaining and preserving the world’s most extensive collection of natural history specimens and human artifacts. The museum is open daily, except Dec. 25, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit the museum on its website, blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The History of Coast Salish ‘Woolly Dogs’ Revealed by Ancient Genomics and Indigenous Knowledge
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
14-Dec-2023
Pelt of the woolly dog Mutton in the Smithsonian’s collection
The 160-year-old pelt of the woolly dog Mutton in the Smithsonian’s collection.
Researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History led a new analysis that sheds light on the ancestry and genetics of woolly dogs, a now extinct breed of dog that was a fixture of Indigenous Coast Salish communities in the Pacific Northwest for millennia. The study’s findings, published today, Dec. 14, in the journal Science, include interviews contributed by several Coast Salish co-authors, including Elders, Knowledge Keepers and Master Weavers, who provided crucial context about the role woolly dogs played in Coast Salish society.
By the mid-19th century, the once thriving Coast Salish dog wool-weaving tradition was in decline. In the late 1850s, naturalist and ethnographer George Gibbs cared for a woolly dog named Mutton. When Mutton died in 1859, Gibbs sent his pelt to the nascent Smithsonian Institution, where the fleece has resided ever since.
Mutton’s genetics could tell the researchers little about what caused these dogs to decline. Traditionally, scholars have speculated that the arrival of machine-made blankets to the region in the early 19th century made woolly dogs expendable. But insights from Coast Salish community members and experts revealed that it was improbable that such a central part of Coast Salish society could be replaced.
Woolly dogs were likely doomed by numerous factors impacting the Coast Salish tribal nations after European settlers arrived. Due to disease and colonial policies of cultural genocide, displacement and forced assimilation, it likely became increasingly difficult or forbidden for Coast Salish communities to maintain their woolly dogs.
CREDIT
Brittany M. Hance, Smithsonian
USAGE RESTRICTIONS
News media use of the photos in relation to the study is permitted with attribution.
LICENSE
Original content
A classic-style Coast Salish blanket
A classic-style Coast Salish blanket, which includes a mixture of woolly dog and goat wool. The woolly dog wool is in the warp (vertical strands). Accessioned 1858. Collection notes.
Researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History led a new analysis that sheds light on the ancestry and genetics of woolly dogs, a now extinct breed of dog that was a fixture of Indigenous Coast Salish communities in the Pacific Northwest for millennia. The study’s findings, published today, Dec. 14, in the journal Science, include interviews contributed by several Coast Salish co-authors, including Elders, Knowledge Keepers and Master Weavers, who provided crucial context about the role woolly dogs played in Coast Salish society.
Coast Salish tribal nations in Washington state and British Columbia bred and cared for woolly dogs for thousands of years. Prized for their thick undercoats, the dogs were sheared like sheep and often kept in pens or on islands to carefully manage their breeding and to care for the canines’ health and vitality. Coast Salish weavers used the dogs’ wool to craft blankets and other woven items that served a variety of ceremonial and spiritual purposes.
“We were very excited to participate in a study that embraces the most sophisticated Western science with the most established Traditional Knowledge,” said Michael Pavel, an Elder from the Skokomish/Twana Coast Salish community in Washington, who remembers hearing about woolly dogs early in his childhood. “It was incredibly rewarding to contribute to this effort to embrace and celebrate our understanding of the woolly dog.”
Despite their disappearance, the memory of woolly dogs is still embedded into Coast Salish society. And Pavel thinks their understanding of woolly dogs is only getting clearer thanks to the new research effort.
CREDIT
Smithsonian
USAGE RESTRICTIONS
News media use of the photos in relation to the study is permitted with attribution.
LICENSE
Original content
Thursday, November 02, 2023
Researchers hope tracking senior Myanmar army officers can ascertain blame for human rights abuses GRANT PECK Wed, November 1, 2023 Myanmar War Crimes FILE - An alphabet book and a notebook lie on top of an elevated wooden floorboard of a middle school in Let Yet Kone village in Tabayin township in the Sagaing region of Myanmar on Sept. 17, 2022, the day after an air strike hit the school. A group of human rights researchers officially launched a website Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023 that they hope will help get justice for victims of state violence in Myanmar, where one of the world’s less-noticed but still brutal armed struggles is taking place.
