The most experienced bear vet nurse in the world - and she happens to also be one of our IAWEL MSc graduates!

Follow the link below to read about Wendy Leadbeater, an inspiring vet nurse working for Animal Asia out in China.

https://www.animalsasia.org/uk/media/news/news-archive/the-most-experienced-bear-vet-nurse-in-the-world.html

Promoting animal welfare in China

JMICAWE's very own Associate Dean (International), Professor Natalie Waran, is out in China this week.  Yesterday she visited Jilin which is one of the top three vet schools in China and the biggest . They approached us to see if we can develop a relationship so that they can learn about how we deliver veterinary education; how to integrate research so that it underpins their teaching; and how we teach animal welfare and other concepts such as One Health.  So exciting times ahead with a range of initiatives planned including a visit by their senior academics to Edinburgh shortly.... watch this space!

Highly endangered Marsican brown bear released into the wild

Highly endangered brown bear released into the wild

 

Last month Morena, a highly endangered Marsican brown bear was released into the wild after months of rehabilitation. Found as an orphan cub in May 2015, Morena required treatment for infected wounds, dental fistulas and eye infections, and behavioural rehabilitation to ensure that she could cope with a return to the wild. There are estimated to be only 50 Marsican brown bears left in the world, and this subspecies is only found in Central Southern Italy.

Heather Bacon of the JMICAWE who advised on veterinary treatment of the cub said “We are delighted with the progress that Morena made – her rehabilitation is an excellent example of cooperation between individuals around the world. Marsiscan brown bears are a highly endangered subspecies and so it was essential that Morena was physically and behaviourally able to cope with the stress of reintroduction, and contribute to the breeding success of this population.”

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/finally-some-good-christmas-news-nearly-bears-abruzzo-kevin-denham

Non-traditional Companion Animals - the Scottish government's review; and a reptile welfare survey

Non-Traditional Companion Animals – the Scottish government review and reptile welfare survey

The keeping of Exotic pets or ‘not traditional’ companion animals is increasingly under scrutiny as the Scottish government moves forward with its review of their welfare. With surveys such as the PDSA’s Animal Wellbeing report highlighting low levels of owner awareness of the five welfare needs as they apply to traditional companion animals (https://www.pdsa.org.uk/get-involved/our-current-campaigns/pdsa-animal-wellbeing-report), are these problems magnified when it comes to exotic species?

This was the subject of discussion at the recent BVA congress with presentations from Sheila Voas the Chief Veterinary Officer for Scotland, and Michael Stanford of the British Veterinary Zoological Society  http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/177/24/616.full?sid=77f6cf98-453d-4445-a53a-f994a16cc67f

This congress builds on discussions already underway within the BVA and with Scottish government, with which the JMICAWE have participated. Heather Bacon of the JMICAWE, sits on both the BVA’s Ethics and Welfare committee and its exotic pet subcommittee, and has been involved in the discussions leading to the developments of BVA’s statements on this issue http://www.bva.co.uk/News-campaigns-and-policy/Policy/Companion-animals/Exotic-pets/

Heather said ‘It is very likely that the welfare of all companion animals, both traditional and non-traditional, could be improved through better owner education and enforcement of existing legislation relating to animal welfare. Surveys such as the PDSA’s PAW report highlight significant deficiencies in the appropriate care we provide for many companion species and at present there is a dearth of information relating to the welfare of non-traditional species. Revision of legislation relating to pet vending is overdue, and the suitability of species to be kept as pets may need to be reassessed.’

Vets dealing with reptile species may be interested in completing this recently developed survey to elicit further information on reptile husbandry and welfare in the UK

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ReptileWelfareVets

Animal Behaviour Society Lecture - 26th January 2016

For the R(D)SVS Animal Behaviour Society's next guest lecture, we will be joined by our own Professor Danielle Gunn-Moore, BSc, BVM&S, PhD, FHEA, MANZCVSc, MRCVS.

She will be giving a talk on the role of behaviour in feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD).

The talk is on Tuesday, 26th January, at 5pm in Lecture Theatre 2. There will also be free chocolate!

Danielle is an RCVS recognised Specialist in Feline Medicine. She is an internationally recognised expert in her area and has received the BSAVA Woodrow Award for outstanding contribution in the field of small animal veterinary medicine in 2009 and the International Society for Feline Medicine/Hill's award for outstanding contributions to Feline Medicine in 2011. She is Professor of Feline Medicine here at the Dick Vet.

For event reminders via Facebook, see our event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/171144263241442/

 

Online MSc IAWEL student Anik Boileau makes a difference in new Quebec animal welfare law

We are very pleased to report that the animal protection legislation has been updated in Quebec, Canada. Even more so as one of our Online MSc International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law students was directly involved. Anik Boileau took the brave step to offer her services and she worked on updating the legislation to include sentience as a key term to describe animals. We are very proud of the work she has done.

