Seasons Greetings from the JMICAWE team

A very happy festive period from all at JMICAWE

The team at JMICAWE would like to wish everyone a very happy and relaxing holiday period, and to thank you all for your support over the last 12 months.

It has been a year of highs and lows for us this year. Tragically we lost our colleague, Fiona Rioja-Lang earlier this year, very sadly missed but will not be forgotten for her passion and commitment to animal welfare. Our administrator, Lucy Ewing, decided to move on to another post in the University this year, but we welcomed kiwi, Katherine Curnow, in her place. We were also lucky enough to have RVN Roxy Woodrow spend 6 months working with us on veterinary nursing projects to support our existing nurses. In the wider JMICAWE team we have also said goodbye to Louise Buckley and hello to Kirstin McIlvaney and Verity Bowell in the MSc teaching team.

We have had a busy year delivering workshops, teaching and training in many countries including Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, India, South Africa, and China, and presented at conferences in UK, USA, Norway, Canada, Czech Republic, Malta and Kenya. In particular Heather and Hayley hosted the first Animal Behaviour, Welfare and Ethics day at British Small Animal Veterinary Association conference, and Cathy presented at the British Veterinary Association Animal Welfare Foundation discussion forum. Previous JMICAWE director, Natalie Waran, was also still flying the flag for JMICAWE, speaking at the OIE meeting in Bali, and at the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association conference in Nanjing. 

We have continued to give independent advice on animal welfare issues to industry and government, with Cathy Dwyer attending meetings of the EU Animal Welfare Platform in Brussels and being appointed as the first Chair of the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission. Alongside our colleagues at SRUC, we hosted a visit from the Minister for Rural Affairs and Natural Environment, MSP Mhairi Gougeon, who has a particular interest in animal welfare.

Finally we are delighted to be supporting our undergraduate and postgraduate students in their studies, with successful student-led conferences from the Dick Vet Animal Behaviour Society and the Animal Welfare and Ethics Society, and more than 250 MSc students enrolled on animal behaviour and welfare programmes.  

The Ghent Lambing and Husbandry Project

  Lambing training in Ghent vet school

For vet students in UK spending Easter holidays lambing is a normal routine before and after starting vet school. However for some students this is not the case, and there is less opportunity to experience the highs and lows of lambing and lamb survival. A student-led initiative at the Ghent Veterinary School - the Ghent Lambing and Husbandry Project - has set out to offer students the opportunity to spend time on sheep farms across the UK and elsewhere, and to practice their lambing and husbandry skills.

As part of this project JMICAWE director, Cathy Dwyer, spent two days at the vet school to help with lambing training and to discuss with students opportunities to improve sheep welfare and lamb survival in their work. It is obviously a very popular option for students as the auditorium was packed with would-be lambers, and there was lively discussion around the various practical scenarios Cathy had prepared to help students prepare for lambing. 

Cathy explained the biological basis for maternal behaviour in the ewe, and how taking this into account in lambing management can help ewes look after their lambs, improve lamb survival and improve the welfare and well-being of sheep and lambers alike.

‘I was really impressed to see so many students keen to stay behind in the evening for extra lectures, and how excited the students were to be able to spend time in UK lambing’

- Prof Cathy Dwyer

Cathy shared the platform with farmer, Peter Myles, who has been hosting lambing students at his Scottish sheep farm for many years and both Cathy and Peter were delighted with the enthusiasm of the students to learn and be involved in lambing.

MSc Graduation 2019 - Congratulations to our students!

Congratulations to our MSc students on their Graduation!

Last week we were honoured to be present at the graduation of our MSc students, and those collecting diplomas or credits for Personal Professional Development in animal behaviour and welfare. Whether this had been a one year intensive course in Edinburgh for the MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare, or up to 6 years part time intermittent study for MSc International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law or MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour we are so proud of all our fantastic students whatever their journey may have been. It was lovely to be able to catch up with students who have been away carrying out their dissertation research, or in some cases to meet students for the first time in person who have been studying on the online programmes. It was fantastic that so many family, friends and students travelled back to Edinburgh for the graduation; and it is always a very special time for the staff who have taught these students to see them collect their degrees.

It is a wonderful personal achievement for all our students, but special praise goes to the winners of the dissertation prizes, whose work was judged the best for that year. 

This year we are delighted to be able to congratulate:

• Brianne Lyall (MSc Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare) for her dissertation: ‘Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of dairy cows to a systemic inflammatory challenge’
• Lesley Townsend (MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour) for her dissertation: ‘Who’s walking who? The relationship between pulling on the lead and dog welfare in the UK and Ireland’
• Stephanie Karageorgis (MSc International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law) for her dissertation: ‘Comparison of emotional expression in brachycephalic and non-brachycephalic dog breed types using Qualitative Behaviour Assessment’

If you would like to one day be one of these students then follow this link to learn more about applying for our MSc courses: https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/studying/postgraduate

OIE (World Animal Health) Meeting in Bali - Prof. Nat Waran speaks on Animal Welfare

Encouraging and supporting the development of Regional Animal Welfare Strategies and Capability in Asia, the East and Oceania.