BANGKOK (AP) — A group of human rights researchers officially launched a website Wednesday that they hope will help get justice for victims of state violence in Myanmar, where one of the world’s less-noticed but still brutal armed struggles is taking place.
Since the army seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, thousands of people have been killed by the security forces seeking to quash pro-democracy resistance. According to the United Nations, more than 1.8 million have been displaced by military offensives, which critics charge have involved gross violations of human rights.
War crimes have become easier to document in recent years thanks largely to the ubiquity of cellphone cameras and the near-universal access to social media, where photo and video evidence can easily be posted and viewed.
But it's harder to establish who is responsible for such crimes, especially generals and other high-ranking officers behind the scenes who make the plans and give the orders.
“Generals and lower ranking officers should fear being dragged before a court of law and imprisoned for crimes they ordered or authorized,” Tom Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, told the AP by email. “Research must move beyond merely stating the obvious — that crimes are occurring — and connect those who are responsible to specific atrocities. The victims of these crimes deserve justice and that will require the research necessary to hold those responsible fully accountable.”
The new website, myanmar.securityforcemonitor.org, is an interactive online version of a report, “Under Whose Command? — Human rights abuses under Myanmar’s military rule,” compiled by Security Force Monitor, a project of the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute, to connect alleged crimes with their perpetrators.
The project’s team constructed a timeline of senior commanders and their postings, which can be correlated with documented instances of alleged atrocities that occurred under their commands. It exposes the army’s chain of command, identifying senior army commanders and showing the connections from alleged rights violations to these commanders, study director Tony Wilson told The Associated Press in an email interview.
“This is one of the pieces of the jigsaw that has up until now been missing in terms of accountability — demonstrating how the system works and that these abuses are not just the result of rogue units or individual soldiers,” he said.
Wilson said the Myanmar data show that 65%, or 51 of all 79 senior army commanders between the end of March 2011 and the end of March this year, “had alleged disappearances, killings, rape or instances of torture committed by units under their command.”
He said the study also shows the officer with the most links to serious human rights violations is Gen. Mya Htun Oo, who became defense minister and a member of the ruling military council when the army seized power in 2021. He also became deputy prime minister in 2023.
The legal significance leans on the established doctrine of “command responsibility,” which allows the prosecution under international law of military commanders for war crimes perpetrated by their subordinates.
“Establishing the command structures of militaries and other groups involved in atrocities is the lifeblood of properly conducting investigations into international crimes,” Mark Kersten, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at Canada’s University of the Fraser Valley, said in an email to The Associated Press. “When the Nazis were prosecuted at Nuremberg, the lead counsel for the Allies famously exclaimed that it was individuals who would be prosecuted for atrocities, and not abstract entities, namely states.”
Collecting evidence of human rights violations in Syria’s civil war has served as a guide to utilizing online information and technical advances to gather and organize evidence of war crimes. Similar projects have also been launched in other areas of conflict including Sudan, Yemen and Ukraine.
Since 2021, evidence-gathering groups have formed in Myanmar, including Myanmar Witness, an NGO that seeks to “collect, analyse, verify and store evidence related to human rights incidents … in a way that is compatible with future human rights prosecutions.”
Similar work for Myanmar has already been done by groups documenting the security forces’ brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign in the western part of the country that drove an estimated 740,000 Rohingya to seek safety across the border in Bangladesh. Several international tribunals have been considering charges of genocide and other crimes brought against the army for their activities.
“Our work can complement and feed into the work of documenting abuses,” said Wilson. “Because we always aim to map the entire police or military, our research can help make connections between what human rights groups have documented and the wider chain of command.”
He said the project relied on open-source information drawn from the work of national and international human rights organizations and local activists, as well as books, independent newspapers and the military’s own media outlets.
Its previous work includes research on the Mexican Army’s chain of command for a complaint to the International Criminal Court alleging crimes against humanity. Its methodology has been used to support the Syrian Archive’s submission of evidence to investigative and prosecute authorities in Germany, France, and Sweden about the 2013 sarin gas attack on Khan Shaykhun.
“We’ve applied lessons learned from researching militaries around the world to our work in Myanmar, and we would not have been able to map the Myanmar Army without those lessons,” said Wilson.
PA MediaShona Robison said the public sector workforce would have to shrink