Anik says:

“When I was in my second year of the MSc in IAWEL, a Manifesto was created here in Quebec by a group of 34 intellectuals, artists, journalists and professors. Entitled “Manifesto for the evolution of Animal's legal status in the Civil Code of Quebec”, it underlined how our Civil Code dated back to 1804 and considered animals as "things". This Manifesto was signed by 52,000 people and that's when our Minister of Agriculture Pierre Paradis announced he would create a Bill to improve the legal situation of animals. I was really thrilled so I decided to write directly to Minister Paradis's Office to offer my services as a consultant and two months later they called me and asked me to work with their lawyer.

I advised on different aspects, but mostly on definitions and in the writing of different chapters. This was a process of give and take but I'm really glad that a major step was taken in the description of animals as sentient beings in this new animal welfare and safety Act. The changes are very important because we now have a specific Act, recognising that" An animal's welfare or safety is presumed to be compromised if the animal does not receive care that is consistent with its biological needs" compared to the previous legislation that applied to animals, in which it was only in the Civil Code under "Property" just like any other "things" or "belongings". My studies in IAWEL were just so helpful because I knew which aspects were the most important ones and I was able to explain clearly their implications from a scientific and legal point of view. My biggest challenge was to explain how the concept of welfare comes from a holistic approach that includes psychological states like anxiety! Thanks to the IAWEL programme, I truly feel that animals here in Quebec now have a much brighter welfare future ahead of them!”

We are so happy that her ongoing studies on IAWEL have helped her feel she has the support and evidence to be able to make a difference.

Programme Co-ordinator, MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour

Further to our blog before Christmas about the launch of our new MSc, we are currently advertising for a Programme Co-Ordinator for this course.

Details and a job description can be found at the link below:-

https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=035152

Please do apply if of interest, the deadline is 11th January!

Animal Welfare: The Human Element - 1st International Conference 19th-21st September 2016

 

JMICAWE are proud to be the academic partner to the first ever international conference on human behaviour change and animal welfare, to be held in Dorking, Surrey in September.  Our Centre Director, Professor Natalie Waran, will be collaborating on a session about education.  For more details about the conference, follow this link:-

www.hbcanimalwelfare.com

 

This international conference will be the first in a field that is rapidly becoming recognized as a key component in animal welfare work. Modern practice is moving away from the traditional approach of focussing on service provision (e.g. veterinary care, training, or hands-on assistance) or raising awareness and towards those activities as part of a more human-centered approach to generate change that lasts.

The conference will include presentations on human behaviour change theory from key speakers and submitted presentations and case studies selected from peer-reviewed abstracts. 

The aims of the conference are:

·         To highlight the importance of human behaviour change (HBC) in animal welfare work.

·         To educate on core elements of HBC theory through key presentations from leading experts.

·         To facilitate sharing of information and experiences of HBC for animal welfare. 

·         To encourage embedding of HBC in inter-sectoral collaboration, innovation and policy. 

·         To explore novel methods for the monitoring and evaluation of HBC approaches and provide evidence-based information illustrating its value.

 

 

MSc (Clinical Management of Pain) - Free places for online CPD!

MSc (Clinical Management of Pain)

 

*** Limited numbers of places for free online CPD ***

A new module in the MSc (Clinical Management of Pain) programme is offered for the first time in 2016, “Veterinary Musculoskeletal Pain: Small Animals”. Now in its tenth year, the online programme is provided on the University of Edinburgh’s well-proven and intuitive platform. Three UK-based vets, who graduated with the MSc in 2014, wrote about their reflections on the programme.

 

OPTIONS FOR STUDY

1.    “Veterinary Musculoskeletal pain: Small animals” module has been approved for the MSc (Clin. Mgmt. Pain) programme (20 credits).

2.    The module can also be studied as part of Personal Professional Development (PPD). PPD students will also be awarded 20 credits at Masters level, which may be transferrable to another programme.

3.    As this is a new module, we want to obtain some feedback from participants who have an interest in pain management. To meet this need we are offering a limited number of free places to study the module, with the usual fees waived. The University of Edinburgh will issue a certificate for 200hrs CPD to participants, upon successful completion of the module.

 

TIMETABLE

The “Veterinary Musculoskeletal Pain: Small Animals” module runs for 15 weeks, from 25^th January to 22^nd May incl., with a two week break 4^th April to 17^th April incl.

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the module participants are expected to better understand:

·         The epidemiology of musculoskeletal pain.

·         The critical appraisal of preclinical and clinical evidence relating to musculoskeletal pain.

·         The proposed pathophysiology and pain-generating mechanisms in musculoskeletal diseases affecting dogs and cats.

