Join the Edinburgh Conga Line on 22nd September!

Students from the Dick Vet School are joining others to support World Rhino Day!

Animal Welfare Event, Edinburgh - 4 October 2013

SRUC’s Animal Behaviour and Welfare Team are hosting a one day conference which will showcase some of their exciting and innovative research.

 

Event: New developments in animal welfare research

Location: Roslin Institute Building, Easter Bush Estate

Date: Friday 4 October 2013

Time: 9.30am – 3pm

The event will include presentations on topics including:

Pig aggression: Can we, and should we breed against this intractable problem?

A novel method of measuring hunger motivation in feed restricted broiler breeders: implications and future directions.

Mothers matter: how management of farm animals during pregnancy affects the next generation

The Great Crate Debate: Developments in free farrowing research and commercialisation

Promoting a duty of care towards animals in children and young people

Genetics and animal welfare

Animal welfare and education

Also participating is the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education and the Roslin Institute.

 

To book your place please contact Sheila Davidson at sheila.davidson@sruc.ac.uk. Please RSVP by Friday 27^th September 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meat Trade Dogs Arrive in Edinburgh! by Heather Bacon

Heather & Hayley are reunited with Mothi and Stewart

For me being a vet has always been an incredibly rewarding career, and I’ve found that I particularly enjoy frontline emergency response work. So I was delighted when the Worldwide Veterinary services and Soi Dogs offered me the opportunity of contributing to the veterinary care of dogs rescued from the meat trade in Thailand.

 Over 2,000 dogs were rescued at the Thai border en route to dog meat restaurants in Vietnam. The unlicensed export of dogs from Thailand is illegal, but unfortunately a thriving illegal trade exists. Most dogs are community or street dogs, living free-ranging lifestyles but generally owned and fed by village families. These dogs are rounded up in the night by traders, or sometimes sold by their owners. In a place where there is an excess of dogs and a lack of resources, its easy to understand why trade may occur.

 Many groups campaign against the trade in dog meat and a multi-stakeholder organisation, the Asia Canine Protection Alliance has recently been formed to take a united stance against this trade. There is much debate around the trade in dogs for meat, with opinions ranging from ‘dogs are no more sentient than sheep or pigs – why shouldn’t they be consumed?’ to ‘Dogs are companions and should not be eaten.’ Personally, of course I see dogs primarily as companions – I’ve never lived without a dog in my life. But the rational scientist within me also understands that sheep or pigs are equally as capable of feeling fear, pain and distress and so I cannot draw a line between these species. For me, what is important is that any animal raised for food, is raised in a humane way, able to express it’s natural behaviours, transported humanely, and slaughtered quickly and painlessly with appropriate pre-slaughter handling and stunning. Of course a black market trade in a species not regulated for human consumption fits none of these criteria. And if we were to try and develop humane systems for dog farming and slaughter, how would that be done? A primarily carnivorous, historically predatory species, kept in large numbers, unhandleable and aggressive. The slaughter of such dogs is necessarily brutal.

 Intercepted by the Thai border patrol, the arrival of the rescued dogs swelled the total number of dogs at the Nakon Phanom shelter to 3,049 – in a shelter designed for only 400. Immediate concerns were the triage and treatment of so many dogs, the provion of adequate food and water, and the prevention of infectious disease which would sweep through the overcrowded, dirty pens like wildfire.

 

Quickly Soi dogs arranged international support and myself, R(D)SVS Veterinary nurse, Hayley Walters, and a team from Humane Society International, all travelled to the shelter to assist. Each day was spent triaging and treating emaciated, sick and dying dogs, in temperatures that were hitting the mid-thirties. The Thai handlers worked tirelessly to catch and bring the dogs to us. Though sadly the catching methods were often harsh. Each afternoon was spent vaccinating a pen of around 150 dogs, systematically working through the pens until all dogs were immunised against parvo, distemper, hepatitis and rabies. Effective disinfection of the pens was established, and supplies of nutritious dog food started to arrive, though we also had to establish additional feeding stations as competition for food was huge, and some dogs were literally starving to death.

