Promoting the Welfare of working equids

Promoting the Welfare of working equids and their importance to the livelihoods of people in developing countries.

Working equids have been described as the 'invisible helpers' in poor communities, often overlooked by policy makers and undervalued by many. However research undertaken by international equine welfare charities has shown that these animals are valuable members if the household and in some parts of the world are responsible for up to 80% of the family income.

 

This week JMICAWE director, Prof Nat Waran is attending the 7th International Colloquium on working equids as a guest of The Brooke, where presentations will be made by people working in communities where horses, donkeys and mules are so essential and discussions are taking place about how we can raise the awareness of the link between improving equine welfare and human well being. 

See 

Tweet #workingequines

and

http://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/colloquium2014

TNR Gathering Data going well in Botswana

Earlier this  week the animal welfare team's Heather Bacon and Hayley Walters left for Botswana where they are gathering preliminary data as part of the Dogs Trust funded project to develop robust and practical animal welfare indicators for use in Trap, Neuter and Release projects run by the many animal welfare NGOs worldwide.

Heather and Hayley have already been in touch with us  and we are delighted to report that this essential research is going very well.

 

 

 Keep watching this space for a full report upon their return!

Mission rabies - Powering On!

Powering on!

 

Over 8,000 dogs sterilised and vaccinated in just 11 weeks!

 

With the continued guidance and support from the Goan Government and the incredible local NGO's, the amazing MR teams have neutered and vaccinated over 4254 females. If 70% of those dogs would have had just one litter of 6 puppies in the forthcoming year, we have prevented 17,867 puppies on the streets of Goa in just three months of work.

By the end of September, the teams will have sterilised over 20,000 dogs. An incredible achievement, only possible because of the fantastic Goan community of animal lovers and the vision of the local Government in endorsing and supporting the project. As a united team, by vaccinating 70% of the dogs in Goa every year, for the next three years, we can rid the state of this fatal and incurable disease.

 

Read more about it here:

campaign-archive1.com

 

Read more about Mission Rabies here:

 

http://www.missionrabies.com/

 

 

 

 

WORLD MEAT CONGRESS: Animal Welfare to be New Moral Trade Barrier

An interesting article to look at

Animal welfare issues could become a new trade barrier following a landmark ruling by the World Trade Organisation, writes Chris Harris from the World Meat Congress in Beijing.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/32474/world-meat-congress-animal-welfare-to-be-new-moral-trade-barrier

MOOC Behind the Scenes Video Diary Part Three

Join us for the third part of our exclusive behind the scenes look at the making of our Massive Open Online Course in Animal Behaviour and Welfare, hosted on coursera.

Sign up now to take part!
https://www.coursera.org/course/animal

Guests from India visit Vet School before attending the Edinburgh-India Inaugural Conference

Last month the JMICAWE team and colleagues from the Vet School, Roslin Institute and SRUC were delighted to welcome visitors from India for a tour of the school and facilities.

Our guests included officials and senior staff from the Indian Government and Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU).  Visiting as part of the Edinburgh-India Inaugural Conference organised by the Edinburgh-India Office, it heralded a successful and impressive event and generated many ideas for next steps in capacity building around research skills and education for vets in Kerala and Karnataka. 

‘I was overwhelmed by our Keralan colleagues who proudly presented me with their newly produced Animal Welfare text book. Written mainly by staff who have attended our various workshops, the book covers a wide range of topics and is something they and we should be very pleased with. It's great to see a whole Faculty with the support of their senior management taking ownership of this subject’  (Prof Natalie Waran, Director of JMICAWE)

 

 

Guests enjoying a tour of the school and facilities with  R(D)SVS staff, Prof Nat Waran (second from right) and Prof Brendan Corcoran (third from left)

The Edinburgh-India Inaugural conference that took place on the 15^th and 16^th May provided a forum for interdisciplinary opportunities and helped to establish new partnerships to celebrate the University’s longstanding engagement with India.   Edinburgh academics and their Indian collaborators in humanities and social sciences, medicine and veterinary medicine, and science and engineering were  invited to take part in the conference, entitled ‘Innovative Engagement for Sustainable Development:  The Edinburgh-India Story’.

