JMICAWE India travels - Animal Welfare Workshop in Bangalore

Workshop on animal behaviour and welfare in Bangalore

JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, and the coordinator of the MSc programme in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare (University of Edinburgh), Kirstin McIlvaney, have just returned from a trip to the Veterinary College in Bangalore (Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Science University) where they ran a 3 day workshop on animal welfare and behaviour hosted by Dr Abdul Rahman and the Commonwealth Veterinary Association.

This was part of the work that JMICAWE are doing to capacity-build in Indian vet schools, and to support the new Animal Welfare Research Centre based in the vet school in Bangalore.  The workshop was attended by about 40 postgraduate students and faculty from 9 different vet schools across India. Cathy and Kirstin focused on animal welfare sciences, and particularly animal behaviour measurements. 

After a day in the classroom the workshop went out to visit the poultry and dairy facilities on site to practice their animal behaviour data collection skills. Half the group went with Kirstin to the poultry facility, where they compared the benefits of scan and focal sampling and discussed how they might use different techniques to address different issues. The other half of the group went with Cathy to the dairy unit where we looked at the importance of good ethograms, and piloting data collection methods, and had an attempt at conducting an on farm novel object test, based on previous methods used in the UK. We ended the workshop with discussion of teaching approaches to animal welfare, and exploring different teaching resources that were available.

Some of these resources are freely available and can be found on line at JMICAWE by following this link: https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/jeanne-marchig-centre/cpd   

International Women's Day 2020

International Women’s Day, 2020

International Women’s Day (IWD) this year takes the theme that an equal world is an enabled world with #EachforEqual aiming to achieve gender equality.

The field of animal welfare has a great track record in supporting women, with many charities and animal welfare groups being founded and led by women and in the past we have celebrated these amazing achievements of women on previous IWDs. Whilst we still are amazed and humbled at the success and impact that women have had in improving animal welfare, this year we want to shine a spotlight on the unsung heroes for animals. Across the globe many small holder farmers and animals keepers are women. Daily activities of caring for animals, providing food and water, shelter, comfort and dealing with injuries are all part of the roles that women take on in many countries. Their care helps to produce productive animals that can feed their families and ensure that children can access education. Working equids enable families to earn a greater income, or can mean that water or food is brought more easily to the family or for other animals. These daily duties to provide care and love for animals are often undervalued as trivial ‘women’s work’ but are a vital part of supporting people and animals in some of the poorest and least equal countries in the world.

JMICAWE’s work has been to provide education to veterinarians in animal welfare in some of these countries, and to help to understand how important these animal caring roles are and how they need to be appreciated and the women who do them empowered.  In the west animal care is often a female dominated profession, with over 60% of UK veterinary students being women, and women dominating in veterinary nursing, animal welfare courses and animal care. These jobs are incredibly important – not just for the animals under their care but also for the much wider societal benefits through #OneWelfare. We firmly support and believe that the work of women in animal care is part of enabling a better world for us all.

Seasons Greetings from the JMICAWE team

A very happy festive period from all at JMICAWE

The team at JMICAWE would like to wish everyone a very happy and relaxing holiday period, and to thank you all for your support over the last 12 months.

It has been a year of highs and lows for us this year. Tragically we lost our colleague, Fiona Rioja-Lang earlier this year, very sadly missed but will not be forgotten for her passion and commitment to animal welfare. Our administrator, Lucy Ewing, decided to move on to another post in the University this year, but we welcomed kiwi, Katherine Curnow, in her place. We were also lucky enough to have RVN Roxy Woodrow spend 6 months working with us on veterinary nursing projects to support our existing nurses. In the wider JMICAWE team we have also said goodbye to Louise Buckley and hello to Kirstin McIlvaney and Verity Bowell in the MSc teaching team.

We have had a busy year delivering workshops, teaching and training in many countries including Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, India, South Africa, and China, and presented at conferences in UK, USA, Norway, Canada, Czech Republic, Malta and Kenya. In particular Heather and Hayley hosted the first Animal Behaviour, Welfare and Ethics day at British Small Animal Veterinary Association conference, and Cathy presented at the British Veterinary Association Animal Welfare Foundation discussion forum. Previous JMICAWE director, Natalie Waran, was also still flying the flag for JMICAWE, speaking at the OIE meeting in Bali, and at the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association conference in Nanjing. 

