Animal Welfare Foundation Forum and Student Grants

The Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF) is a charity attached to the British Veterinary Association, which aims to improve the welfare of animals through science, education and debate. An important part of this is the Annual Discussion Forum, where there are debates and presentations on important veterinary topics relating to animal welfare. JMICAWE has worked closely with AWF in recent years, firstly as the recipients of a grant to understand more about welfare priorities for animals in the UK, and more recently through JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, who participates in the committee which manages the grant awarding process.

Cathy was also a debate speaker at this year’s Discussion Forum in September 2021, speaking against the motion that ‘Intensive farming is good for animal welfare and sustainability’ alongside Dr Carmen Hubbard from Newcastle University and the UK’s Animal Welfare Committee. Cathy and Carmen resoundingly defeated the motion, with nearly 80% of the participants agreeing that intensive farming is not good for animal welfare. Although welfare can be improved by agriculture in comparison to life in the wild, for example through improved veterinary care, better access to food and protection from the elements or predation, unfortunately more intensive practices reduce welfare. For example, high stocking density, close confinement in cages or crates, and lack of environmental resources to encourage natural behaviour can all cause welfare compromise and may lead to animals showing grossly abnormal behavioural responses such as tail biting and repetitive behaviour (stereotypy). These responses can also affect the sustainability of farming practices as immune responses are suppressed and intensive agriculture is also accompanied by a high rate of use of antimicrobials, contributing to increasing resistance.

An important part of the science and education component of the work of the AWF is the scheme to support student projects in animal welfare. This is currently open for undergraduate students studying degrees in veterinary medicine and other subjects relating to animal welfare, with a closing date of 31^st January 2022. If you are a student with a great idea for a short project to improve animal welfare then this is the perfect funding call for you! More information can be found here:

https://www.animalwelfarefoundation.org.uk/student-grants/

New developments in EU animal welfare

JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, attended a virtual meeting of the EU Animal Welfare Platform this week, in her role as one of the independent experts who sit on the platform. The platform meets every six months, but with the current pandemic this was the first one to be hosted online rather than in Brussels.

Early parts of the meeting were taken up with the presentation and discussion of the new EU Strategy: From Farm to Fork. This represents the plans for the EU in moving towards a greener and more sustainable future by, for example, reducing the use of pesticides and antimicrobials in food production by 50% over the next 10 years, and increasing organic farming to 25% of farmed land.
Presenting the strategy, Andrea Gavinelli for the EU said: ‘Better animal welfare improves animal health and food quality, reduces the need for medication and can help preserve biodiversity’ explicitly emphasising that animal welfare is an integral part of sustainability.

Embedded within this are pledges to consider whether animal welfare legislation is still fit for purpose, and to investigate whether an animal welfare food labelling scheme is required. Some of the EU animal welfare legislation is already 20 years old, and based on scientific research done when animal welfare science was in its infancy. A great deal of animal welfare research has since been carried out and can be used to improve animal welfare through improving the legislation, and transitioning to greener farming practices. Also under discussion was the discrepancy between specific legislation for some species (pigs and poultry) but not for others (e.g. cattle, sheep, fish, rabbits etc), which are covered by broader, non-specific legislation only.

Further developments of animal welfare in the EU were also discussed through the activities of the Animal Welfare Reference Centres. The first of these, for pigs, began its activities about 18 months ago, and seeks to provide responses to questions and synthesis of scientific knowledge for the member states of the EU.

Their website is a great source of information for all things pig welfare: https://www.eurcaw.eu/en/eurcaw-pigs.htm. The second reference centre, covering poultry and small farmed animals (rabbits and animals farmed for fur), has just begun its activities earlier this year, and plans for a third reference centre, to cover ruminants and horses, were announced.
Overall, the meeting reflected an increased enthusiasm to move forward with animal welfare improvements in the EU, and to support farmers and consumers in having access to higher welfare products.