Former Director of the JMICAWE, Prof Nat Waran was invited to present on One Welfare at the recent OIE (World Animal Health) Regional Animal Welfare meeting in Bali, hosted by the Indonesian Government. The meeting attended by more than 25 National Animal Welfare Focal Point representatives from across a very large region was a great opportunity to provide information about the importance of linking improved animal welfare with positive human health and welfare outcomes using examples drawn from the work carried out by the JMICAWE and partners in different parts of the world. Discussions on the development and implementation of the OIE animal welfare codes and standards as well as support for the development of in-country animal welfare strategies took place over a three day period, and the complexity of driving forward changes to improve animal welfare across the region was made obvious to all.  

Chinese Veterinary Medicine Association Conference - Professor Nat Waran

Equine Welfare on the Agenda at the Chinese Veterinary Medicine Association Conference in Nanjing

Prof Nat Waran delivering talks on equine welfare

Promotion of an understanding of the importance of providing a Good Quality of Life for equids in China was high on the agenda for former JMICAWE Director, Professor Nat Waran who was an invited speaker at the recent Chinese Veterinary Medicine Association’s annual conference in Nanjing. The conference attracted a significant audience of Chinese equine veterinarians who were provided with information about practically assessing and managing equine welfare. 

Prof Nat along with Chris Riggs, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Head of Veterinary services in mainland China, and Roly Owers, CEO for the World Horse Welfare – noted that this was the first time invited equine welfare talks were integrated within the equine veterinary medicine session - a positive advance for mainstreaming animal welfare.

The Group housing facility for teaching horses at NAU.

Whilst there the group of equine welfare experts were asked to visit and comment on the proposed new equine teaching facility for veterinary students training at the Nanjing Agricultural University.
It was interesting and heartening to see the group housing facility that had been built where horses have free access to different outdoor and sheltered areas, with many behavioural opportunities. Having previously provided animal welfare professional development workshops with the NAU veterinary staff, it was good to see the JMICAWE work having a real impact on the way in which teaching animals are being managed.

Veterinary Nurses Day - Guest Speaker Hayley Walters

Veterinary nurse (VN) Hayley Walters was invited to speak at VN day in London recently to the newly qualified VNs graduating that day.

As a previous Golden Jubilee award winner, Hayley was asked by The Royal college of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) to give a 15 minute presentation to showcase what a VN can do and help inspire them as they start their careers.

Hayley qualified in 1999 from a mixed animal practice in Derbyshire and since then has worked with bears in China and dogs in Bosnia; taught in vet schools in Sri Lanka and Vietnam; taught final year vet students on their anaesthesia rotation in The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, examined students in their practical exams and created free online teaching resources used all over the world.

“Veterinary nursing has come a long way since I qualified 20 years ago. The aim of the talk was to help demonstrate to these new VNs that there is so much you can do with your career now. If you want to stay in general practice then that is fine but if you want to be an army VN, go into research, teach, work for an animal welfare charity, or specialise in referral, then that is all possible now. And since the British VN qualification is well respected all over the world, there is a lot of opportunity to work overseas too. Not many jobs offer this much diversity!”

Hayley received very positive feedback and was approached by many of the new veterinary nurses afterwards who had aspirations to progress their career.

A donation to a charity of Hayley’s choice was given by the RCVS in return for her talking. Hayley chose Dogstar Foundation; a high welfare catch, neuter, vaccinate, return project for free roaming dogs in Sri Lanka.

Animal Welfare Day 2019

Exploring Animal Sentience for World Animal Day 

World Animal Day falls on 4^th October each year and its purpose is to improve animal welfare standards around the globe, through celebrating the lives of animals. The mission of World Animal Day is to make the world a better place for animals, which fits very well with the JMICAWE mission and aims. Every two years, with our partner SRUC, JMICAWE have been involved in helping to organise an event around this date, to celebrate animal welfare. This year, we also linked up with our BioResearch vets to cover animals used in science as well as other animals. As our theme this year we focused on ‘Animal sentience and emotions’ and why that is so important in our thinking about animal welfare. We were delighted to be able to welcome 200 staff and students from local campuses to the event.

We began with a morning of talks from researchers from SRUC, the French research institute (INRA) and University of Newcastle. Our first speaker, Professor Francoise Wemelsfelder from SRUC, reminded us about animal ethics and why sentience and emotions should be at the forefront of our thinking and assessments of animal welfare. Next Professor Marie Haskell (SRUC) showed us the fascinating abilities of farm animals to recognise emotions in faces, and why faces are so important for animals.