We have continued to give independent advice on animal welfare issues to industry and government, with Cathy Dwyer attending meetings of the EU Animal Welfare Platform in Brussels and being appointed as the first Chair of the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission. Alongside our colleagues at SRUC, we hosted a visit from the Minister for Rural Affairs and Natural Environment, MSP Mhairi Gougeon, who has a particular interest in animal welfare.

Finally we are delighted to be supporting our undergraduate and postgraduate students in their studies, with successful student-led conferences from the Dick Vet Animal Behaviour Society and the Animal Welfare and Ethics Society, and more than 250 MSc students enrolled on animal behaviour and welfare programmes.  

The Ghent Lambing and Husbandry Project

  Lambing training in Ghent vet school

For vet students in UK spending Easter holidays lambing is a normal routine before and after starting vet school. However for some students this is not the case, and there is less opportunity to experience the highs and lows of lambing and lamb survival. A student-led initiative at the Ghent Veterinary School - the Ghent Lambing and Husbandry Project - has set out to offer students the opportunity to spend time on sheep farms across the UK and elsewhere, and to practice their lambing and husbandry skills.

As part of this project JMICAWE director, Cathy Dwyer, spent two days at the vet school to help with lambing training and to discuss with students opportunities to improve sheep welfare and lamb survival in their work. It is obviously a very popular option for students as the auditorium was packed with would-be lambers, and there was lively discussion around the various practical scenarios Cathy had prepared to help students prepare for lambing. 

Cathy explained the biological basis for maternal behaviour in the ewe, and how taking this into account in lambing management can help ewes look after their lambs, improve lamb survival and improve the welfare and well-being of sheep and lambers alike.

‘I was really impressed to see so many students keen to stay behind in the evening for extra lectures, and how excited the students were to be able to spend time in UK lambing’

- Prof Cathy Dwyer

Cathy shared the platform with farmer, Peter Myles, who has been hosting lambing students at his Scottish sheep farm for many years and both Cathy and Peter were delighted with the enthusiasm of the students to learn and be involved in lambing.

MSc Graduation 2019 - Congratulations to our students!

Congratulations to our MSc students on their Graduation!

Last week we were honoured to be present at the graduation of our MSc students, and those collecting diplomas or credits for Personal Professional Development in animal behaviour and welfare. Whether this had been a one year intensive course in Edinburgh for the MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare, or up to 6 years part time intermittent study for MSc International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law or MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour we are so proud of all our fantastic students whatever their journey may have been. It was lovely to be able to catch up with students who have been away carrying out their dissertation research, or in some cases to meet students for the first time in person who have been studying on the online programmes. It was fantastic that so many family, friends and students travelled back to Edinburgh for the graduation; and it is always a very special time for the staff who have taught these students to see them collect their degrees.

It is a wonderful personal achievement for all our students, but special praise goes to the winners of the dissertation prizes, whose work was judged the best for that year. 

This year we are delighted to be able to congratulate:

• Brianne Lyall (MSc Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare) for her dissertation: ‘Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of dairy cows to a systemic inflammatory challenge’
• Lesley Townsend (MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour) for her dissertation: ‘Who’s walking who? The relationship between pulling on the lead and dog welfare in the UK and Ireland’
• Stephanie Karageorgis (MSc International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law) for her dissertation: ‘Comparison of emotional expression in brachycephalic and non-brachycephalic dog breed types using Qualitative Behaviour Assessment’

If you would like to one day be one of these students then follow this link to learn more about applying for our MSc courses: https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/studying/postgraduate

OIE (World Animal Health) Meeting in Bali - Prof. Nat Waran speaks on Animal Welfare

Encouraging and supporting the development of Regional Animal Welfare Strategies and Capability in Asia, the East and Oceania.