Further details about the event can be found here:

http://www.ed.ac.uk/about/edinburgh-global/india-institute/events/inaugural-conference

Animal Welfare Team in Botswana for essential TNR Research

 

Next month will see Heather Bacon (Welfare Education and Outreach Manager) and Hayley Walters (Welfare and Anaesthesia Veterinary Nurse) head out to Botswana to carry out important research into TNR (Trap-Neutor-Release) Programmes.   Working with Dogs Trust, they are developing a framework for assessing individual dog welfare in a standard TNR programme and will be visiting some existing programmes in order to assess whether the framework is useful and practical.

 

Their visit will primarily involve visiting and recording aspects of dog catching, surgery and release using portable video cameras, which can then be reviewed at a later date.  It will also help establish partnerships and links with existing welfare organisation operating in Botswana.

 

 

 We’ll be reporting in full upon their return, so watch this space!

 

 

 

JMICAWE Team Member Hayley Walters wins RCVS Golden Jubilee Award

Veterinary Nurse Hayley Walters has won the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Golden Jubilee Award, in honour of her exceptional contribution to her profession.

The Dick Vet and JMICAWE is delighted that Veterinary Nurse Hayley Walters has won the RCVS Golden Jubilee Award, in honour of her exceptional contribution to her profession.

Hayley works at the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education (JMICAWE) and the Hospital for Small Animals and was nominated for her contribution to animal welfare through her teaching, clinical and international outreach work.

As well as Hayley's clinical work she has responsibilities for training veterinary surgeon and veterinary nurse students in all aspects of animal welfare, handling and pain management. She has also worked all over the world to share her veterinary nursing and animal welfare education skills as part of her work with JMICAWE.

We had six high-calibre and impressive nominations for the Golden Jubilee Award this year and Hayley was chosen because of her extensive work above and beyond her normal role as a registered veterinary nurse [RVN] with regard to animal welfare in the UK and internationally. She clearly demonstrates a gold standard ambassadorial role for the RVN.  Kathy Kissick, Chair of Veterinary Nursing Council

The VN Golden Jubilee Award will be given to Hayley at RCVS Day - the College’s Annual General Meeting and Awards Day - on July 11.



I am incredibly thrilled to be receiving this award and would like to thank my colleagues who nominated me. It comes at such a lovely time, too, as this year I have been in veterinary nursing for half my life as I started when I was 18 and have turned 36. If I was given the choice to go back and choose all over again I would still choose veterinary nursing in a heartbeat. Veterinary nurses are very well placed to improve not only patient experience when they are being treated but also, after the patients leave, through the education of animal owners. We must never stop caring, never stop learning and never stop trying to make a difference for every animal that comes into our lives. I am very grateful for this honour and would like to thank the RCVS for awarding it to me. Hayley Walters

Hayley with her rescue dog Stewart

 

 

 

The Golden Jubilee Award

The Golden Jubilee Award was launched in 2011 to mark the 50th anniversary of the first RCVS veterinary nursing training scheme and to recognise outstanding service to the profession. Hayley joins previous winners from 2011, Jean Turner and 2012 Sue Badger as the third winner.

The Golden Jubilee in 2011 celebrated the 50th anniversary of the RCVS-approved Animal Nursing Auxiliary (ANA) training scheme.

 

Animal behaviour and welfare a focus for vets in Beijing

In May the Federation of Asian Small Animal Veterinary Associations (FASAVA) held it’s regional conference in Beijing.

 

The conference attracts thousands of vets from all over the Australasia region, and Heather Bacon of the JMICAWE was delighted to attend to deliver presentations on ‘animal welfare in the veterinary clinic’ and ‘surgical and analgesic management of the small animal patient’. Vicki Elliot of the Animals Asia Foundation also collaborated with Hayley Walters of the JMICAWE to deliver a presentation on Animal behaviour in the veterinary clinic, and the project was supported by Animals Asia.

