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Friday, November 04, 2022

What a ‘cat friendly’ veterinary experience looks like

SAGE

Good feline healthcare necessitates visiting the veterinary clinic, but many components of a veterinary visit or stay may potentially result in negative experiences. The impacts can be far-reaching, including distress and prolonged recovery from illness for the cat, and, for the veterinary team, the risk of misleading clinical findings and test results, possible injury and further difficulties with handling of the cat at future visits. Mounting evidence suggests that first veterinary visits can impact a young animal for life.

The cat’s veterinary experience includes their journey to the clinic, their interactions with team members, the social environment (other animals in the waiting and hospitalisation areas), as well as the physical environment of the clinic. These aspects are all addressed in two ‘Cat Friendly Guidelines’1,2 published jointly by the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP). They appear in a Cat Friendly Special Issue of the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery (JFMS) and are available, together with a suite of supporting information and resources, at bit.ly/JFMSCatFriendly.

The ‘2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines: Approach and Handling Techniques’1 and ‘2022 ISFM/AAFP Cat Friendly Veterinary Environment Guidelines’2 are directed at veterinary professionals around the world. They are authored by experts in feline clinical medicine and behaviour, who have undertaken an extensive literature review and have also drawn on valuable experience gained in the 10 years that the ISFM’s Cat Friendly Clinic (catfriendlyclinic.org) and AAFP’s Cat Friendly Practice (catvets.com/cfp) programmes have been running and contributing so positively to feline health and wellbeing. To date, almost 3700 clinics and practices across 57 countries have achieved official ‘Cat Friendly’ status under the programmes.

At the heart of the new guidance – richly illustrated with images from some of these Cat Friendly Clinics and Practices – is the recognition that mental wellbeing is as equally important as physical health. The Cat Friendly Guidelines put the cat’s emotional experience at the forefront of all veterinary interactions, and integrate some new terminology: a cat’s positive emotions, which, for example, might lead them to explore the environment and seek food, treats, play and social interaction, are reframed as ‘engaging’ emotions, while the negative emotions of fear, anxiety, frustration and pain are referred to as ‘protective’ emotions. This approach will help the veterinary team to better understand the feline perspective, identify underlying stressors and establish what works to resolve the situation rather than exacerbate it.

To be truly cat friendly, all team members need an understanding of cats, not only as individuals, but as a species. Much of the characteristic behaviour of cats is derived from their wildcat ancestor, Felis silvestris lybica, in particular their natural preference to rely on themselves for protection. Familiarity, control, predictability and avoidance of threats all contribute to their perceived safety. In an unfamiliar situation, the preferred strategy for most cats is to escape. When this option is unavailable, such as in the veterinary clinic, they instead attempt to hide or to perch to monitor the environment from above.

The Cat Friendly Guidelines offer myriad practical tips for both minimising negative experiences and promoting positive experiences. ‘Thinking cat’ extends to educating the caregiver on how best to prepare the cat for their trip to the veterinary clinic, and is as fundamental as considering what the patient, with their highly tuned sensory system, will see, hear and smell during their visit to the clinic. The advice includes minimising visual stimulation – even pictures of cats and other animals can be perceived as threatening. Cats should be kept away from noisy patients and loud clinic equipment, and all human vocalisation should be soft, gentle and slow in tempo. For the majority of practices that treat dogs as well as cats, removing potentially challenging scents by sweeping up dog hair and emptying bins of strong-smelling waste, such as urine, is important, and synthetic feline pheromones can be used to help create a more reassuring environment. Importantly, adjustments to establish a more cat friendly veterinary environment need not be structural or expensive, and a range of ways of providing cat-only waiting areas and hiding and perching options in cages are suggested.

Likewise, the veterinary team need to remain ‘cat focused’ during all interactions. Being aware of cats’ preferred areas of touch – particularly in the region of the facial glands, which produce the pheromones used in social bonding – helps to encourage positive emotions during the clinical examination, while simple steps, such as not leaning over or cornering the cat, and avoiding direct eye contact, help to ease anxiety. Allowing the cat to remain in the bottom of their carrier, or using towels or a high-sided cat bed to encourage a sensation of being hidden and protected, can be very beneficial. Significantly, by practising cat friendly interactions and providing a cat friendly veterinary environment, equipment that historically has been used for cat restraint, including cat bags, gauntlets and muzzles, quickly comes to be replaced by items that provide the patient with comfort, a sense of safety and choice, and positive distractions. In certain situations, the use of anti-anxiety medication is also appropriate, and the Cat Friendly Guidelines discuss protocols for strategic use prior to or during the veterinary visit.

