About the Author
Michael W. Fox was born and educated in the UK, earning his veterinary degree on a Derbyshire County Exhibition Scholarship studying at the Royal Veterinary College, London, from where he graduated in 1962, with honors in pathology and animal husbandry. He was awarded the gold medal and Fellowship of the Veterinary Medical Association by the Royal Veterinary College for his research report on Diseases of the Sheep-dog in Relation to Management and Nutrition. His subsequent research into animal behavior and development in the U.S. resulted in a dissertation entitled Integrative Development of the Brain and Behavior in the Dog, (published in 1971 by the University of Chicago Press), that earned a Ph.D. in Medicine from London University in 1967. After receiving the Outstanding Teacher Faculty Award from the Alumni at Washington University, St Louis MO, where he continued behavioral and developmental studies in dogs, cats, wolves, coyotes, foxes and other related canids, for which he earned a D.Sc. in animal behavior/ethology from London University in 1976. His wolf research in particular opened him to the plight of this highly evolved species, and with growing concern over the treatment of captive wild animals, the mistreatment of factory-farmed animals and of those used in biomedical research, he realized the need for an integrative science of animal welfare, as an interdisciplinary field of animal behavior/ethology, ethics, and veterinary medicine. So, he left academia to focus on advocating animal protection, rights and environmental conservation, and in continuing his avocation as a teacher and public speaker. Between 1967 and 2003 he served in various positions with the Humane Society of the United States, including Scientific Director and Vice President for Bioethics and Sustainable Agriculture. During this time he was a regular guest on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, and published two best selling books, Understanding Your Dog, and Understanding Your Cat. He was chairman of the National Academy of Science (NAS) Committee on Applied Animal Ethology, and served on the NAS Committee on Laboratory Animal Care and Standards for Dogs and Cats. He was also a member of the Council for Agriculture, Science and Technology Task Force on Farm Animal Welfare, and was an advisor to the National Organics Standards Board on farm animal health, welfare, and humane, sustainable agriculture.
