Wildlife welfare in action, and next steps in animal welfare education in India

Wildlife welfare in action, and next steps in animal welfare education in India

JMICAWE Director, Prof Cathy Dwyer, has just returned from a packed 2 weeks in India, catching up with friends old and new, and exploring new opportunities for collaboration in animal welfare. 

Cathy was a guest of Dr Abdul Rahman at the Bangalore Veterinary College, which was hosting the 7^th Pan Commonwealth Veterinary Conference, now in its 52^nd year. Bangalore with also be the host city for the 54^th International Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE, the learned society for research in applied animal behaviour and welfare) in 2020, where Cathy and previous JMICAWE director, Prof Nat Waran, will be helping with the scientific organisation.

The College is also setting up its very own Animal Welfare Research Centre, so an entire day of the conference was devoted to animal behaviour and welfare, and discussions relating to the functioning of the Centre. JMICAWE will be helping with capacity building for staff and students to help make the Centre a success story for Indian animal welfare.

As part of the visit Cathy, along with colleagues JMICAWE honorary fellow Dr Mike Appleby, Massey University Professor Emeritus David Mellor and ISAE Senior Vice President, Dr Birte Nielsen, spent a day out at the Bhannergatta Bear Rescue Centre seeing the work done by Wildlife SOS in rehabilitating ex-dancing bears. This was a wonderful opportunity to see the work in practice and the fantastic approaches used to engage the communities that used to rely on exploitation of sloth bears for their livelihoods. These families are now working with the Centre to care for and develop enrichment for the bears. Despite their previous difficult life experiences, the bears are now able to spend their days out in the park, with great care paid to their diets, health and behavioural enrichments and to have the opportunity to spend the rest of their lives being bears. Cathy and colleagues were greatly moved by the kindness and care of the staff, and their wonderful approach to practical animal welfare.

Cathy ended her trip with a visit to Delhi, spending a day at the Lala Lajput Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (LUVAS) to discuss opportunities to support development of courses at the National Institute for Animal Welfare, particularly focusing initially on teaching animal welfare and related skills to para-vets. Finally she visited the Indira Gandhi National Open University, where JMICAWE and SRUC colleagues are contributing to the development of a post graduate diploma in animal welfare, hopefully launching later this year.