So, what next for cats, their caregivers and the veterinary team? The concept of ‘cooperative care’ is described as being the future for ‘cat friendly’. This will require new skills to be developed and practised, both at home and in the veterinary practice, to help cats feel more relaxed and in control in medical situations where they may naturally feel fearful and/or frustrated. More immediately, each veterinary team is encouraged to look at even the smallest adjustments they can make to their own veterinary environment and interactions to improve the experience for cats and their caregivers.

For the Cat Friendly Guidelines Co-Chairs, veterinarians Ilona Rodan, Nathalie Dowgray, Samantha Taylor and Kelly St Denis, the publication of the Cat Friendly Special Issue of JFMS is a pivotal moment. ‘We’re thrilled the Cat Friendly Guidelines will be available to all veterinary professionals because they are a game changer. They will enhance feline welfare, caregiver loyalty and human safety, and mean more positive veterinary visits for all!’

References

Rodan I, Dowgray N, Carney HC, et al. 2022 AAFP/ISFM cat friendly veterinary interaction guidelines: approach and handling techniques. J Feline Med Surg 2022; 24: 1093–1132. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X221128760.
Taylor S, St Denis K, Collins S, et al. 2022 ISFM/AAFP cat friendly veterinary environment guidelines. J Feline Med Surg 2002; 24: 1133–1163. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/ 1098612X221128763.

JOURNAL

Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery

DOI

10.1177/1098612X221128760

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines: Approach and Handling Techniques

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Nov-2022

Friday, February 14, 2020

Are you a cat whisperer? How to read Fluffy’s facial expressions

February 2, 2020

Cats are capable of a expressing a wide range of emotions through facial expressions
and body language.

Cats are popular pets: there are an estimated 200 million pet cats worldwide, with more pet cats than pet dogs. Cats live in about 38 per cent of Canadian households, 25.4 per cent of American households and 25 per cent of European households.

Cats also seem to be a great source of entertainment. There are two million cat videos on YouTube and counting, and countless internet-famous cats, like Grumpy Cat and Lil’ Bub, each with millions of followers on their social media accounts.

Despite the popularity of cats, as anyone who has been around a cat knows, reading cats is not always an easy task. One minute they can be seeking your affection and the next they can be swatting at you without any apparent warning. This leads to the question: are cats just jerks or are they simply misunderstood?

Cats’ body language

While cats may seem mysterious, their behaviour can help us to understand how they are feeling. The position of a cat’s body, head, ears and tail are all telltale hints.

An anxious or fearful cat may crouch down to the ground, arch their back, lower their head and flatten their ears. Fearful or anxious cats may also retreat backwards in avoidance, hide themselves, make their fur stand on edge (piloerection), growl, hiss, spit, swat or bite.

Conversely, a content cat may approach you with their tail up, with their body and head in a neutral position and their ears forward. When resting, they may tuck their paws in, or lay on their side with their legs stretched out.

Cats’ emotions can be deciphered through their different behaviours. (Lili Chin), CC BY

Facial expressions may also be an indicator of how cats are feeling. Researchers have found that certain individuals can readily distinguish the images of cats in pain from those of pain-free cats. Despite this, the full range of cat facial expressions, including those made in positive situations, has not received much investigation.

Most people are poor cat face readers

As a postdoctoral researcher in animal science, I ran an online study in which participants were shown short video clips of cats in various situations. Positive situations were those where cats approached, for example, their owner for treats. Negative situations were those where cats sought to avoid, for example, retreating from a person unknown to them.

The videos were carefully selected based on strict behavioural criteria and edited to only show each cat’s face, removing any potential body language or location cues.

An example of a video from the study: here, a cat is kneading in his favoured resting spot, a positive situation.

More than 6,300 people from 85 countries judged whether the cat in each video was feeling positive or negative. On average, people identified the correct expression 59 per cent of the time. While this score is slightly better than if people had simply guessed, it suggests that many people find the task of reading cat faces challenging.

An example of a video from the study: here, a cat is hiding in the examination room of a veterinary clinic, a negative situation.