 Professor Marie Haskell (SRUC) defines emotions

We then had a series of presentations on positive emotions in animals – such as play, positive engagement, contentment and use of enrichment. Dr Belinda Vigors shared the outcomes of some of her work in exploring these concepts with farmers, and it was great to see how important farmers felt these positive emotions were to the lives of farmed animals. Professor Alistair Lawrence then expanded on the theme of positive animal welfare, including showing a wonderful video of rats engaging in hide-and-seek play with researchers – what a great thing to be able to call work! A visiting researcher, Dr Vincent Bombail from INRA, then continued this theme with a talk about tickling rats and assessing their vocal responses. Finally our morning programme ended with a talk by Dr Matt Leach of Newcastle University about the very important emotion of pain and how it can be recognised in animals.

As is becoming a tradition with these events we had a long lunch break to allow delegates to network and find out more about animal welfare research including the use of 3D video imaging to detect animal behaviour on farm, training tools for farmers on body condition scoring of cows, and a peek at the new large animal imagining facility, including MRI. For the afternoon we had a really interesting talk from about the use of animals in science from Elliott Lilley of RSPCA and concluded with a panel discussion on animal sentience and how that might affect use of animals in science. 

Overall the feedback on the event was very positive, and we look forward to organising the next one in 2021! 

New publication – cat welfare

The Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education have undertaken a research project funded by the Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), to identify welfare issues for a number of species, including cats.

Animal welfare experts found a consensus in determining priority welfare issues for cats in the UK and identified that the key welfare issues for our domestic cats include

• behaviour issues, often experienced by cats confined to the home
• social behaviour problems 
• disease as a result of old age 
• not seeking veterinary care at an appropriate time
• poor pain management
• issues arising from specific breeding traits
• neglect and hoarding
• stray cats.

The publication highlights important areas where further research is needed, or where awareness needs to be increased, so that there is a better understanding of the potential welfare issues that can arise and what can be done to address the welfare issues.

Common welfare issues relating to behaviour can potentially be addressed by providing enrichment, such as scratching posts, toys, hiding places – an environment that supports normal cat behaviour. Social behaviour issues in cats can arise from having insufficient resources (e.g. litter trays, feed bowls) for the number of cats in a home. Cats do not like to share and need their own space and resources to live together happily.

Read the publication for further information: https://edin.ac/2oNr2RA

Rioja-Lang, F., Bacon, H., Connor, M., Dwyer, CM. (2019) Determining priority welfare issues for cats in the United Kingdom using expert consensus. Veterinary Record Open 6: e000365. doi: 10.1136/vetreco-2019-000365

If you are interested in cat behaviour we also recommend checking out our free online course in the behaviour and welfare of dogs and cats:

The Truth About Cats and Dogs (free 5 week online course)

ICAW Conference in Malta

Vet nurse Hayley Walters was invited by Dogs Trust International to speak at ICAWC (International Companion Animal Welfare Conference) in Malta this October. 229 delegates representing 101 organisations from 39 different countries attended the conference.

Hayley spoke on recognising acute and chronic pain in cats and dogs, how to measure it, and how to treat it.

“Pain can be an emotive subject and two people looking at the same animal can disagree on wether it is in pain or not. Being able to take the subjectivity out of measuring pain is important. By using validated pain scoring tools such as the ‘Glasgow Composite Pain Scale’ for acute pain in cats and dogs  and ‘Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs‘ (LOAD) for chronic pain we can objectively measure how much pain an animal is experiencing, treat it accordingly and then remeasure”.

Photo credit: Richard Murgatroyd (www.richardmurgatroyd.com)

Hayley received positive feedback from many of the delegates who were working in Dog Population Management projects and rescue shelters, and was honoured to be among many prestigious animal welfare speakers.

Networking to improve lamb survival and sheep welfare

As part of an EU project, SheepNet, JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, spent four days in France at the start of September visiting farms, engaging with farmers and contributing to a seminar on improving lamb survival. This project has been running since 2016, and involves farmers, vets, researchers and other stakeholders from six EU countries (UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Romania) and Turkey. The project aims to share science and practice across the countries to improve sheep health and reduce lamb losses, and the French visit was the final workshop for the project to share the story that lies behind the project. A key part of the work has been to facilitate and translate information between countries and allow farmers to develop ideas together, as well as to engage with farmers, veterinarians and researchers from across Europe. Although this project is coming to an end in December 2019, a second project, EuroSheep, will take its place to continue the work already begun. The materials already collated as part of SheepNet are freely available through the ‘knowledge reservoir’ on the project website: www.sheepnet.network.

Overall this project has been a great example of taking animal welfare, and other research, out of the laboratory and into the field, quite literally, and engaging farmers from many different countries in improvements to animal welfare. 

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.     

Minister of Rural Affairs Visit

Scientific Evidence to support Policy Changes

Scientists from SRUC and JMICAWE were delighted to host a visit from the Scottish Government’s Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, MSP Mairi Gougeon on 10th September. 