One of those dogs was a small black female. Admitted to the vet clinic one morning, she presented with nothing more than severe emaciation. Initially she was unable to keep down solid food as it had been so long since she had eaten.

 

 

But after some time on a drip, and with the provision of excellent nursing care, and a cardboard bed from Hayley, she started to look stronger.

 Back in 2008 whilst working for the Animals Asia Foundation in China, on post-earthquake dog rescue, I was fortunate enough to meet and adopt Mathilda, a beautiful, skinny, scarred Chinese street dog, and she accompanied me when I returned to the UK.  Initially a fairly unattractive emaciated dog, Mathilda has blossomed to the extent that she recently beat around 30,000 other entries to with a Petplan photo competition and appeared on a national advert. But one of my biggest worries has always been that Mathilda was lonely, going from a life in China where she had lots of dog friends, to one in Scotland where she had much fewer, and I knew that this Thai trip may give me the opportunity to find a new friend for her.

I know that generally not a vast number of meat trade dogs get rehomed – many are condemned to lives in shelters with little human contact, and significant competition for food and resources. If I was to take a dog from Nakom Phanong, I wanted it to be a dog that really wouldn’t cope in a shelter. But also, one that wouldn’t appeal  to other adopters (which ruled out the cute fluffy ones). Generally black dogs are much less likely to be adopted – they’re perceived as ‘common’ and its more difficult to see their facial expressions. But, if you look closely, you can see they’re pretty cute!

This skinny little black dog caught my eye. Right from the start she seized every opportunity we gave her. Hungry for life but simply unable to cope against many much bigger dogs, she was starving to death, and a high risk of infectious disease. As a nondescript skinny little black dog, her chances of adoption elsewhere would be virtually zero. As I started to spend more time with her, Hayley rolled her eyes “Once again Heather you’ve chosen the ugliest dog in the shelter” she teased. Maybe… But ugly is only skin deep.

Named Mothi, which means ‘black pearl’ in Hindi (because oysters are pretty ugly, but have hidden value), she was soon officially adopted and along with ‘Stewart’, Hayley’s chosen dog and began the long journey to the UK. Soi dogs were fantastic at arranging the paperwork, blood tests and care of the dogs whilst we waited impatiently in the UK for their arrival.

And now, they’re finally here! Collecting them at the airport I was amazed that Mothi immediately seemed to recognise me – greeting me exuberantly and responding to her name – though to be honest still not the most attractive dog in the world!

Mothi and Stewart are a wonderful advertisement for Meat Trade dogs – obedient, playful, well socialised, and bomb-proof after their mass exposure to pretty much anything and everything you could think of, they’ve quickly settled into life in Edinburgh and are definitely keeping Mathilda on her toes, enjoying long walks, and lots of cuddles. They’ve even made it to an outdoor Fringe show!

I’m extremely grateful to Soi dogs and Worldwide Veterinary Services for giving us the opportunity to meet and adopt Mothi and Stewart, and to the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary studies for supporting our annual leave whilst we travelled to Thailand.

 
 

JMICAWE is delighted to announce the first recipient of the Animals Asia Scholarship

The JMICAWE is delighted to announce the first recipient of the Animals Asia MSc International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law scholarship. The award will be received by Yang JingJing, known by her English name of Jennie.

 The award allows Jenny to study the field of international animal welfare ethics and law at postgraduate level whilst continuing to work fulltime in her role as a Clinical pathology specialist.

 Previous Jennie has worked as a laboratory veterinarian, responsible for initiating animal husbandry protocols within this challenging environment. She currently works in clinical pathology diagnostics and interacts regularly with small animal veterinarians from all over China.