Cat whisperers

Although most people were poor cat face readers, a small subset of people (13 per cent) were quite skilled, scoring 15 points or higher out of a possible 20 points.
Individuals in this group are more likely to be women than men. This is not surprising, since research has found that women are generally better at interpreting non-verbal emotional cues; this has been shown with human babies and dogs.

I found “cat whisperers” also tend to have experience working as a veterinarian or veterinary technician. People in these occupations encounter a large number of cats on a daily basis and must learn to interpret their behaviour to recognize illness and avoid injury.

Suprisingly (or not, depending on your personal experience as a cat owner), cat owners are not any better at reading cat faces than people who have never owned a cat. This may be because cat owners learn the intricacies of their own cat through continued interactions, but likely cannot draw on varied experiences when faced with a series of unfamiliar cats.

Implications for animal welfare

My work has shown that cats display different facial expressions and that these facial expressions differ depending on how cats are feeling, both positive and negative.

Being able to read and interpret these different facial expressions can help to ensure that cats receive appropriate care. For example, facial expressions can indicate when a cat may be in pain and require treatment. Being able to read cat faces can also improve the bond between cat owners and their cats, through an improved understanding of how their cats may be feeling.

While many people seem to struggle with reading cat faces, some individuals are able to read them well. This suggests that interpreting cat faces is a skill that could improve with training and experience.

Do you think you could be a cat whisperer? You can test your cat-reading abilities by taking this interactive quiz.

Author

Lauren Dawson
Postdoctoral fellow, Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph

Wednesday, January 01, 2020

The surprisingly complicated physics of why cats always land on their feet

Ars chats with physicist Greg Gbur about his book, Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics

JENNIFER OUELLETTE - 12/25/2019, arstechnica.com

Enlarge / A cat being dropped upside down to demonstrate a cat's
movements while falling Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection
via Getty Images

There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one story that fell through the cracks each day, from December 25 through January 5. Today: an intriguing recent book on the science of why cats always land on their feet.

Scientists are not immune to the alluringly aloof charms of the domestic cat. Sure, Erwin Schrödinger could be accused of animal cruelty for his famous thought experiment, but Edwin Hubble had a cat named Copernicus, who sprawled across the papers on the astronomer's desk as he worked, purring contentedly. A Siamese cat named Chester was even listed as co-author (F.D.C. Willard) with physicist Jack H. Hetherington on a low-temperature physics paper in 1975, published in Physical Review Letters. So perhaps it's not surprising that there is a long, rich history, spanning some 300 years, of scientists pondering the mystery of how a falling cat somehow always manages to land on their feet, a phenomenon known as "cat-turning."

"The falling cat is often sort of a sideline area in research," physicist and cat lover Greg Gbur told Ars. "Cats have a reputation for being mischievous and well-represented in the history. The cats just sort of pop in where you least expect them. They manage to cause a lot of trouble in the history of science, as well as in my personal science. I often say that cats are cleverer than we think, but less clever than they think." A professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Gbur gives a lively, entertaining account of that history in his recent book, Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics.

Over the centuries, scientists offered four distinct hypotheses to explain the phenomenon. There is the original "tuck and turn" model, in which the cat pulls in one set of paws so it can rotate different sections of its body. Nineteenth century physicist James Clerk Maxwell offered a "falling figure skater" explanation, whereby the cat tweaks its angular momentum by pulling in or extending its paws as needed. Then there is the "bend and twist" (not to be confused with the "bend and snap" maneuver immortalized in the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde), in which the cat bends at the waist to counter-rotate the two segments of its body. Finally, there is the "propeller tail," in which the cat can reverse its body's rotation by rotating its tail in one direction like a propeller. A cat most likely employs some aspects of all these as it falls, according to Gbur.

Gbur is quick to offer a cautionary word of advice to anyone considering their own feline experiments: "Please don't drop your cats!"—even in the name of science. Ars sat down with Gbur to learn more about this surprisingly prolific area of research.

Enlarge / Cats are cautiously fond of physics, as Ariel can attest.

Jennifer Ouellette

Ars Technica: What led you to write an entire book about the physics of falling cats?