The inclusion of the animal welfare stream, in addition to sessions on clinical animal behaviour delivered by Dr Kirsti Seksel, demonstrates the increasing importance of animal behaviour and welfare across the region.

 

The visit also provided an opportunity for Heather to visit the China Agricultural University to exchange information on ‘outcome-based curriculum development’ and ‘advances in veterinary teaching’ with a group of enthusiastic lecturers.

 

 “The growing interest in animal behaviour and welfare across the Asia region is representative of the importance of these subjects within the veterinary curriculum”, said Heather “it is essential that veterinarians are skilled in these subjects as many of the clinical challenges we face have aetiologies that include behavioural or welfare problems”

 

Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) Third Annual Conference a Success

The biggest Animal Welfare project in Europe –Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) held its third annual conference between the 13th and 15th of May 2014 to discuss the science and dissemination behind the animal welfare assessment protocols developed so far.

 

Dr Fritha Langford, from JMICAWE and leader of the education work package of AWIN presented the latest learning materials and outreach to animal welfare stakeholders present at the conference. All of the AWIN learning materials will be hosted on the Animal Welfare Science Hub (www.animalwelfarehub.com) and available to view and download for free.

 

There are a series of learning materials on the subject of animal pain in general and assessing pain in horses in particular. At the conference AWIN launched a smartphone app produced for horse owners and equine clinicians to learn about, train with and use the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS), a pain scoring system using facial expression in horses. The HGS App is now available to download for Android systems from the Animal Welfare Science Hub or directly from Google Play.

Over the coming months more learning materials and smartphone apps will be launched and available to use or download for use in teaching and learning from the Animal Welfare Science Hub. However, the Hub is not just a place for AWIN materials, stakeholders are encouraged to share or link to their own educational material to enable wider access to animal welfare education for all.

 

 

Horse Grimace Scale

MAKING A MOOC - BEHIND THE SCENES SPECIAL PREVIEW PART 2

Here is Jill MacKay reporting on our latest adventures, filming content for our MOOC.  

Our team has been hard at work, and we thought we would give you another sneak preview behind the scenes, so you can see what they have been up to.  We hope you enjoy it, and if you haven't already, don't forget to sign up!

To sign up for our MOOC, please go to: https://www.coursera.org/course/animal

 

 

 

Prof Natalie Waran and Tim Askew recording in the great outdoors

 

Calves enjoying the filming! They were very curious.

 

EU regional animal welfare training continues

 

Poland became the most recent country to host the European Commission’s training workshop on ‘Animal Welfare for the Veterinary Practitioner’.

These courses are held in partnership with the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe and Heather of the JMICAWE has collaborated for the last two years to deliver training in captive wildlife welfare to veterinarians in Spain, Latvia, and Romania.

In cooperation with the Plock Zoo and colleagues, animal welfare education was delivered to 62 delegates from Poland and the surrounding region. Feedback surveys indicate that almost 90% of delegates found the workshop useful or very useful. As zoos across the EU come under increasing scrutiny, it is essential that animal welfare is a priority for them.

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/dyna/enews/enews.cfm?al_id=1472

MAKING A MOOC - SPECIAL PREVIEW

It’s an exciting and busy time here in JMICAWE.  The Animal Welfare Team have been busy filming for our forthcoming MOOC (Massive Open Online Course).  We thought we might give you an exclusive look behind the scenes.

Mind you, it’s not Hollywood glamour. Our team are hard at work filming, editing, writing and creating a top class course, with quality content - Animal Welfare Education being the priority.

Have a look at our ‘behind the scenes’ video with Jill MacKay from SRUC:

 

 

Prof Natalie Waran and Fanta on set, with Tim Askew on Camera

 

Jasmine preparing for her scene

 

 More updates will follow, so watch this space!

 To sign up for our MOOC, please go to: https://www.coursera.org/course/animal

IFAW visit to Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education

Please read this wonderful press release by IFAW following their visit to us last month:

http://www.ifaw.org/united-kingdom/news/animal-welfare-education-goes-online-edinburgh-university