The Minister has responsibility for animal welfare in Scotland, and was keen to learn more about the research in animal welfare being conducted in Edinburgh. We visited the SRUC pig research centre, where more than 30 years of research into pig behaviour and welfare has been carried out. SRUC’s Prof Alistair Lawrence explained the history of pig research from the Edinburgh pig park in the 1980s, which allowed pigs to show natural behaviour in a wood on the Pentland hills, and demonstrated that pigs were still motivated to perform the same behaviours as their wild ancestors. The story continued through a programme of work to unravel the behavioural needs of sows and piglets, culminating in the designed pen for sows and piglets, PigSAFE, which allows sows the freedom to nest-build, move around the environment and interact freely with their piglets (see www.freefarrowing.org). We also discussed other ongoing pig research, such as work on preventing tail-biting, and a project to recognise emotional expression through facial recognition technology that may be able to detect happiness from the expressions in pigs faces.

Finally, we discussed work in other species, such as the development of Qualitative Behavioural Assessment in many species by Prof Francoise Wemelsfelder, and the impact of early life experience in pigs, cattle, sheep and goats. Before leaving the Minister spent time discussing the work of JMICAWE at home and abroad with Prof Cathy Dwyer.  Overall, it was great to be able to showcase the important evidence-gathering work that we do as part of our research, and look forward to many more interactions and opportunities to contribute to improving policy for high animal welfare in farmed animals.

SSPCA Conference explores the links between domestic violence, animal abuse and childhood adverse experience

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) hosted a 1-day conference in Edinburgh with the University to explore the Links Partnership, which draws on research and evidence to demonstrate a link between animal abuse and poor welfare, and cycles of abuse and violence towards humans. The day involved a number of inspirational speakers, and charted the history of understanding about non-accidental injuries in animals can also be suggestive of human abuse and violence. 

Overall, the need for different agencies to work together to bring about improvements was emphasised. Alongside speakers Phil Arkow (The Links Coalition: http://nationallinkcoalition.org/), Prof Jo Williams (University of Edinburgh Department of Psychology), Paula Boyden (Dog’s Trust), Mike Flynn and Gilly Mendes Ferreira (SSPCA); JMICAWE Director Cathy Dwyer also presented some of the work of JMICAWE in tackling animal cruelty and improving animal welfare around the world. In particular, Cathy focused on cultural differences in some of the places where we work, and how education and understanding barriers to making positive changes are important to bring about animal welfare improvements. 

One of the highlights of the day was to hear more about the Animal Guardians programme that SSPCA has been developing to work with children at an early stage who are showing signs of inappropriate behaviours towards animals (https://www.scottishspca.org/education/animal-guardians/). 

Working one-to-one using a set of bespoke activities the SSPCA has been able to educate children about animal sentience, animal needs and the reasons why animal lives should be treated with respect, and has had great success in changing children’s attitudes and behaviour, and improving the lives of pet animals.  (https://www.onewelfareworld.org/).

Overall it was often a challenging day to hear of some of the cruelty that takes place towards both animals and children, but also inspiring to see so many people working to make the world a better place. This is an important example of the working of One Welfare thinking in taking an holistic approach to understanding why animal cruelty might take place, and how this can be stopped.

53rd Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology in Bergen, Norway

The International Society for Applied Ethology held its 53^rd annual Congress in Bergen, Norway at the beginning of August. The Society has been promoting the use of animal behaviour in animal management for more than 50 years, since its beginnings in Edinburgh (as the Society of Veterinary Ethology), and has grown to become the most important annual congress for those interested in animal behaviour and welfare. The society has also been keen to expand its activities into new regions to support animal welfare activities in Asia, South America and Africa and, through the generous support of the Open Philanthropy Project, was able to bring 14 fellows to the Conference from a diverse range of countries including Sudan, Nigeria, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Tai-Wan and Colombia. As part of the activities for these participants, JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, along with fellow ISAE members: Dr Jeremy Marchant-Forde (USDA, USA), Prof Dan Weary (UBC, Canada) and Dr Laura Boyle (Teagasc, Ireland), together with ISAE Development Officer, Rebecca Sommerville (Dog’s Trust, UK), hosted a workshop before the conference began to provide the new members with essential skills in behaviour and welfare.

‘The participants were extremely enthusiastic and dedicated to learning about animal behaviour and animal welfare’ said Cathy, ‘and it was wonderful to help them work on animal welfare skills to take back to their own countries after the Congress’.

The Congress itself began with a wonderful Wood-Gush memorial lecture (held each Congress in memory of Prof David Wood-Gush, University of Edinburgh), given by Prof Emeritus Felicity Huntingford. This covered the application of fundamental biology of fish behaviour to practical and applied problems to improve fish welfare, an important and emerging area of interest. The conference covered a range of important and inspiring areas: social behaviour, behaviour and genetics, environmental enrichment, human-animal interactions and future trends in animal production, among other topics. Overall it was good to see more than 400 people contributing to different areas and problems, but all with the aim of using science to improve animal lives.    

The Congress ended with poster and travel awards, and honouring those Society members who had achieved particular awards. And the all-important handing on of the batten (or in this case the wooden ISAE logo carved by JMICAWE associate, Mike Appleby) to the next Congress organisers.  Excitingly, this will be in India for the first time, and JMICAWE will be involved in the helping with the organisation of the Scientific Programme, with an Asian flavour. Watch this space for further updates on the Congress development!