Greg Gbur: It really started with my love of the history of science and writing about it on my blog. One day, I was browsing old science journals, and I came across an 1894 paper about photographs of a falling cat landing on his feet. I wrote a blog post about it. But I wasn't completely satisfied with the explanation, and I realized there were more papers on the subject. Every time I did a search, I found another paper offering another angle on the problem. Even in the last few weeks of writing the book, I still kept coming across minor little papers that gave me a little bit of a different take on the history. It was surprising just how many papers there were about the falling cat problem. The more you look, the more you find people intrigued by how a cat lands on his feet. It seems like a problem that would be readily solvable.

Ars: Surely one of the issues was that photography hadn't been invented yet, particularly high-speed photography.

Gbur: Yes. Maxwell did his own preliminary investigations of the subject, but he pointed out that when you drop a cat from roughly two feet, it can still land on its feet, even if you're dropping it upside down. That's a really short period of time. The human eye simply can't resolve that. So it was a problem that was largely not solvable until the technology was there to do high speed photography.

Étienne-Jules Marey did the first high speed photographs of falling down. It was almost an afterthought for him. He was doing all these different high-speed photographs of different animals, because that was his research, studying living creatures in motion. He presented the images of a falling cat, and it genuinely shocked the scientific community. One of the members at the meeting where the photographs were presented, said (and I paraphrase), “This young Marey has presented us with a problem that seems to go against the known laws of physics."

The motions that are depicted in the photographs are quite complicated. The explanation given is part of the truth, but it seemed incomplete. It was good enough to convince physicists that a cat wasn't violating the laws of physics, but it wasn't good enough to convince everyone that it was the right explanation, or the complete explanation.

Ars: You summarize four distinct hypotheses offered at various times to explain the phenomenon of cat turning. So what is the best explanation we have so far for how a cat can turn and fall and land on its feet?

Gbur: This is part of why it was such a challenge: all these different motions play a role. If you're looking at a series of photographs or a video of a falling cat, it becomes almost a psychological problem. Different people, their attention is going to be drawn by different aspects of a motion. But the most important is a bend and twist motion. The cat bends at the waist and counter rotates the upper and lower halves of its body in order to cancel those motions out. When one goes through the math, that seems to be the most fundamental aspect of how a cat turns over. But there are all these little corrections on top of that: using the tail, or using the paws for additional leverage, also play a role. So the fundamental explanation comes down to essentially bend and twist, but then there's all these extra little corrections to it.

Enlarge / Chronophotograph (circa 1893) made on moving film consisting
of twelve frames showing a cat falling, taken by Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904).

SSPL/Getty Images

Ars: After all these studies, do we now know know exactly what's going on with a falling cat, or is this still an area of active research?

Gbur: I don't know that there's anybody actively studying the cat model to try and get the finer details. It's reached a point where understanding how a cat does it has reached, as a 19th century physicist once said, “hunting for higher decimal places.” Part of the catch is that every cat may do things just a little bit differently, because they are living creatures. You have heavier cats and lighter cats. I've got varieties of both at home. Longer cats and shorter cats. Each of them may twist and bend and tuck and turn just a little bit differently.

If you watch videos of falling cats, you will see that a lot of them use their tails to turn over. But we also know that cats without tails can turn over just fine. So from a physics point of view, the problem has reached a level where the details depend on the specific cat. People will still argue about it. I think a lot of physicists don't realize how complicated the problem is, and they're often just looking for a single simple solution. Physicists have an instinct to look for simple solutions, but nature's always looking for the most effective solution. And those two approaches are not always the same.

"From a physics point of view, the problem has reached a level where the details depend on the specific cat."

The emphasis these days is in that robotics area. Can we actually make a robot that can flip over like this, in as effective a way as a cat can. You can design a robot that, if you drop it upside down, can land right side up, but a cat can flip over and land right side up regardless of how it started— whether it's upside down, whether it's spinning, whether it's on its side. There's a video clip of a cat leaping up to grab a toy and it ends up flipping partially end over end as it leaps. And it does multiple twists and nevertheless manages to still land on its feet. That's the sort of thing that I don't think anybody has managed to get a robot to do yet. "Hey, I'm just gonna throw this robot up in the air with any sort of spinning motion I want, and nevertheless, have it still land perfectly on its feet."

Two different approaches to the falling cat problem intersect in robotics. You can use mechanical models to try and understand what a cat is doing, and then you can also use robotics to try and replicate the cat's motion properly. One is an analysis problem, where you're saying, "I want to understand what's going on." The second part is a synthesis problem where you say, "I'm going to try and make a machine that can accurately reproduce it."

