ICABGEH Congress: Prof Cathy Dwyer Keynote Address

Should animal welfare be part of sustainability?

JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, argues that animal welfare is an integral part of sustainability, and cannot be ignored in a drive to reduce the cost of food production and increase productivity, in a keynote speech given at the ICABGEH congress held in Prague, Czech Republic, organised by Turkish researchers. The audience was largely vets and animal scientists from Turkey, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, plus some participants from as far afield as Thailand and Indonesia. For many, issues and concepts of animal welfare were very new and Turkish researchers in particular were keen to develop more welfare work in their country. A Czech journalist who was present will be writing a popular science article on animal welfare and
sustainability, based on Cathy’s talk, to help share these ideas.
The programme was very varied but two fascinating talks by Turkish researchers involved a discussion of the impact of transhumance on environmental and welfare issues, and how geopolitical changes are affecting the lives of these nomadic herdspeople. In addition, a very topical paper on the impact of drought in the pregnant ewe on lamb development was presented, with implications for future global changes in climate. Turkish research has also been surveying and cataloguing the living conditions and husbandry practices for cattle living in Central Anatolia. Although the work was focused on improving productivity, it revealed a significant number of welfare issues that need to be addressed.
Other keynotes at the Congress included an excellent presentation on bees by Prof Kaspar Bienefeld, the Director of the Bee Institute at the Humboldt University in Germany. The behaviour of bees may hold the key to preventing colony collapse by encouraging the natural behaviour of the bees to remove mites from infested cells in the hive. An important finding to ensure that these pollinators continue to thrive.
Cathy is keen to maintain contacts and links with Turkish and other researchers to help promote better animal welfare practices in these countries.