 Jennie aims to develop written materials and oral presentations on many topics of animal welfare to be used as CPD, including

a. what will be the role for a veterinarian in animal welfare issue

b. how a veterinarian practitioner improve the animal welfare and wellbeing in our society

c. Animal welfare, what is correct and what is impropriate.

d. How to build an environment which fits the requirement of animal welfare?

e. How to educate the pets’ owners to treat their animals correctly.

 

The staff at JMICAWE and Animals Asia are delighted to welcome Jennie to the student body, and committed to promoting and developing animal welfare education throughout China.

International expertise focuses on zoo animal welfare

Heather Bacon of the JMICAWE recently visited China to teach at the China Association of Zoological Gardens’ (CAZG) Behaviour Management workshop, held at the North-East Forestry University in Harbin, China. This unique project is a collaboration between the University, CAZG and two NGOs, Animals Asia and Humane Society International  to strengthen the understanding of zoo animal behaviour and welfare at zoos across China. The workshop was attended by 36 delegates from 24 zoos across china, and the programme included Chinese experts on animal behaviour, along with the JMICAWE’s Heather Bacon, Twycross zoo’s Julian Chapman, Oregon zoo’s Dr David Shepherdson and Dr Hani Freeman from the Lincoln Park zoo.

 Speaking after the meeting Heather said “Collaborative education projects are incredibly important in sharing understandings, perspectives and expertise. In a controversial industry like the zoo industry, collaboration allows academic expertise, industry management and charitable organisations to work together to improve the lives of animals housed in zoos.”

International collaboration strengthens animal care in zoos

Recently one of our NGO partners, Animals Asia, invited six visiting delegates from zoos across China to visit the UK to facilitate knowledge transfer, and develop collaborations. Regulation of zoos in China is limited, however thanks to the work done over recent years by Animals Asia to improve the industry, changes are being seen.  During this visit, the delegates visited Chester and Bristol zoos to develop skills in animal husbandry, animal welfare, conservation education and field conservation.

 

Heather Bacon of the JMICAWE, greeted the visiting delegates at Chester zoo and along with Dr Sonya Hill of Chester zoo, acted as a facilitator, emphasising the importance good animal husbandry plays in promoting animal welfare, and how this in turn benefits conservation through breeding, and education through improving the visitor experience.

 

Whilst we recognise that the role of the zoo will always be controversial, it is important that the politics of the industry do not hinder the development of improvements in animal health and welfare. Through engaging with industry and developing educational initiatives, we hope to support improvements to animals in all industries.

Animal Welfare Symposium, Hong Kong - Nov 2013

ANIMAL WELFARE SYMPOSIUM

CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG, HK

21-22 NOVEMBER 2013

Professor Natalie Waran, University of Edinburgh, UK will be giving a presentation - “What is welfare & why does it matter?”

Heather Bacon also from JMICAWE at the University of Edinburgh will be presenting on “Animal welfare education”.

Programme and registration: http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/svm/aws-index.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Successful Equine welfare conference held at the University of Delaware last week

In July last year, more than 250 academics, veterinarians and equine practitioners had arrived at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh to attend the 8^th annual international equitation science conference. For this year’s conference it was the  turn of the United States, to which JMICAWE’s Prof Nat Waran was invited to provide a plenary presentation entitled ‘Future proofing equitation -  Advancing Evidence based learning and Practice in Equitation. She was joined by fellow key note speakers, Dr Hayley Randle, Duchy College, Prof Jan Ladewig from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark; Prof Hilary Clayton from Michigan State University; Dr Andrew McLean, Australia Equine Behaviour centre and Prof Paul McGreevy from the University of Sydney in Australia.

With the theme of “Embracing Science to Enhance Equine Welfare and Horse-Human Interactions,” the 9^th annual conference brought together equine scientists, veterinarians, students, horse trainers, instructors and riders at the University of Delaware in Newark during July 18-19 with excellent live equitation science demonstrations and discussion, held at Pennsylvania University’s New Bolton Center hosted by Prof Sue McDonnell.