Enlarge / Photographs of a Tumbling Cat, 1894.

Étienne-Jules Marey

Ars: You also discuss a 2003 paper by physics philosopher Robert Batterman, in which he examines falling cats in terms of geometric phases, which in turn connects to a Foucault pendulum. Can you elaborate a bit on this particular connection?

Gbur: The basic idea is that there are a lot of physics problems where you can cycle the system. You start with the system and one condition, and you bring it through some change of behavior back to its original condition. But nevertheless it ends with a different behavior than it started. The falling cat is a good example. The cat starts upside down with his back straight, ends up right side up with his back straight. Even though it's twisted and turned along the way, it ends up with a straight back again, but it's now rotated 180 degrees.

Foucault's pendulum is where you have this pendulum oscillating on the earth, a full day goes by, and the earth has done a full revolution. So the pendulum is spatially back where it started at the beginning of the previous day, but it is swinging in a different direction. The really remarkable thing is that the mathematics is structurally similar for all these different problems. So if you understand the falling cat problem, you understand a little bit about Foucault's pendulum and how it works. Batterman also ties falling cats to polarized light and parallel parking as manifestations of the geometric phase in physics.

Ars: It sometimes seems like physicists don't always appreciate how important their own history is to understanding current research.

Gbur: One reason I always emphasize learning a lot of science history is that it gives us a better understanding of how science is done. In basic physics classes, we're often taught a very abbreviated and abridged version of the history, where you're given the straight line path that leads to the end. I think of science history as sort of a maze. You've got a bunch of people wandering through this maze and a lot of people hit dead ends. That's very natural, because nobody knows what they're looking for. When we're taught the history of science in class, we're often only taught about the person who made it to the end of the maze without making any mistakes.

For students, that can give a very false impression that science is always about, "Yes, I know exactly what I'm doing and I know exactly where I'm going." That isn't the case. For the general public, it's often useful to realize that, yes, science is always moving forward, but there are these dead ends, there are these mistakes along the way. It's not perfect. That is not a condemnation of science, but the natural way things work.

---30---

Monday, October 12, 2020

Feline friendly? How to build rap-paw with your cat - new psychology study

UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

Research News

A team of psychologists at the Universities of Sussex and Portsmouth have purr-fected the art of building a bond with cats.

The new study 'The role of cat eye narrowing movements in cat-human communication', published online in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, has shown for the first time that it is possible to build rapport with a cat by using an eye narrowing technique with them. This eye narrowing action by humans generates something popularly known as a cat smile - the so called "slow blink" - and seems to make the human more attractive to the cat. Eye narrowing movements in cats have some parallels with the genuine smile in humans (the Duchenne smile), as well as eye narrowing movements given in positive situations in some other species.

The team, led by Dr Tasmin Humphrey and Professor Karen McComb, animal behaviour scientists at the University of Sussex, undertook two experiments. The first revealed that cats are more likely to slow blink at their owners after their owners have slow blinked at them, compared to when they don't interact at all. The second experiment, this time with a researcher from the psychology team, rather than the owner, found that the cats were more likely to approach the experimenter's outstretched hand after they'd slow blinked at the cat, compared to when they had adopted a neutral expression. Taken together, the study shows that this slow blinking technique can provide a form of positive communication between cats and humans.

The study found:

· Cats were more likely to slow blink when an unfamiliar experimenter slow blinked at them, compared to when they had maintained a neutral expression.

· Cats preferred to approach an experimenter after they had slow blinked at the cat than if they had maintained a neutral expression.

Professor Karen McComb, from the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex, who supervised the work, said: "As someone who has both studied animal behaviour and is a cat owner, it's great to be able to show that cats and humans can communicate in this way. It's something that many cat owners had already suspected, so it's exciting to have found evidence for it.

"This study is the first to experimentally investigate the role of slow blinking in cat-human communication. And it is something you can try yourself with your own cat at home, or with cats you meet in the street. It's a great way of enhancing the bond you have with cats. Try narrowing your eyes at them as you would in a relaxed smile, followed by closing your eyes for a couple of seconds. You'll find they respond in the same way themselves and you can start a sort of conversation."