Welcome - Katherine Curnow joins our team

Hi, I’m Katherine Curnow and I am the new administrator for the JMICAWE team.

I am from New Zealand and moved to Scotland in March after previously living in Italy and Sweden. I graduated from the University of Auckland with a BA/BSc Conjoint majoring in Biology and Ancient History, so as you can tell, I enjoy different perspectives and approaches to things. Back in New Zealand I was a high school teacher and dean but after five years I wanted a change, so moved back overseas!

I have worked within the Education sector for over ten years – both for private institutions and universities – and am looking forward to being involved with such a passionate and hard-working team. I am a strong supporter of animal welfare and am looking forward to gaining further knowledge from my work.

In New Zealand, our family are whippet and greyhound rescue enthusiasts – at the moment, we have in our family a whippet who came from the Christchurch earthquakes in 2011; and an ex-racing greyhound. 

Summer School is here

It's that time of year again - the annual R(D)SVS 3 weeks international summer school which focuses on the veterinary medical experience, specifically to our international partner institutions.

This year the group visiting comprised of 12 Undergraduate veterinary medical students ranging from 1^st-4^th year all coming from China Agricultural College (CAU) which Jess (Veterinary Nurse) had the pleasure of visiting with Cathy Dwyer (Director) in 2017.

Jess gave a talk about behaviours recognitions of dogs and cats and what we can do to improve their experience in the clinic through appropriate handling. Then we went in to the clinical skills lab to practice low stress handling on the models (shown in the photo on the left), we have available for student teaching, before moving on to discuss the behaviour of resident Labrador Seil and how we would remove her form her kennel safely. There was much hilarity when Seil decided to show off her agility skills and jump on the table to wait for her treat!

The student group will be moving on to spend time in the hospital for small animals (HfSA) next week and Jess will be responsible for showing them around the anaesthesia area and discussing inpatient management for two days.

Sheep, ostrich and giraffes in South Africa

Just some of the animals encountered when JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, attended the South African Society for Animal Science 51^st Congress in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Cathy was a guest of the animal science department at University of the Free State, and gave a plenary presentation entitled ‘Can animal welfare contribute to improved livestock productivity?’ to an audience of approximately 300 South African researchers, lecturers and students. The overall theme of the congress was ‘Managing the ecological footprint of livestock through efficient production’ and Cathy explained how poor animal welfare can contribute to poor production efficiency through impacts on neonatal mortality, disease and failing to meet animal behavioural needs.

"It is important that animal welfare is seen as an integral part of sustainable animal production, and that this is an essential component of good productivity, rather than an expensive luxury or an optional extra’ Cathy emphasised."

Cathy also gave a presentation on the welfare of sheep in the Welfare and Ethics Workshop, which gave an overview of the positive and negative welfare issues faced by sheep production, and discussed recent research in this area.  Extensive sheep production is a significant industry in South Africa but faces a number of challenges, not least high levels of predation by jackals and caracals in some areas. This was explored in more detail in a predator management workshop, with emphasis being placed on understanding predator behavioural ecology to determine when the greatest risks of livestock predation will occur. Otherwise this is ‘just killing predators’ said Prof HO de Waal, often in ways that lead to very poor welfare and suffering.

South Africa is the largest producer of ostrich products (meat, feathers and skins) in the world, and the group at Stellenbosch University are actively investigating the welfare of these very newly domesticated animals. This led to a fascinating discussion about the impact of early handling, temperament and working with potentially very dangerous animals.

Cathy was impressed by the enthusiasm and interest in animal welfare shown by participants, and plans to hold another workshop to develop research and teaching in animal welfare in South Africa are in discussion.

Lively debate at the Animal Welfare Foundation annual Discussion Forum

Centre Director, Cathy Dwyer, has recently participated in the British Veterinary Association’s Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF) Discussion Forum, held in the beautiful surroundings of One Great George Street, London. Cathy presented the research the Centre has done for AWF to derive a prioritisation of welfare issues for farm and companion animals in the research section. One of the main purposes of AWF, as well as to fund research, is to stimulate discussion and debate around veterinary involvement in animal welfare, and this was very evident in the lively discussions that took place in the packed hall. The discussions opened with consideration of where the distinction might lie between clinical excellence and over treatment. As animals cannot give consent there is a risk that treatment may not be in animals’ best interest but to satisfy client expectations or clinicians desire to do some ‘cool surgery’ suggested Dr Polly Taylor, in urging the profession to consider implementing an ethical review process for new surgical techniques. We also heard from human medicine how these processes are managed with human consent.

The day then moved onto the debate section with a motion that farm animals in the UK have the highest standards of animal welfare (assumed compared to the rest of the world). The floor marginally rejected this (51% against) but following arguments for the motion made by Prof David Main of Royal Agricultural University this changed to a small majority in favour. Prof Jim Reynolds of Western University, USA also provided some counter arguments and there was considerable agreement that standards and systems are not sufficient to improve animal welfare – the people in charge of animal care are the most important factor in improving animal welfare. Jim concluded that ‘animal welfare is the best medicine’ which received general assent.

