Partnership with Chinese Veterinary Medical Association

Edinburgh University partners with Chinese Veterinary Medical Association to help strengthen Animal Welfare in China.

This month sees the exciting fruition of many months of work by the staff working in The University of Edinburgh’s Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education (JMICAWE) and the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) to bring together experts from Mainland China, the UK, Thailand and Hong Kong to discuss the role of the veterinarian in animal welfare in China.

With increasing globalisation, the development of industrialised farming, and a burgeoning pet industry, China’s veterinary profession is under increasing pressure to meet international expectations relating to animal welfare standards, and this is something the CVMA are eager to embrace.  To this end, a three-day session at the CVMA’s 3^rd China Veterinary Conference in Suzhou is dedicated to animal welfare.

The meeting will cover animal welfare issues relating to a range of industries and species including companion animals, livestock, laboratory and wildlife species. Topics will include humane use of animals in education, meeting the OIE minimum competencies in Animal Welfare, humane slaughter, production animal welfare, animal welfare in scientific research, and improving welfare in the veterinary clinic.

The Animal Welfare Session at the 3^rd annual Chinese Veterinary Conference will build on work initiated by the CVMA, the JMICAWE, and the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Animals (HKSPCA) in 2011 to develop international knowledge transfer partnerships in animal welfare through the first Asian Symposium on Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law, held in Hong Kong. The Session is also supported by the Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

Professor Natalie Waran, Director of the JMICAWE says “These collaborative activities are representative of the increasing importance of animal welfare education in international veterinary training. The links between animal welfare and animal health are well recognised, and the ethical responsibility of the veterinary profession to act as ambassadors for animal welfare is increasingly important in today’s society.”

Associated links:

http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/vet/jeanne-marchig-centre

http://www.animal-welfare-asia.org/