This week, JMICAWE Director, Prof Nat Waran, took part in
a live online discussion with animal welfare lecturers working in various parts
of Asia, who were attending a workshop hosted by the World Animal Protection.
The 4 day annual workshop held in Bangkok, brought
together key drivers for animal welfare education, from veterinary schools in a
range of countries, including; Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia,
India, China and Taiwan. Using Skype, Prof Nat was able to pose a question
related to the importance of using good evidence for underpinning effective
animal welfare policy and legislation, and to consider how effective this would
be for tackling an animal welfare concern relevant to the key driver's own
country. The key drivers raised some interesting points, such as: the
difficulties with separating ethical concerns from evidence based arguments and
how public opinion led legislation may not always be best for animal welfare;
the problem with having legislation that cannot be enforced and the concern
that evidence from studies in other parts of the world addressing the needs of
a species, is often disregarded in favour of more research being needed 'in
country'. All issues that are relevant to others working towards changes to
benefit animals.
Prof Nat Waran said 'It was really good to be able to
interact with colleagues from different parts of the world to share ideas,
knowledge and concerns, and to work towards an improved understanding of how we
can mainstream animal welfare for education as well as for underpinning sound
policy and practice'. With the use of modern technology, we can look forward to
many more of these sorts productive interactions with colleagues all over the
world'.