The second debate of the day considered the contentious issue of whether we can provide good welfare for exotic animals in captivity – covering both exotic animals as pets and in captivity in zoos. Here the floor more readily rejected the motion before the debate with a healthy 3:1 against the motion. Dr Romain Pizzi provided thought-provoking and thoughtful arguments why good animal welfare could be achieved in captivity, even though it often is not, whereas Dr Chris Draper of Born Free Foundation provided startling statistics for the numbers of exotic animals currently in captivity. Speakers for the motion managed to persuade some of the audience that good welfare could be provided in captivity, as the motion was still defeated after the debate but by a smaller margin.

The day concluded with a reception at the House of Commons.    

A Day with Dr Temple Grandin

On 16^th May, members of the University of Edinburgh Animal Welfare and Ethics Society (AWES) and the Dick Vet Behaviour Society (DVBS) welcomed Professor Temple Grandin of Colorado State University to R(D)SVS. Professor Grandin participated in informal discussions with students, and gave a seminar to the staff and students of the R(D)SVS, SRUC and Roslin Institute on animal welfare, behaviour, links with the autistic brain, and the impact of genetics and breeding.

‘We learned that animals, much like people with autism, think in pictures. A horse previously abused by a man in a black cowboy hat will show signs of fear for this specific image. A man in a white cowboy hat or a man with a black cowboy hat in his hand will not trigger a fear response. Important topics concerning genetic responsibility were also raised. If you select excessively for a behaviour or physical trait you will be inadvertently selecting for other, less desirable traits. Dr Grandin gave a wonderful example of how a bull, bred for docility would let her scratch its back but when asked to go in to the crush it violently kicked both back legs’ said Ela Russell, 4^th Year BVM&S and AWES President.

After the talk Prof Grandin answered audience questions and had lunch with AWES, DVBS and PhD students from JMICAWE and SRUC. PhD students took the opportunity to discuss their research with Prof Grandin on a range of topics from the effects of tickling rats to attitudes towards horse welfare in the traveller/gypsy community. In the afternoon Ela interviewed Prof Grandin using questions submitted by R(D)SVS students and covering topics such as current welfare issues, the squeeze machine and the impact of technology on animal welfare.

‘It was particularly interesting talking about the potential benefits of technology, for example, robotic milking systems can improve welfare. Dr Grandin mentioned about how if you calculate how much milk the dam is producing, take away how much the calf needs and only allow the robot to take that much milk there is huge potential to keep calves at foot’, said Ela.

To close the day R(D)SVS students and clinicians accompanied Prof Grandin to Langhill Dairy Farm to discuss the practical application of the behavioural and welfare principles discussed earlier in the day. Prof Grandin strongly highlighted the importance of our (stockworkers, vets and farmers) interactions with livestock, and emphasised how each interaction has the potential to develop negative or undesirable behaviours. Another area of particular interest was the discussion on separation distress. A student asked why when the teaching cows are put in the crush they sometimes vocalise, and not in response to physical stimuli. Temple Grandin explained how it could be because the restrained cow cannot see her herd. The vocalisation could be her communicating with the other cows or an expression of her experiencing separation distress.

This event was the first major event AWES has organised and run, and was a great learning opportunity for the students. The trip was made possible by support from Medica CPD and JMICAWE in bringing Temple to Edinburgh.

Blog post by Ela Russell

Delivering workshops and visiting bears - China 2019

Heather and Jess have just returned from a successful trip to China where they collaborated with our long-term partners Animals Asia to deliver a 1 day animal behaviour and welfare seminar to around 60 participants and 2 days of veterinary skills training to veterinary surgeons from across Nanning. The workshop feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and the JMICAWE team look forward to building on this initial workshop with further activities and training events planned over the next three years.

We were also delighted to visit the Animals Asia rescue centres in Chengdu and Nanning – home to over 100 bears rescued from the trade in bear bile. As the previous veterinary director for Animals Asia, it was a great opportunity for heather to reconnect with some old furry friends and also to see the amazing work of Animals Asia continuing on. We were especially pleased to meet Jeanne, a bear rescued from a Nanning bear farm and named in memory of Jeanne Marchig, the benefactor of our own animal welfare centre here at the R(D)SVS.

MSc validated by ASAB

Exciting news!

We are delighted to announce that the University of Edinburgh online MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour has now been formally validated by the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB) as delivering the academic elements necessary for an individual to achieve ASAB certification as a Clinical Animal Behaviourist within the UK.

Further information about the online MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour

Farewell and job opportunity

Farewell

This month, our lovely Administrator, Lucy Ewing moved to a new job with the University of Edinburgh, after working with the Marchig Centre for over three years. We wish Lucy all the best in her new role and we will miss working with her!

Job opportunity

Would you or someone you know like to work with us? We are now inviting applications for the part-time Administrator role (4 days per week). This is a challenging and varied position based in the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh. We are looking for someone to provide effective administrative support for the Centre’s overseas activities as well as working with the Director and the rest of the animal welfare team to provide support for internal activities involving teaching and a variety of projects.