·         The influence of bio-behavioural contributors to animals’ pain experiences.

·         The critical appraisal and use of validated pain assessment tools.

·         The role of comorbidities in complicating therapeutic management.

·         The pharmacology of pain-relieving drugs and their implementation in a rational, multimodal approach to musculoskeletal pain management.

·         Ethical considerations when offering palliative care.

For further information, or to register your interest in one of the limited number of places for free CPD please contact Fergus Coutts BVM&S MSc MRCVS: fergus.coutts@ed.ac.uk. (Closing date 11^th January 2016).

Launch of the new MSc/Dip/Cert in Clinical Animal Behaviour

We are really pleased to announce the launch of this new MSc/Dip/Cert course via online distance learning, starting in September 2016.

 

 

 

For further information, please visit www.ed.ac.uk/vet/clinical-animal-behaviour.



Send a Vet Nurse to India update

Send a Vet Nurse to India

 

This month sees the return of the JMICAWE team from India where we’ve been hard at work to introduce the veterinary nursing profession to Indian vets.  JMICAWE veterinary nurse Hayley Walters, supported by veterinary surgeon Heather Bacon also of the JMICAWE and Edinburgh Napier University’s Andrew Coe and Karen Hibell,  led a team of 8 3^rd year student veterinary nurses to demonstrate the essential role of veterinary nursing within the veterinary profession. 

The ‘Send a Vet Nurse to India’ project was a collaboration between the JMICAWE, Kerala Veterinary Animal Sciences University (KVASU) and Edinburgh Napier University. The project involved fully integrating the student vet nurse team into the two veterinary teaching hospitals in Kerala and demonstrating the invaluable support a well-trained VN has to offer to vet in India, in not only improving animal welfare but also the smooth running of a hospital.



 

The students VNs were professional, hardworking, compassionate and despite being students themselves, developed the confidence to teach and explain to the vet students there what they were doing and why. The project gave student VNs a genuine insight into the challenges of working in a developing country and inspired them to develop practical solutions to dealing with the problems they faced.

Hayley said, “India has a few challenges when it comes to the veterinary profession: 1) they have a huge shortage of veterinarians. Last estimate revealed a shortfall of over 62,000 and 2) they don’t have trained, qualified veterinary nurses to provide the supportive care needed to ensure a high level of patient care. Many of the teaching hospitals have state of the art, expensive equipment in their operating theatres but no beds to recover their patients on and no staff dedicated to their daily needs”. 

Currently in India, trained veterinary surgeons are responsible for all veterinary duties, from basic techniques such as blood sampling or bandaging, to complex surgical procedures. The vast scope of this workload is a challenge to the development of the profession, as excessive time is taken up with minor procedures, basic animal management, and logistics such as stock control, which would, in other parts of the world, normally be the responsibility of the veterinary nurse.

The 8 student VNs fully immersed themselves in all aspects of hospital work including the inpatient area, anaesthetic monitoring, surgical patient preparation, handling, cleaning and physiotherapy. The afternoons were spent delivering workshops to students and faculty members, clinical skills practise on models and manikins and protocol writing to improve patient care and the running of the hospital.

KVASU were so impressed with what the vet nurses had to offer that all faculty members unanimously agreed to endorse a VN training programme and qualification. Building on this success Prof Nat Waran, who was also in India, met with the Indian Veterinary Council to discuss both veterinary and veterinary nursing education, and to propose the endorsement of a veterinary nursing training programme in India. Hayley has just finished writing a proposal and VN curriculum for the Veterinary Council of India and we hope to see India’s first ever Veterinary Nurse Training Curriculum and Associated Diploma Level Qualification very soon.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year - our festive round robin

We wish you a peaceful and restful

Christmas and New Year period,

wherever you are in the world

 

As we come to the close of 2015, we would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for all that you do to further animal welfare in your work. Without the support and collaboration of people like you, our team would not have been able to achieve what we have over the past year, and certainly the future of animal welfare would not have moved forward as it has.  Highlights of our year include a variety of different animal welfare education activities around the world:

        The success of the ‘Vet Nurse to India’ project, as well as collaborating with the Indian Government to run a production animal health and welfare workshop for veterinarians and researchers working in Animal Science and Veterinary medicine; 

        A working visit to Edinburgh by the Deans and representatives from Chinese veterinary schools to learn about international standards, innovation in veterinary teaching, integration of animal welfare and best practice animal care;

        A Chile Dogs and Society Workshop in collaboration with Chilean veterinary schools to discuss issues of managing dog populations;

        The success of our free online course (MOOC) in animal welfare, attracting more than 70,000 people from 167 countries and leading to publications and webinars to show how successful this has been for up-skilling people around the world in animal welfare;