ISES is a nonprofit organization that facilitates research into the training of horses so as to enhance horse welfare and improve the horse-rider relationship.

Photo by Dr Elke Hartmann

Advice to farmers, pet and horse owners in this hot weather

High temperatures and humidity, particularly sudden changes in conditions, can pose a major threat to animal welfare.
The following basic advice is to help farmers, transporters, pet owners and others avoid problems.

Those who look after animals must avoid causing them unnecessary suffering (it’s a legal requirement), and must avoid subjecting them to conditions where this is likely to occur.  It is an offence if the welfare of an animal is compromised as a result of a failure to take appropriate action in response to extremes of temperature.

Farmed animals should be provided with adequate shelter and protection in accordance with the law and welfare codes. In hot weather it is particularly important that animals have access to shade and water. Livestock keepers should inspect their animals often and take necessary action to correct any problems.

Those transporting animals, including agricultural animals, should avoid problems in hot weather. Things to consider include:

• factoring potential weather conditions into the planning of any journey (for example not loading or moving animals during the hottest parts of the day)
• improved ventilation of the vehicle
• increased space allowances
• providing water and electrolytes more frequently

In addition, contingency plans should be in place for every journey, and are particularly important in hot conditions as delays, which might be relatively insignificant under normal conditions, can become critical very quickly.

• Livestock transport vehicles: a guide to best practice on vehicle ventilation

Don’t forget your pets in hot weather. Make sure they have plenty of water, ventilation and shade from the sun. Dog owners should not leave their pets in the car.

• Protecting the welfare of pet dogs and cats during journeys - advice for owners on how to identify and avoid overheating in animals

DEFRA Guidelines

Widening the spotlight on genetic welfare problems: heritable disorders in selectively bred reptiles.

With the help of my programme director, Dr Fritha Langford, I have recently been lucky enough to secure a Student Vacation Scholarship from the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare to investigate the welfare consequences of selective breeding of captive reptiles.

My work will focus on the royal python Python regius, a species that has over the past two decades seen an explosion in popularity among pet owners, hobbyist and commercial breeders, due in part to the emergence and exploitation of atypical phenotypes or “morphs”. Base morphs, such as the above Spider (a pattern mutation) and Pastel (a colour mutation), are combined in artificial selective breeding to create designer morphs, such as the above “Bumblebee”.

Since the publication of the CAWC report on Genetic Welfare Problems in Companion Animals in 2006, animal welfare scientists have worked to increase awareness of genetic welfare problems linked to irresponsible selective breeding of companion animal species. To date, work has rightly been focused on domestic species, which have historically been subject to most selective breeding. However, with the recent surge in captive breeding of non-domestic species and the high demand for novel traits, there is a risk that characteristics detrimental to animal welfare will be propagated through artificial selection in reptiles in the same manner as has been seen in dogs and cats.

My project will focus on a single genetic disorder associated with a single, widely propagated phenotype of the royal python; the Spider morph (shown in the above example). The defect is known in the hobby as “wobble syndrome”, and presents as a characteristic loss of motor function during periods of stress and arousal. The Spider is deliberately selected for due to its high commercial value, resulting from its striking pattern, in which the black patches of the wild phenotype are significantly reduced to resemble a spider’s web.

Through survey of expert opinion, my report will establish for the first time a description of the wobble syndrome in the literature, and provide a quantitative assessment of the impacts of this condition to animal welfare. It is hoped that this will raise awareness of the potential for artificial selection to compromise welfare in reptiles, allowing informed breeding decisions to be made, evaluating anthropocentric benefit against welfare cost.

Mark Rose

Student on PGDip International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law

A Veterinary Nurse’s perspective on emergency shelter volunteering in Thailand

As many of you know JMICAWE’s welfare veterinary nurse Hayley Walters and veterinary surgeon Heather Bacon used their annual leave to volunteer at a Government run dog shelter in Thailand after 3,000 dogs were intercepted and rescued whilst on their way to Vietnam for the dog meat trade there.