Dr Tasmin Humphrey, a PhD student in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex during the work, who was the first author of the study said: "Understanding positive ways in which cats and humans interact can enhance public understanding of cats, improve feline welfare, and tell us more about the socio-cognitive abilities of this under-studied species.

"Our findings could potentially be used to assess the welfare of cats in a variety of settings, including veterinary practices and shelters.

"In terms of why cats behave in this way, it could be argued that cats developed the slow blink behaviours because humans perceived slow blinking as positive. Cats may have learned that humans reward them for responding to slow blinking. It is also possible that slow blinking in cats began as a way to interrupt an unbroken stare, which is potentially threatening in social interaction.

Dr Leanne Proops at University of Portsmouth who co-supervised the work said: "It's definitely not easy to study natural cat behaviour so these results provide a rare insight in to the world of cat-human communication."

How the experiments worked

Two experiments were conducted to explore the significance of the slow blink in cat-human communication. The first experiment included a total of 21 cats from 14 different households. Fourteen different owners participated in experiment 1. Ten of the cats were male and 11 of the cats were female, with cat age ranging from an estimated 0.45-16 years. The experiments took place in each cat's home. The psychologist advised the cat's owner on how to slow blink. Once the cat had settled down in one place, the psychologist asked the owner to either sit approximately 1 m away from the cat.

Experiment 2 included a total of 24 additional cats. Twelve cats were male and 12 cats were female, with cat age ranging from an estimated 1-17 years old. The cats included in the final analyses were from 8 different households. In this experiment, the researcher, who was unfamiliar to the cat, either slow blinked at the cat or adopted a neutral face without direct eye contact. This experiment also tested which context the cats preferred to approach the unfamiliar experimenter, by them offering the cat a flat hand with palm faced upwards whilst sat or crouched directly opposite the cat. Both experiments were video recorded.

Cat psychology - the existing context

In the new paper, the authors provide some context for their findings. The psychology of cats hasn't been studied as extensively as dogs, but what is already known includes:

· That cats can discriminate their name from other words, even when unfamiliar humans are calling.

· That cats may be sensitive to human emotional cues, and will rub or butt their head against a an owner who feels sad.

'The role of cat eye narrowing movements in cat-human communication' by Tasmin Humphrey, Leanne Proops, Jemma Forman, Rebecca Spooner and Karen McComb published in Scientific Reports is open access, Link to the paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73426-0

###

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

ONTARIO RING OF FIRE

First Mining road project put on hold

Dryden, ON, Canada / CKDR

Randy Thoms

Feb 27, 2024 | 1:05 PM

Map courtesy First Mining Gold

The construction of a mining access road near Cat Lake First Nation is now on hold.

A court judge has granted, at the request of the community, an interim order pausing the work by First Mining Gold.

The company received permission from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to build an 18-kilometre road to its Springpole mining project.

The company wants the road to avoid travel over winter roads.

Since establishing a camp in 2015, First Mining has used an ice road to move supplies and access the site.

It travels 40 kilometres, of which 34 is over ice and half over nearby Birch Lake.

First Mining says there have been several incidents of vehicles breaking through.

Cat Lake objects to the work, saying the Ministry ignored the community’s moratorium on mining exploration and related road work within its traditional territory.

First Mining indicates it proactively engaged with the area’s Indigenous communities over the past year regarding the safety concerns of using the ice road in light of the warm conditions experienced.

Chief Executive Officer Dan Wilton says he is disappointed by the band’s decision but is open to further talks.

“First Mining continues to listen to the concerns of Indigenous communities and is always willing to meet with community leaders to discuss these and any other matters regarding our activities in their traditional territories,” says Wilton in a release.

First Mining adds it has committed significant resources toward consultation efforts with the area’s Indigenous communities and is committed to working with them to understand the potential impacts on their rights and the traditional land users around the exploration Camp.

Gold in the Cold: First Mining's Winter Road Project Faces Legal Challenge in Northwestern Ontario

Discover the ongoing battle between economic development and indigenous rights in northwestern Ontario, as the construction of a winter road to the Springpole Gold Project exploration camp sparks legal resistance from the Cat Lake First Nation.