Further information and how to apply can be found:  https://www.ed.ac.uk/human-resources/jobs

Vacancy Ref :

047889

In memory of Dr Fiona Rioja-Lang

In memory of Dr Fiona Rioja-Lang

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the untimely death of our friend and colleague Fiona Rioja-Lang. Fiona had just completed a research project with the JMICAWE team on developing a prioritised list of animal welfare issues for different species of managed animals in the UK, and her sudden death has been a great shock to us all.

Fiona was a graduate of the MSc Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare at University of Edinburgh, and completed her PhD with SRUC and University of Edinburgh in dairy cow welfare. She is very well known in the animal welfare community: following her work in Scotland, she spent some time in Canada working on dairy cow and pig welfare, and was actively involved in the International Society for Applied Ethology. Fiona was a wonderful colleague, she will be remembered for her enthusiastic, open and friendly approach to her work and her positive attitude to life. She was committed to animal welfare, and has made a significant contribution to the lives of animals, from her personal work with street dogs in Mexico, to her academic work on farmed livestock.

She will be greatly missed by all her friends and colleagues in JMICAWE, SRUC, University of Edinburgh and beyond. Our hearts are with her husband, Rodolfo, her children and family at this sad time.

Setting standards for farm animal welfare

Setting standards for farm animal welfare

JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, has just returned from the annual meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Global Animal Partnership in Austin, Texas. Global Animal Partnership (GAP) is a non-profit organisation that provides an animal welfare certification programme for producers by setting stepped standards for improving animal welfare. At the lowest levels producers must commit to cage and crate free living, with no crowding for their farm animals, rising to animal-centred management at the highest levels. The Scientific Advisory Committee ensures that the standards are based on the best available science of animal welfare.

During the meeting the Committee discussed where there were options to improve animal welfare by reviewing and amending the current standards. In addition, how the system could be extended to new species, such as fish, was also addressed. GAP are currently certifying the welfare of over 400 million animals, in 7 countries around the world, so this has the potential to make a real difference to the lives of many animals.

‘This has been a fascinating insight into how animal welfare can be marketed to consumers, and what aspects of welfare most resonate with buyers of animal products’ Cathy said afterwards.

For more information on GAP see here:  https://globalanimalpartnership.org/

JMICAWE Director Cathy Dwyer - invited speaker at British Society of Animal Science 2019 Annual Conference

Cathy Dwyer invited speaker at BSAS 2019 Annual Conference

On Wednesday 10th April, Professor Cathy Dwyer, JMICAWE Director, will be delivering her presentation on "Managing Young Animals for Health & Welfare" in Edinburgh.  This year, scientists will gather from across the world to celebrate 75 years of the Society and to acknowledge the progress made in animal science over that period of time.  Cathy also features in the programme on Thursday 11th, speaking on the "Prioritisation of Farm Animal Issues in the UK using the Delphi Method" reporting on the AWF-funded project co-authored by Dr Fiona Lang. 

https://bsas.org.uk/BSAS2019/bsas-2019-invited-speakers

First ever Animal Behaviour, Welfare & Ethics session at BSAVA Congress

The first ever Animal Behaviour, Welfare & Ethics session at BSAVA Congress

Heather Bacon & Hayley Walters have been working hard over the past year to organise the first ever BSAVA session on behaviour welfare and ethics at Congress.  Both were speaking last Friday with three presentations each, focused at Vet nurses, but Vets could also attend, and did - every presentation was a sell-out!

The whole week of BSAVA Congress was a resounding success, and particular mention should be made of Heather being awarded The J.A. Wight Memorial Award, sponsored by Blue Cross.  This award is presented annually to a veterinary surgeon who has made an outstanding contribution to the welfare of companion animals.  Our sincere congratulations go to Heather, so wonderful that she has been recognised in this way.

In addition, we are proud to report that MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour student Catriona Gillen was the recipient of the BVBA Veterinary Studies Award (the third consecutive year that a R(D)SVS undergraduate student has either won or been runner-up of this Award).

Heather's presentations to Congress included:-

Street dog health and behaviour:

International adoptions of dogs are increasingly popular – learn all that you need to know about how to manage the behaviour and health of imported street dogs, both in the clinic and at home

Geriatric welfare

Is old age a disease? Is slowing down inevitable? Is confusion normal? Find out what you can do to safeguard the health and welfare of older cats and dogs in your practice

Welfare conundrums

Veterinary ethical dilemmas are common in practice but it’s not just the complex referral surgeries that have welfare impacts! Find out how your routine practices may impact on dog and cat behaviour and welfare.

And Hayley's three presentations were:-

Acute pain and its welfare implications:

Most of us want our patients to be pain free when they are in the clinic with us because we care very much about how our patients feel. But are there even more pressing reasons for making sure our analgesia is adequate?