Hayley, the only veterinary nurse on the international vet team, and Heather spent 10 days, treating, nursing and vaccinating the sick and dying dogs in the shelter and found the experience very testing.

With 2,000 dogs living in buildings designed originally for pigs and with an actual capacity for only 400 dogs, it was understandably difficult for the 2 Thai Government vets and handful of staff to provide good welfare standards for each individual. Many of the dogs in the shelter were dying either from diseases such as distemper and parvovirus or starvation due to overcrowding and the dogs’ inability to compete for the food offered twice daily. It was the ineffectualness of the treatment and nursing and the cultural differences in relation to things like acceptance of  euthanasia as a possibility,  that they found particularly upsetting.

Palliative care was the best that could be offered and each emaciated, suffering dog in the sadly filled to capacity hospital was offered pain relief and, thanks to Hayley, a small sheet of cardboard to protect their bony bodies from the wire bottom cages as they tried to survive. Hayley said:

“As I filled up each dog’s water bowl and cleaned its cage in the 35 degree heat and relentless humidity I was dismayed at how little I was able to provide for the hundreds of patients in the hospital. Filling its water accounted for only 5% of what I actually wanted to do as a vet nurse. There was no time to bathe and lubricate dry, discharging eyes; properly clean dogs as they lay in puddles of diarrhoea. No time to administer much needed fluids or sit and hand feed an anorexic dog, or to tablet the dogs that had eaten around their medication or even to stroke the ones that looked  enquiringly at me, offering limp tail wags and silently hoping for a gentle hand. There were so many dogs in the hospital and there was just not enough time to give them the basic care,…I just had to move on and clean out and top up the water of the next dog.”

What they did feel they achieved, and will hopefully continue now the team have left, is more humane handling techniques when moving and catching of the shelter dogs is necessary. The staff at the shelter are not knowledgeable about dog behaviour and have an understandable fear of being bitten and contracting rabies.  Of the limited staff there, none of them were vaccinated and no one had received training on how to handle nervous - aggressive dogs.

” It was incredibly sad to see these frightened dogs, who had already endured so much, being so roughly handled using heavy neck  graspers by the very people who were here to help them. I was really keen to demonstrate much more humane handling techniques whilst still maintaining the safety of the staff.”

By the end of their time there and with consistent safe but humane handling demonstrated, the staff learned how they could be much gentler and calmer with the dogs, the neck graspers were only used for the most dangerous of dogs and even then their bodies were supported when being lifted.

“ The reality of real world animal welfare is exhausting and depressing and I think I had a bout of compassion fatigue whilst out there. I walked away wondering what I had managed to achieve and questioning, once again, the ethics of long term shelters for animals. All these dogs…..these beautiful, friendly, individual characters….were all now facing a lifetime of captivity as anonymous souls in a dog saturated concrete pen.  And why? Sadly, all because of some peoples’ dietary preferences and the illegal trade that occurs to support this. I know I didn’t address the underlying problems to change the world in my 10 days in Thailand, but I hopefully made a few dogs’ lives a little more bearable”.

Soi dogs, the charity that funded Hayley and Heather’s  flights and hotel along with Worldwide Veterinary Services, employed more local staff to help with the ever growing influx of intercepted, smuggled dogs that arrived at the shelter. They have also funded the building of a new, improved purpose built shelter and continually advertise, via the internet, the new dogs that desperately need homes.