BNN Correspondents
26 Feb 2024

In the heart of northwestern Ontario, a battle unfolds that pits the promise of economic development against the preservation of indigenous rights and environmental integrity. On February 9, 2024, First Mining Gold Corp. received construction permits for a temporary winter road leading to the Springpole Gold Project exploration camp. This development, heralded by some as a step forward in the gold exploration sector, has been met with legal resistance from the Cat Lake First Nation, sparking a conversation that transcends the mere construction of an 18 km pathway through the wilderness.

The Road Not Taken Lightly

The proposed winter road is not just a matter of logistics but a narrative of safety, environmental stewardship, and community engagement. Designed to provide a safer alternative for transporting supplies and personnel, the road aims to mitigate the risks posed by increasingly unreliable ice roads—a consequence of warmer winter conditions. Since 2015, First Mining has operated the remote exploration camp with a commitment to minimizing environmental impact and respecting traditional land use practices. Yet, the road's construction has been paused by an interim stay, following the Cat Lake First Nation's notification of their intent to challenge the permits issued by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.

A Legal and Ethical Quagmire

The challenge put forth by the Cat Lake First Nation underscores a complex intersection of legal rights, environmental ethics, and indigenous sovereignty. While First Mining emphasizes its dedication to safety and environmental responsibility, the First Nation's concerns highlight the potential for disruption and the need for thorough consultation and consent processes. This scenario is emblematic of a broader dialogue in Canada and worldwide, where the rights and wishes of indigenous communities are increasingly recognized in the face of industrial expansion.

Looking Forward: Engagement and Resolution

Despite the current legal standoff, First Mining maintains its commitment to ongoing dialogue and engagement with the Cat Lake First Nation and other indigenous communities. The outcome of this situation could set a precedent for how resource exploration companies and indigenous territories can coexist and collaborate. As the legal process unfolds, both parties may find an opportunity to redefine the parameters of mutual respect, environmental stewardship, and economic development in a way that honors the land and its original caretakers.

In this unfolding story of gold, ice, and indigenous rights, the path forward is as much about building bridges of understanding and cooperation as it is about constructing a road through the wilderness. As the case progresses, it will undoubtedly continue to attract attention from those invested in the future of resource exploration, indigenous sovereignty, and environmental preservation in Canada and beyond.

Cat Lake First Nation Files Court Injunction to Stop First Mining Gold

By NNL Digital News Update
-February 23, 2024

Cat Lake First Nation (CLFN) has filed for an injunction in the Divisional Court of Ontario seeking to stop First Mining Gold (FMG) from constructing a new access road using Permits issued by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry (OMNRF). This is against the wishes of CLFN on whose ]territory the new road is being built. The road construction is underway at a fast pace and Ontario and FMG have refused to stop construction.

The permits allow FMG to construct an 18 km road through Cat Lake’s traditional territory (440 Km NW of Thunder Bay). The successful injunction would halt FMG’s construction until the resolution of Cat Lake’s application for judicial review.

Cat Lake First Nation Chief Russell Wesley stated, “Ontario’s actions here fall far below their constitutional duty to consult and accommodate Cat Lake’s rights.” He went on to say, “Ontario’s decision and actions was made in defiance of a well-documented Moratorium on mining in the Cat Lake Territory and numerous public statements of opposition. Recently, I predicted in media interviews that the OMNRF would issue the permits despite Cat Lake First Nation’s concerns. This has happened, the OMNRF has forced Cat Lake First Nation into the courts.”

Cat Lake First Nation filed documents with the Superior Court of Justice (Divisional Court) in Thunder Bay on Feb 21st, 2024. The injunction would prohibit FMG from taking any steps to construct its proposed road from the end of the Wenasaga Road to its Springpole Gold Project exploration site, pending the resolution of Cat Lake First Nation’s application for judicial review.

Cat Lake has always maintained that it is still considering the development of the Springpole Mine Project in its traditional territory. Before Cat Lake can consent to any development it has consistently sought to better understand the potential impacts of the project on its Aboriginal rights, including the impact on the ability of members to exercise their rights to hunt, fish, and trap in the area, as well as the impact on possible sacred sites, such as pictographs and burial grounds of Cat Lake members and their ancestors. The OMNRF permit approval has significantly destabilized this situation.

Chief Russell Wesley observed, “Once such a road is built—cutting down trees, harming local wildlife habitat used by moose caribou and wolverine, depleting fish stocks, damaging sacred Cat Lake cultural sites, and disturbing Cat Lake burial grounds—such actions, and their harms, cannot be undone. Only the requested orders can prevent such harms until the serious issues in the underlying application are heard on the merits.”

