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.