Scottish Animal Welfare Commission

 Plenary meeting of Scottish Animal Welfare Commission

JMICAWE director, Prof Cathy Dwyer, chaired a plenary session of the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) on Friday 11^th September. The meeting had to be held entirely online but, despite a few hiccoughs, the technology held up well and interesting and varied discussions were held. The Commission focuses on protecting wild and companion animals, as well as providing scientific and ethical advice to the Scottish Government. The remit of the Commission is to look at how the welfare needs of sentient animals are met by policy, consider possible legislative and non-legislative routes to protect animal welfare and identify research requirements as an evidence base for future policy developments.

At this plenary session the Commission considered the impact of Covid-19 on animal welfare – of particular concern in the UK has been a significant rise in the number of people looking to acquire puppies, where those puppies are being sourced and whether this will impact on future health and welfare of dogs.  SAWC also considered what is an appropriate definition of sentience when applied to animals, and for which species is there sufficient scientific evidence to consider that they are likely to be sentient. As part of the remit of the Commission is to specifically consider the protection of wildlife, SAWC also considered whether current conceptions of animal welfare could apply to wildlife, and specific issues relating to the management of deer, beaver and Scottish wildcats.

More information about the work of the Commission can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/groups/scottish-animal-welfare-commission/

SAWC Inaugural Meeting

Scotland’s Animal Welfare Commission starts its work

JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, has just chaired the inaugural meeting of Scotland’s first Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC). Despite the restrictions on travel and gatherings due to the current pandemic, all 12 members of the Commission were able to attend, either in person or via teleconferencing (something we are all going to be getting better at over the next few months), alongside representatives of Scottish Government and SAWC Secretariat. 

The Commission is made up of vets, animal welfare scientists, representatives of NGOs and other bodies representing companion animals and wildlife, as well as experts in animal welfare law, policy and enforcement. SAWC will be working with the UK Animal Welfare Committee (formerly FAWC – the Farm Animal Welfare Council of Five Freedoms fame) on farm animal matters, but will take particular responsibility for welfare issues of free-living wildlife, companion animals and areas of farm animal welfare of special relevance to Scotland.

‘It is an exciting time to be involved in animal welfare in Scotland – currently a new bill to protect animals is going through the Scottish parliament, which will increase penalties for animal abuse and powers of enforcement, and will provide better management of breeding and sales of puppies and kittens. We in SAWC are looking forward to being able to advise Scottish government and the Ministers on animal welfare and to having a positive impact on the lives of Scotland’s animals. Hopefully this will also encourage other countries to take similar approaches.’  

- Cathy Dwyer