Friday 13 December 2013

PRESTIGIOUS ANIMAL WELFARE AWARD GOES TO UK VETERINARY ORGANISATION


Each year, the Trustee’s of the respected international grant making charity the Marchig Animal Welfare Trust, recognise through its top Award individuals or organisations for their outstanding services to animal welfare.  The Trustee’s are therefore pleased to announce, that the recipient of the prestigious “Jeanne Marchig Animal Welfare Award 2013” is Luke Gamble MRCVS, the Founder and CEO of the Worldwide Veterinary Service, based in the UK. 

Luke Gamble established the Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) in 2003 to alleviate animal suffering and improve the moral perception of animals worldwide by co-ordinating teams of veterinary volunteers to assist the work of animal welfare organisations; supplying medicines, equipment and advice where they are most needed; and providing sustainable input, building long term relationships and establishing education programmes for the benefit of local animal and human populations. 

Since its inception, WVS has sent many hundreds of volunteer ‘veterinary teams’ to almost every continent of the world, including when required ‘Emergency Response Teams’ to help the needy ‘front line’ animal welfare and protection organisations alleviate the cruelty and suffering inflicted on animals in their areas and thus enable them to cope better with the demands placed upon them.  WVS has also sent to these and other organisations each year, hundreds of thousands of pounds of free veterinary medicines, equipment and materials which it had sourced from supportive veterinary companies. 

Luke Gamble through WVS, established an International Training Centre (ITC) in India, which provides a platform for both vets in India and worldwide to learn best practice techniques in areas such as humane stray animal population control and vaccination programmes.  In addition, this year he spearheaded a new initiative in India entitled ‘Mission Rabies’ which aims to undertake mass anti-rabies vaccination programmes in ten ‘hotspots’ whilst at the same time, running surgical training courses for local vets. The initial goal of this project was to vaccinate 50,000 dogs against rabies in one month.  However, instead with a team of Indian and international vets, local charity workers and volunteers, incredibly over 61,000 dogs were vaccinated in just 28 days.

In announcing the 2013 winner of the Award, the Chairman of the Trustees, Les Ward commented:
“As in previous years, the Trustees of the Marchig Animal Welfare Trust received a large number of nominations for the Award from all over the world.  With so many worthy candidates, the decision was not easy.  Nevertheless, in the end the Trustees were unanimous that the “Jeanne Marchig Animal Welfare Award 2013” should be made to Luke Gamble, the Founder and CEO of the Worldwide Veterinary Service in recognition of his outstanding and tireless practical work over many years in the international field of animal welfare and protection.  Under his voluntary direction, WVS has become one of the most effective international animal welfare and protection organisations.  Through providing much needed support to other organisations throughout the world, WVS is making a huge difference in the fight to help, protect and alleviate the suffering of animals.  Both Luke and WVS are worthy recipients of this Award”.

In receiving the “Jeanne Marchig Animal Welfare Award 2013”, Luke Gamble said:
“It is a huge honour to receive this award and I would like to thank the Trustees very much. The Marchig Trust has long been a source of inspiration to charities and individuals involved in animal welfare around the world, and for WVS to be recognised in this way is a huge lift to both me and the whole team. The pledge is to now direct this fantastic award towards making a difference where it counts – on the front line of animal welfare, championing the united ideals of both WVS and The Marchig Trust.”




 

International Veterinary Education meeting held in Thailand


Staff at the JMICAWE have just returned from a successful visit to the Kasetsart University in Thailand, where they delivered a workshop on integrating animal welfare and problem-based learning into the veterinary curriculum. Delegates from the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia as well as from Veterinary schools across Thailand, and also the WSPA, attended the workshop.

 

The workshop covered essential aspects of international veterinary training including critical thinking skills, problems-solving approaches and providing education for different leaning styles utilising the theme of animal welfare to demonstrate how best to introduce new subjects into exiting teaching.

 

The workshop also challenged existing paradigms in veterinary education and discussed the importance of animal welfare in practice, exemplified by the use of non-animal models and manikins into the curriculum, something which has been championed by Professor Apinam, the Dean of Kasetsart Veterinary School, and developer of rubber latex alternatives to animals.

 

Heather Bacon of the JMICAWE said ” We are delighted with the success of the workshop and with the strong focus on utilising alternatives to animals in veterinary teaching that we found at Kasetsart. Through our collaborative activities, Professor Apinam in Thailand has already sent some of his models to our colleagues in veterinary schools in China, and we at the JMICAWE hope to continue to support these collaborations across Asia”.
 
 
 



Tuesday 10 December 2013

Congratulations to our MSc Animal Behaviour & Welfare graduates


Congratulations to our MSc Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare students of 2012-13 who graduated recently. 
 
It was a fantastic ceremony in the amazing McEwan Hall, with everyone enjoying wearing their gowns, being presented with their certificates and even singing along with the Graduation Choir! 
 
Following post ceremony celebrations with numerous photos being taken and many hugs being given from proud families and friends (and equally proud staff members) - we all headed off to the beautiful Playfair Library for a Graduation Lunch. 
 
Well done to everyone.
 
Dr Susan Jarvis
Programme Director
 



MSc AABAW