The Chief said, “I am deeply concerned over the obvious prioritization of miner safety and the economic interests of mining companies over the safety and well-being of the Cat Lake community members. The five-year permit granted by MNRF is for the entirely land-based road route in stark contrast to Cat Lake First Nation being accessible by a seasonal winter road with several water crossings, made more dangerous and less predictable by climate change.”

The OMNRF issuance of these permits signals a lack of regard for the community’s voice and raises doubts about the Ontario government’s awareness of free, prior, and informed consent.

Cat Lake never signed any treaty with the Crown relinquishing its Aboriginal title or relinquishing its Aboriginal title or Aboriginal rights. Cat Lake was not a signatory to Treaty 9 in 1905-1906.

“We demand equal treatment and consideration for the well-being of our people as we continue to work towards protecting our rights and land,” Chief Wesley concluded.

Cat Lake First Nation Partners with Finnish Companies for Forest Biomass and Health Diagnostics Initiatives

By Don Huff

Huff Strategy

February 26, 2024

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada East

THUNDER BAY, Ontario — Cat Lake First Nation signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with two leading Finnish organizations to collaborate on forest biomass and long-distance healthcare diagnostic initiatives. …The first partnership involves a health diagnostics initiative with 73Health, focusing on deploying advanced remote medical diagnostic solutions for the benefit of remote communities, including Cat Lake First Nation. This initiative is part of 73Health’s expansion plans across North America, with Ontario being a priority location. …The second partnership with Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) aims to advance a Northern Bioeconomy Network, focusing on scientific and academic exchange and the sustainable utilization of forest biomass resources for economic growth. The intent is to complete an ecological and economic master plan within a year. … Minister Graydon Smith said “Funding delivered by the Indigenous Bioeconomy Partnerships stream will ensure Ontario’s growing forest bioeconomy builds prosperity for Indigenous businesses and communities.”

Sunday, February 05, 2023

Playtime is purr-fect for your cat’s welfare

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

Play is often considered an indicator and promotor of animal welfare. Playing with your cat may also nurture closer cat-human bonds. In a new study, scientists have investigated these links by applying in-depth empirical methods to analyse data gathered from around the world.

Researchers in the University of Adelaide from the School of Animal and Veterinary Science created an online survey in consultation with veterinarians, animal behaviourists, and cat guardians, to investigate play-related factors associated with welfare in cats. The outcome measures include: cat quality of life, cat-guardian relationship quality, problem behaviour prevalence, and behavioural changes.

“Our survey results, based on responses from 591 cat guardians from 55 countries, indicated greater cat playfulness and more types of games played were significantly associated with better cat quality of life,” said the University of Adelaide’s Julia Henning, a PhD Candidate, who led the study.

“Also, longer amounts of daily play, greater number of games, both cat and guardian initiating play, and heightened guardian playfulness were also associated with better quality cat-guardian relationships.”

When it comes to indoor/outdoor cats, exclusively indoor housing was significantly associated with both increased cat quality of life and cat-guardian relationships compared to cats with outdoor access.

“Behavioural changes that indicated stress, frustration, or unease were reported when play was absent. Therefore, we can conclude play may be a very important factor in assessing and maintaining cat welfare,” Ms Henning said.

The team recently published their findings in the Animal Welfare journal.

“Play has long been considered beneficial to cats. Pre-existing research links play to cats’ long-term neurological, physiological, behavioural, and emotional skills, as well as fitness and general good health.”

Associate Professor Susan Hazel, Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide who also worked on the study, said: “While our research is an important contribution to knowledge around cat welfare, self-reporting surveys have limitations.”

“Cat lovers’ answers may be prone to respondent and recall bias and limited in their ability to assess behaviour.”

“Participants who dedicated their time and effort on a voluntary basis are more invested in their cat’s care than the average cat guardian. Therefore, responses may not be an accurate representation of the general population.”

“Ultimately, we recommend more research is needed. Further investigations could solve exactly how much play and what kind is best suited to achieving improved cat welfare. That would be the cat’s meow.”

The research team included Dr Torben Nielsen and Eduardo Fernandez, also from the School of Animal and Veterinary Science. The research was funded by the University of Adelaide.