Good intentions and good welfare outcomes:

We all practice preventative medicine. But do we practice preventing behavioural problems? Can the vet nurse do more to stop the most common behaviour problems from ever occurring? Behaviour problems that result in dogs being euthanised or rehomed. Find out how we might just be able to change the course of a puppy's life.

Improving patient welfare - what the vet nurse can do:

Are your cats stress-free when they are in the waiting room? Does the consult room door cause dogs to put on the brakes? Are your inpatients calm or cowering? Find out what simple, cheap and easy techniques can be applied to help improve patient welfare.

Well done, Team JMICAWE!

Funding secured for further training in farm animal welfare in China

Funding secured for further training in farm animal welfare in China

We are delighted to announce that we have secured renewal funding from The Open Philanthropy Project to continue our training programmes in farm animal welfare in China. We have been working with partners in China, including the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare (ICCAW), Chinese Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) and Animals Asia, for the past 2 years to develop a series of training workshops in animal welfare for pig producers as part of a previously funded project. So far, we have been working on improving piglet survival and housing for farrowing sows, the impact of heat stress on pig welfare and opportunities to reduce the incidence of tail biting and tail docking on Chinese farms. These issues are also of concern to farmers in Europe, and it has been very useful to share experiences and insights across different countries. The first grant has also allows us to recruit a PhD student, Steph Easton, who has been evaluating the effectiveness of different delivery methods to improve animal welfare education in China.

The new award will allow us to continue this programme of work for a further two years, and we are particularly pleased that the Open Philanthropy project will fund another PhD student with us to promote farm animal welfare in China and to build capacity and skills in this area in China. We are looking forward to building on our current work to improve the lives of pigs in China.    

Mothers are important for good animal welfare

Mothers are important for good animal welfare

It is Mother’s Day this year on 31^st March so we will take this opportunity to consider how mothers play a key role in animal welfare. Only 3% of mammalian species involve fathers in rearing offspring, so for mammals mothers are really important for offspring development and welfare. Maternal care is also shown in birds, and some species of fish, reptiles, amphibians and even insects. Mothers play a vital role in the survival of their offspring through determining where the offspring will be born or the environment in which they will spend their early life. They also provide food, warmth, comfort and opportunities for learning to their offspring. However, mammalian and avian mothers (and maybe other species as well) do even more – through subtle changes in the uterine environment for mammals, or the composition of the egg in birds, mothers are able to ‘signal’ to their offspring before birth to prepare them for the sort of environment they will be living in. This can change how stress reactive an animal will be after birth. If the environment is very risky then this can improve the survival of young animals in the wild. However, for domesticated animals a stressed mother can lead to offspring that are more stress reactive and this may be bad for their welfare, leading to excessive fearfulness or anxiety after birth. Looking after pregnant and lactating mothers carefully does not only help to improve the welfare of the mother, but also that of their unborn offspring throughout their lives.

JMICAWE Director, Prof Cathy Dwyer, will be discussing these aspects of animal husbandry as an invited speaker at the British Society for Animal Science meeting in Edinburgh on 10^th April (https://bsas2019.expom.io/).

Countdown to BSAVA Congress 2019!

The JMICAWE team will be out in force next week for BSAVA Congress 2019!

Heather, Hayley & Jess are all making the trip to Birmingham to attend, with Heather & Hayley both making multiple presentations during the Animal Behaviour, Welfare & Ethics session on Friday 5th April in Hall 11 of the ICC.  Please go and say hello to them and enjoy the week's programme.

https://www.bsavacongress.com/BSAVACongress2019/en/page/our-programme

Critically endangered pangolins benefit from ultrasound exams

Critically endangered pangolins benefit from ultrasound exams

Earlier this month, Heather and Jess travelled to meet the team at Save Vietnam’s Wildlife in Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam where they spent 4 days working with the veterinarian Huong and the rest of the ‘Save Vietnam’s Wildlife’ team to exchange knowledge of endangered carnivore veterinary care and management.

Heather carried with her a Sonosite Titan ultrasound machine and two probes, courtesy of Ian and Jacky Macqueen, Nic Hayward, and Gavin Mitchell at IMV Imaging; and also an intravenous fluid pump and refractometer courtesy of Crown Vets, Inverness. This equipment provides essential support in safeguarding the health and welfare of the pangolin – the world’s most trafficked mammal - as well as other critically endangered carnivores such as Owston’s civet, and commoner carnivores including Asian short-clawed otters, binturong and leopard cats.

Over the course of the visit Heather and Jess delivered training in anaesthesia, diagnostic imaging and surgical techniques, and in return were keen to learn from the experienced team at SVW about the health and husbandry of captive pangolins and other small carnivores.

“This is an exciting opportunity for all of us” said Heather “The SVW team are incredibly experienced at pangolin care and it’s a real privilege to participate in their work on this critically endangered species, in return we’re delighted to deliver the donated ultrasound machine, and this week were able to support their work by delivering some training and detecting pregnancy in a female pangolin, which will enable the team to better manage these vulnerable animals. It’s been a great collaborative exchange of knowledge and experiences”