AWES holds their 4th Annual Veterinary Welfare and Ethics Conference

The Animal Welfare and Ethics Society (AWES), a student-led society part of the R(D)SVS, have just held their 4th annual conference virtually this year. The topics spanned from ethical dilemmas of treating British Wildlife, pain management in small animal practice, to the role of vets in forensics. 

Below is a reflection by the conference organiser Yuko Okumura: 

The conference started in 2017 with Morgan Brown, a fourth year student, who wanted to provide a platform for active discussion and dialogue around veterinary ethical dilemmas. Her main goal was to better equip students once they were practicing vets and prepare them for the potential challenging welfare issues they would face.  Morgan wanted the conference to be accessible, and from the start, had aimed to keep the conference affordable.  

Whilst the virtual world certainly has its challenges, it also offered AWES an opportunity this year to welcome international speakers for the first time. We were able to reach delegates like never before - from both UK and international vet students, staff, and animal care professionals. Some such speakers were an animal welfare lecturer from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, a dog groomer, and a vet from Australia, to name a few. 

As with our previous conferences, we aimed to cover various species groups (farm, equine, small animals, exotics) and were able to welcome experts of each field. These experts ranged from but were not limited to: the technical director of the Humane Slaughter Association, a board member of the Michigan Horse Welfare Coalition, and the co-director of Human Behaviour Change for Animals. The conference also tried to take on a holistic approach to discuss how society and human attitudes continually shape animal welfare, the importance of the welfare of the vet, and an evaluation on the Scientific Procedures Act from a legislative perspective.  

One of the talks that resonated with me personally was the discussion on farm animal welfare by Dr. Matt Dobbs from the Animal Welfare Foundation. Matt spoke with passion about how as young vets, awareness alone was not enough; that we would have to feel empowered enough to be active drivers of change.

He emphasised our duty to call out and question long-held beliefs within this industry, to constantly challenge our own understanding and knowledge about animal welfare and ethics and doing so through evidence-based research. These sentiments most certainly resonate with the aims and objectives JMICAWE strives to do on a daily basis.

If you would like to watch the recordings from the conference- register here: 

https://forms.gle/NP6r5Eb9cSesnim98

More information about the conference and the AWES society can be found on our website: 

https://www.animalwelfareandethicssociety.com/2021-virtual-conference

World Horse Welfare Conference - 'The Horse-Human Partnership - What's in it for the Horse?'

Education identified as the most important factor in improving the horse-human partnership

As we cope with the global pandemic, it is becoming ever more common to attend conferences and meeting without leaving home. Last week JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, attended the first entirely virtual annual conference of World Horse Welfare, focused on the theme of the ‘The Horse-Human Partnership – What’s in it for the Horse?’ from her own desk, and supplying her own coffee and biscuits! The conference made great use of the opportunities provided by the virtual environment and opened with a poll asking participants to choose which issue they considered the most lacking in horse welfare. Overwhelmingly (58%) of participants chose mental wellbeing as the key issue, with a good (humane) death a distant second with 18% of votes. It was heartening to see the complete acceptance of animal mental state, and a movement away from only considering physical welfare, being so clearly expressed by participants.

The conference dealt with the main topic by considering the welfare and interests of horses as leisure animals, working animals and engaged in sport (racehorses), as well as considering the benefits that humans can get from positive interactions with horses. Madeleine Campbell, from the Royal Veterinary College, gave a comprehensive overview of recent research focusing on the expression of emotions in horses, and how this can help to improve our understanding of what the horse might be experiencing in our interactions with them. Peter Thornber, from the Commonwealth Veterinary Association, then gave a thought-provoking talk, which discussed the complex and often dependent relationships between working equids and the families that rely on them for their livelihoods, and the work of International Coalition for Working Equids to help improve the welfare of both equids and humans. Across the globe, the horse and other equids play varied but important roles in human lives, and have done so for many thousands of years, and we are now starting to consider the horse-human relationship from both sides of the partnership.

The Conference included a number of polls and discussion topics, and it was clear that concepts of the modern horse-human partnership has moved on from the idea that a leisure horse needs a ‘job or purpose’. The role of the horse as a companion, a means of improving owner mental well-being, and with interests in its own quality of life, was supported by nearly all participants and panellists. The Conference wrapped up with a poll asking what one word might improve the horse-human partnership from the perspective of the horse. In agreement with the remit of JMICAWE, Education came out as the most important factor, with empathy, respect, compassion and understanding also considered very important issues.

The whole conference is available to watch as a recording for those interested in learning more here: https://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/about-us/our-organisation/our-conference

Virtual UFAW Conference

Virtual animal welfare conference: attending the UFAW conference from home!

In these unusual times things are very different – rather than travelling to Birmingham to present at the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare Conference: Recent Advances in Animal Welfare Science VII, JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, was able to attend without leaving home! Over two days up to 1000 attendees were able to virtually attend the conference, making the conference much more accessible to those interested in hearing the latest in animal welfare research. The annual UFAW conference always covers the broad sweep of research topics that make up animal welfare and this virtual meeting was no different. We covered a range of species from cattle, pigs, chickens and sheep to donkeys, cats, dogs, rabbits and rats, and a range of topics from fundamental biology (e.g. hippocampal neurogenesis, micro-behaviours and Bayesian expectations in animals) to the impact of pasture access in cows, assessing the welfare of working donkeys and views on welfare of Hungarian farmers.

Cathy was the first to present on the opening day of the Conference, which provided the rather unsettling experience of listening to a recording of oneself presenting, and gave an update on research she has been carrying out with colleagues at the Moredun Research Institute on the welfare impacts of disease. In the presentation, she described a series of studies that looked at the animal’s experience as disease develops, and how this can be treated or managed to reduce the pain and distress associated with the disease.

Another highlight of the conference was the award of Young Animal Welfare Scientist to Dr Irene Camerlink, a former colleague at SRUC who has helped with JMICAWE research in China in the past. A very well deserved award to Irene who is passionate about animal welfare and has already achieved a great deal in a relatively short career, particularly in improving the welfare of pigs. The UFAW medal for animal welfare was awarded to Professor Dan Weary of University of British Columbia, Canada (see www.ufaw.org.uk).

The next UFAW meeting with be in our own backyard, in Edinburgh in June 2021, pandemics permitting, and it will be great to be able to see friends and colleagues face-to-face again. But the virtual conference environment has worked really well, and been able to make animal welfare science accessible to many who would not have been able to attend in person, suggesting a new way forward for sharing information about animal welfare.