Former Director of the JMICAWE, Prof Nat Waran was invited to present on One Welfare at the recent OIE (World Animal Health) Regional Animal Welfare meeting in Bali, hosted by the Indonesian Government. The meeting attended by more than 25 National Animal Welfare Focal Point representatives from across a very large region was a great opportunity to provide information about the importance of linking improved animal welfare with positive human health and welfare outcomes using examples drawn from the work carried out by the JMICAWE and partners in different parts of the world. Discussions on the development and implementation of the OIE animal welfare codes and standards as well as support for the development of in-country animal welfare strategies took place over a three day period, and the complexity of driving forward changes to improve animal welfare across the region was made obvious to all.  

Chinese Veterinary Medicine Association Conference - Professor Nat Waran

Equine Welfare on the Agenda at the Chinese Veterinary Medicine Association Conference in Nanjing

Prof Nat Waran delivering talks on equine welfare

Promotion of an understanding of the importance of providing a Good Quality of Life for equids in China was high on the agenda for former JMICAWE Director, Professor Nat Waran who was an invited speaker at the recent Chinese Veterinary Medicine Association’s annual conference in Nanjing. The conference attracted a significant audience of Chinese equine veterinarians who were provided with information about practically assessing and managing equine welfare. 

Prof Nat along with Chris Riggs, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Head of Veterinary services in mainland China, and Roly Owers, CEO for the World Horse Welfare – noted that this was the first time invited equine welfare talks were integrated within the equine veterinary medicine session - a positive advance for mainstreaming animal welfare.

The Group housing facility for teaching horses at NAU.

Whilst there the group of equine welfare experts were asked to visit and comment on the proposed new equine teaching facility for veterinary students training at the Nanjing Agricultural University.
It was interesting and heartening to see the group housing facility that had been built where horses have free access to different outdoor and sheltered areas, with many behavioural opportunities. Having previously provided animal welfare professional development workshops with the NAU veterinary staff, it was good to see the JMICAWE work having a real impact on the way in which teaching animals are being managed.

Veterinary Nurses Day - Guest Speaker Hayley Walters

Veterinary nurse (VN) Hayley Walters was invited to speak at VN day in London recently to the newly qualified VNs graduating that day.

As a previous Golden Jubilee award winner, Hayley was asked by The Royal college of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) to give a 15 minute presentation to showcase what a VN can do and help inspire them as they start their careers.

Hayley qualified in 1999 from a mixed animal practice in Derbyshire and since then has worked with bears in China and dogs in Bosnia; taught in vet schools in Sri Lanka and Vietnam; taught final year vet students on their anaesthesia rotation in The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, examined students in their practical exams and created free online teaching resources used all over the world.

“Veterinary nursing has come a long way since I qualified 20 years ago. The aim of the talk was to help demonstrate to these new VNs that there is so much you can do with your career now. If you want to stay in general practice then that is fine but if you want to be an army VN, go into research, teach, work for an animal welfare charity, or specialise in referral, then that is all possible now. And since the British VN qualification is well respected all over the world, there is a lot of opportunity to work overseas too. Not many jobs offer this much diversity!”

Hayley received very positive feedback and was approached by many of the new veterinary nurses afterwards who had aspirations to progress their career.

A donation to a charity of Hayley’s choice was given by the RCVS in return for her talking. Hayley chose Dogstar Foundation; a high welfare catch, neuter, vaccinate, return project for free roaming dogs in Sri Lanka.

Animal Welfare Day 2019

Exploring Animal Sentience for World Animal Day 

World Animal Day falls on 4^th October each year and its purpose is to improve animal welfare standards around the globe, through celebrating the lives of animals. The mission of World Animal Day is to make the world a better place for animals, which fits very well with the JMICAWE mission and aims. Every two years, with our partner SRUC, JMICAWE have been involved in helping to organise an event around this date, to celebrate animal welfare. This year, we also linked up with our BioResearch vets to cover animals used in science as well as other animals. As our theme this year we focused on ‘Animal sentience and emotions’ and why that is so important in our thinking about animal welfare. We were delighted to be able to welcome 200 staff and students from local campuses to the event.

