British Veterinary Association launch Animal Welfare Strategy

Animal welfare has been declared as the profession’s “raison d’etre” by the President of the BVA, Sean Wensley, at the launch of the BVA’s new animal welfare strategy. Building on the recently launched VetFutures report, a project led by the BVA and RCVS, which identified veterinary leadership in animal health and welfare as one of the six key ambitions in its 2030 vision for the veterinary profession, the BVA’s animal welfare strategy considers key areas of animal welfare education, policy and practice.

The JMICAE’s Heather Bacon sits on the BVA’s Ethics and Welfare committee and fed into the development of the strategy. “A good understanding of animal welfare is essential to the role of the modern vet”, said Heather. “Our society expects us to take a leadership role in animal welfare issues and students want us to ‘practice what we teach’, so advocating good animal welfare practice is at the centre of our professional responsibilities.”

The strategy can be downloaded at:

http://www.bva.co.uk/uploadedFiles/Content/News,_campaigns_and_policies/Policies/Ethics_and_welfare/BVA-animal-welfare-strategy-feb-2016.pdf