        The making of the  ’Street Dog’ short video in India and its dissemination through Youtube www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-UEb9KOgpE, watched by 30,000+ worldwide and its uptake by Governments, including supporting the US Government’s Anti-Rabies campaign;

 

        The graduation of our first ‘online’ Masters students in Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law and an increase in our Animal Welfare Masters community to more than 150 each year;

    The development of a protocol to audit the welfare of street dogs in trap-neuter-return Programmes, enabling projects to monitor their own welfare standards, and to apply practical solutions to welfare problems that are detected. More info at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVwB3mAOOQg 

 

       Collaboration on the publication of two in-depth resources to improve animal welfare in zoos.  1: The World Association for Zoos and Aquaria’s ‘Animal Welfare Strategy’, and 2: The European Commission’s ‘Good practice guide for implementation of the EU zoos directive’. Both documents contain extensive practical information to support improvements in zoo animal welfare;

        The delivery of animal welfare education to multiple partners around the world including in China, Vietnam, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Poland, Turkey, and Portugal.

Finally,  we are extremely grateful to the Marchig Trust for providing the funding that supports the Centre’s work as an integrated unit within the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh, and for their continued faith in us by agreeing to provide us with continued funding to support our work over the next five years.

With best wishes and many thanks to you all,

from Prof Nat Waran and the team at the

Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education

 

 

Fermented Mare's Milk and Donkey Soup in Inner Mongolia

 





 

Just a couple of the unusual food choices found on the menu in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia!

 

Sampling some of the more interesting things that Mongolian food has to offer was just a part of the recent visit to the Inner Mongolian Agricultural University by Prof Cathy Dwyer, team leader in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at SRUC and Gemma Pearson, clinical behaviour resident at the Equine Practice, R(D)SVS. Cathy and Gemma spent two weeks in Hohhot as guests of the Agricultural University to give lectures on sheep and horse behaviour and welfare to students and industry. The trip provided a fascinating insight into the very modern (large scale industrialised dairy and sheep units managing thousands of animals) and the ancient (Buddhist temples and nomadic herdsman taking their animals out to graze on the Steppes) co-existing in China today.

 

Cathy Dwyer, second from left



The Chinese veterinary and agriculture students were interested in animal behaviour and welfare, and keen to discuss concepts and to be able to access other information or to attend Masters courses outside China. Animal welfare has only really be considered a subject in China for the last 10 years, and there is still some confusion over what it is and whether it is a subject of importance to agriculture. Sheep industry representatives, however, were of the belief that improving welfare would be important for the improvement in their profits. The manager of the Sino- sheep breeding farm was particularly taken by the fact that Cathy arrived in her farm boots and headed off to see the animals rather than spend the time sitting in the office drinking tea – the difference between UK and Chinese researchers he suggested!

 

Visits to the Technical University horse farm also revealed opportunities to help with education and training of students as the leisure horse industry is exploding in China. Mongolia has its own very special breed of hardy horses and a very old tradition of horsemanship. The horse is everywhere in Mongolia: from the horse-head guitars, statues of Genghis Khan to decorations in restaurants and homes. Scientists at the Agricultural University discussed plans to develop a stud book and preserve the unique character of this ancient breed, and the opportunity to provide a role for the horse for the Mongolian farmers was suggested through equine tourism – watch this space!      

 

This initial visit was characterised by cultural events, visits to important religious and cultural sites as well as academic activities. There are many opportunities for joint research and education activities with the University and hopefully this is just the start of many more visits and interactions between SRUC, University of Edinburgh and Inner Mongolia.  

 

 

CEVA Awards for Animal Welfare - nominations open

Now in its fifth year, the Ceva Awards for Animal Welfare recognises volunteers, charity workers ,and veterinary professionals who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to supporting and improving animal welfare around the world.

The two main veterinary categories are the Chris Laurence Vet of the Year and Welfare Nurse of the Year. Last year's Welfare Nurse of the Year was won by Hayley Walters of the JMICAWE.

Whilst both of these categories are open to large animal veterinary professionals, the addition of the Farm Animal Welfare Award allows specific recognition for people that work within the farming industry and strive to encourage high standards of ethical and compassionate farm animal welfare.

 

Anyone who knows of a veterinary professional, individual or team who goes that extra mile for animals is encouraged to nominate at  http://www.cevawelfareawards.com

The Award categories are:

Chris Laurence Vet of the Year Award ( Sponsored by Vet Times)

Welfare Nurse of the Year Award ( Sponsored by VN Times)

Charity Professional of the Year Award

Charity Volunteer of the Year

 

Farm Animal Welfare Award ( Sponsored by NADIS and R.A.B.I)

Charity Welfare Team Award Sponsored by

 International Cat Care Welfare Award

 

Deadline for nominations is January 11th 2016