We began with a morning of talks from researchers from SRUC, the French research institute (INRA) and University of Newcastle. Our first speaker, Professor Francoise Wemelsfelder from SRUC, reminded us about animal ethics and why sentience and emotions should be at the forefront of our thinking and assessments of animal welfare. Next Professor Marie Haskell (SRUC) showed us the fascinating abilities of farm animals to recognise emotions in faces, and why faces are so important for animals.

 Professor Marie Haskell (SRUC) defines emotions

We then had a series of presentations on positive emotions in animals – such as play, positive engagement, contentment and use of enrichment. Dr Belinda Vigors shared the outcomes of some of her work in exploring these concepts with farmers, and it was great to see how important farmers felt these positive emotions were to the lives of farmed animals. Professor Alistair Lawrence then expanded on the theme of positive animal welfare, including showing a wonderful video of rats engaging in hide-and-seek play with researchers – what a great thing to be able to call work! A visiting researcher, Dr Vincent Bombail from INRA, then continued this theme with a talk about tickling rats and assessing their vocal responses. Finally our morning programme ended with a talk by Dr Matt Leach of Newcastle University about the very important emotion of pain and how it can be recognised in animals.

As is becoming a tradition with these events we had a long lunch break to allow delegates to network and find out more about animal welfare research including the use of 3D video imaging to detect animal behaviour on farm, training tools for farmers on body condition scoring of cows, and a peek at the new large animal imagining facility, including MRI. For the afternoon we had a really interesting talk from about the use of animals in science from Elliott Lilley of RSPCA and concluded with a panel discussion on animal sentience and how that might affect use of animals in science. 

Overall the feedback on the event was very positive, and we look forward to organising the next one in 2021! 

New publication – cat welfare

The Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education have undertaken a research project funded by the Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), to identify welfare issues for a number of species, including cats.

Animal welfare experts found a consensus in determining priority welfare issues for cats in the UK and identified that the key welfare issues for our domestic cats include

• behaviour issues, often experienced by cats confined to the home
• social behaviour problems 
• disease as a result of old age 
• not seeking veterinary care at an appropriate time
• poor pain management
• issues arising from specific breeding traits
• neglect and hoarding
• stray cats.

The publication highlights important areas where further research is needed, or where awareness needs to be increased, so that there is a better understanding of the potential welfare issues that can arise and what can be done to address the welfare issues.

Common welfare issues relating to behaviour can potentially be addressed by providing enrichment, such as scratching posts, toys, hiding places – an environment that supports normal cat behaviour. Social behaviour issues in cats can arise from having insufficient resources (e.g. litter trays, feed bowls) for the number of cats in a home. Cats do not like to share and need their own space and resources to live together happily.

Read the publication for further information: https://edin.ac/2oNr2RA

Rioja-Lang, F., Bacon, H., Connor, M., Dwyer, CM. (2019) Determining priority welfare issues for cats in the United Kingdom using expert consensus. Veterinary Record Open 6: e000365. doi: 10.1136/vetreco-2019-000365

If you are interested in cat behaviour we also recommend checking out our free online course in the behaviour and welfare of dogs and cats:

The Truth About Cats and Dogs (free 5 week online course)

ICAW Conference in Malta

Vet nurse Hayley Walters was invited by Dogs Trust International to speak at ICAWC (International Companion Animal Welfare Conference) in Malta this October. 229 delegates representing 101 organisations from 39 different countries attended the conference.

Hayley spoke on recognising acute and chronic pain in cats and dogs, how to measure it, and how to treat it.

“Pain can be an emotive subject and two people looking at the same animal can disagree on wether it is in pain or not. Being able to take the subjectivity out of measuring pain is important. By using validated pain scoring tools such as the ‘Glasgow Composite Pain Scale’ for acute pain in cats and dogs  and ‘Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs‘ (LOAD) for chronic pain we can objectively measure how much pain an animal is experiencing, treat it accordingly and then remeasure”.

Photo credit: Richard Murgatroyd (www.richardmurgatroyd.com)

Hayley received positive feedback from many of the delegates who were working in Dog Population Management projects and rescue shelters, and was honoured to be among many prestigious animal welfare speakers.

