May is National Pet Month!
To mark the occasion, we asked Dr. Alexandra (Sasha) Protopopova, an assistant professor in the animal welfare program, about the benefits of having an animal companion by your side.
Now that we are all stuck at home, we can appreciate our bond with our companion animals even more!
Previous research has found that companion animals may ease stress, increase physical activity, and even mitigate certain health issues. Our own lab discovered that therapy dogs help children with autism engage socially with peers, something that the children find quite difficult to do.
And the bond goes both ways: research shows us that separation from attachment figures can be quite distressing for our animals, and so we can at least take solace in that our companion animals are very glad that we are staying home!
– Dr. Alexandra Protopopova
Meet some of the pets at Land and Food Systems!
There are an abundance of animal lovers among the students, faculty and staff at LFS who wanted to show off their pets!