Hayley and Heather both adopted dogs whilst out there and they will be arriving in Scotland in the next couple of months. If anybody knows of anyone who would like to rehome one of the dogs currently living in the overcrowded shelter then please contact Soi Dogs. http://www.soidog.org/

Soi Dog Charity

Academics from India visit RDSVS for professional development in veterinary teaching and research

We were pleased to welcome 6 senior Indian veterinary academics to Edinburgh last week. Funded by their University and with the support of their VC Dr Ashok and led by Edinburgh University Alumni, Professor Usha who is the Director of pig genetics and production research at the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Science University, with whom the University through the RDSVS have a MoU, the group had a busy schedule of talks, visits and meetings. During their week-long visit, the group learned about the way in which the RDSVS PG and UG students are taught using a variety of different methodologies, how farm and Zoo practicals are integrated into problem based learning exercises, how knowledge about animal welfare is introduced throughout the curriculum and the way in which the curriculum is designed around Day 1 skills. A highlight for the team was visiting the small animal hospital and learning about the way in which cases are managed and the variety of specialist treatments available here.

Professor Usha said ‘ It had been a wonderful experience for us to learn about the vet education in Edinburgh. This visit has helped us to make suggestions for improving vet education in Kerala.  I am sure this visit will open up next stages of joint initiative’.

We are looking forward to the next stage of our project together, when Prof Anna Meredith will be visiting with the team in Wayanad in July to provide teaching on the wildlife health and welfare programme.

Heather Bacon of the JMICAWE contributes to important world wide policy development to help alleviate the suffering of animals used in tourism

Last week saw several positive developments in the welfare of wild and exotic animals. At a meeting on Animal Welfare, law and enforcement in Brussels, supported by the Federation of Vets of Europe, Born Free, Vier Pfoten, and Humane Society International, a number of issues relating to the welfare of exotic animals in zoos, circuses and trade were discussed. Member States attended to share their experiences in regulating the types of exotic species that could be kept in private ownership through the development of ‘positive lists’ as in Belgium and the Netherlands, Austria shared their experiences of banning wild animals in travelling circuses, and representatives from the European Alliance of Rescue centres and Sanctuaries, discussed the conservation and welfare implications of the illegal pet trade with particular reference to the endangered Barbary macaque – an entirely unsuitable species to be kept as a pet. Knowledge and experiences were shared and approaches to zoo inspectorate development discussed. In particular, the need for EU legislation on Animal Welfare across the region was highlighted by various member states, and across Europe there appears to be a growing demand and focus on regulation relating to captive wild animals.

This growing awareness also displays some global impact, with the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) launching their ‘Global guidance on animal in tourism’. This series of documents, on which Heather of the JMICAWE advised, covers animal use in a range of different tourism scenarios and provides guidance for tour operators on what is and is not, acceptable practice within the tourist industry.

We are pleased that we have been able contribute to the development of such an important policy that will help to alleviate the suffering of animals used in tourism around the world.

http://abta.com/news-and-views/press-zone/abta-launches-global-welfare-guidance-for-animals-in-tourism 

Animal Models and the Dynamics of Biomedicine

Animal models have long played a key role in biomedical research, impacting on the nature of laboratory practices, regulation and governance, and – ultimately – the kinds of knowledge about health and illness that scientists can produce. At the same time, the use of animals in research continues to attract public debate, and organisations like the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) are sponsored by the UK Research Councils, the Wellcome Trust and industry to support initiatives that will reduce, refine and replace the numbers of animals involved. The challenges and opportunities of this for biomedicine have been extensively debated, but there is a dearth of empirical, social science research that takes as its focus the everyday activities of scientists at the ‘coal face’.

Dr Martyn Pickersgill, a sociologist in the Centre for Population Health Sciences, has recently been awarded sponsorship from the Moray Endowment to undertake research on ‘Animal Models and the Dynamics of Biomedicine’. This project is situated at the interface between the disciplines of science and technology studies (STS), medical sociology, and empirical bioethics. It uses qualitative focus groups with researchers employing animal models in the study of biological processes (human and non-human), in order to generate discussion about the changing use of animals in research and the ethical and scientific decision-making involved. Part of Pickersgill’s wider research programme on the social and ethical dimensions of science and medicine, the study aims to cast new light on the means by which regulatory structures, moral discourse, and scientific questions come together to shape the nature of biomedical innovation.