Networking to improve lamb survival and sheep welfare

As part of an EU project, SheepNet, JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, spent four days in France at the start of September visiting farms, engaging with farmers and contributing to a seminar on improving lamb survival. This project has been running since 2016, and involves farmers, vets, researchers and other stakeholders from six EU countries (UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Romania) and Turkey. The project aims to share science and practice across the countries to improve sheep health and reduce lamb losses, and the French visit was the final workshop for the project to share the story that lies behind the project. A key part of the work has been to facilitate and translate information between countries and allow farmers to develop ideas together, as well as to engage with farmers, veterinarians and researchers from across Europe. Although this project is coming to an end in December 2019, a second project, EuroSheep, will take its place to continue the work already begun. The materials already collated as part of SheepNet are freely available through the ‘knowledge reservoir’ on the project website: www.sheepnet.network.

Overall this project has been a great example of taking animal welfare, and other research, out of the laboratory and into the field, quite literally, and engaging farmers from many different countries in improvements to animal welfare. 

ICABGEH Congress: Prof Cathy Dwyer Keynote Address

Should animal welfare be part of sustainability?

JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, argues that animal welfare is an integral part of sustainability, and cannot be ignored in a drive to reduce the cost of food production and increase productivity, in a keynote speech given at the ICABGEH congress held in Prague, Czech Republic, organised by Turkish researchers. The audience was largely vets and animal scientists from Turkey, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, plus some participants from as far afield as Thailand and Indonesia. For many, issues and concepts of animal welfare were very new and Turkish researchers in particular were keen to develop more welfare work in their country. A Czech journalist who was present will be writing a popular science article on animal welfare and
sustainability, based on Cathy’s talk, to help share these ideas.
The programme was very varied but two fascinating talks by Turkish researchers involved a discussion of the impact of transhumance on environmental and welfare issues, and how geopolitical changes are affecting the lives of these nomadic herdspeople. In addition, a very topical paper on the impact of drought in the pregnant ewe on lamb development was presented, with implications for future global changes in climate. Turkish research has also been surveying and cataloguing the living conditions and husbandry practices for cattle living in Central Anatolia. Although the work was focused on improving productivity, it revealed a significant number of welfare issues that need to be addressed.
Other keynotes at the Congress included an excellent presentation on bees by Prof Kaspar Bienefeld, the Director of the Bee Institute at the Humboldt University in Germany. The behaviour of bees may hold the key to preventing colony collapse by encouraging the natural behaviour of the bees to remove mites from infested cells in the hive. An important finding to ensure that these pollinators continue to thrive.
Cathy is keen to maintain contacts and links with Turkish and other researchers to help promote better animal welfare practices in these countries.     

Minister of Rural Affairs Visit

Scientific Evidence to support Policy Changes

Scientists from SRUC and JMICAWE were delighted to host a visit from the Scottish Government’s Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, MSP Mairi Gougeon on 10th September. 

The Minister has responsibility for animal welfare in Scotland, and was keen to learn more about the research in animal welfare being conducted in Edinburgh. We visited the SRUC pig research centre, where more than 30 years of research into pig behaviour and welfare has been carried out. SRUC’s Prof Alistair Lawrence explained the history of pig research from the Edinburgh pig park in the 1980s, which allowed pigs to show natural behaviour in a wood on the Pentland hills, and demonstrated that pigs were still motivated to perform the same behaviours as their wild ancestors. The story continued through a programme of work to unravel the behavioural needs of sows and piglets, culminating in the designed pen for sows and piglets, PigSAFE, which allows sows the freedom to nest-build, move around the environment and interact freely with their piglets (see www.freefarrowing.org). We also discussed other ongoing pig research, such as work on preventing tail-biting, and a project to recognise emotional expression through facial recognition technology that may be able to detect happiness from the expressions in pigs faces.

Finally, we discussed work in other species, such as the development of Qualitative Behavioural Assessment in many species by Prof Francoise Wemelsfelder, and the impact of early life experience in pigs, cattle, sheep and goats. Before leaving the Minister spent time discussing the work of JMICAWE at home and abroad with Prof Cathy Dwyer.  Overall, it was great to be able to showcase the important evidence-gathering work that we do as part of our research, and look forward to many more interactions and opportunities to contribute to improving policy for high animal welfare in farmed animals.