Cathy Dwyer's role as independent expert on EU Animal Welfare Platform

JMICAWE Director completes her 3 years’ service on the EU Animal Welfare Platform

JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, has just completed her 3-year appointment to the EU Animal Welfare Platform as an independent expert on the platform. She now steps down from the platform as the UK’s departure from the EU means she is no longer eligible to apply for another term of membership.

During the last 3 years, Cathy has attended the 6-monthly meetings of the platform which provides updates on the most recent activities of the EU with respect to animal welfare, as well as reports on a number of sub-groups considering a range of issues from welfare guides for horses and donkeys, the welfare issues of a range of farmed species, and the usefulness of a welfare labelling scheme to ensure that products meet particular standards of welfare. In the last year, the publication of the Farm to Fork strategy has set ambitious goals for improving welfare within a sustainability framework, and kicked off a period of re-evaluation of the welfare legislation and compliance within the EU. It is hard to believe that some of the legislation is now more than 20 years old, and needs to be revised and reconsidered in the light of the last two decades of research and evidence gathering.

Of particular interest at the most recent meeting in June, was the impact of the End the Cage Age petition, which gained sufficient support from EU citizens to require a debate in the EU parliament. On 10th June the EU parliament overwhelmingly voted to end the keeping of farmed animals in cages by 2027. This should mean that millions of laying hens, farrowing sows and farmed rabbits, amongst other species, will no longer be kept in restrictive environments that do not allow them to stretch, move about and turn around. This is potentially a big step forward to achieve more ethical farming practices, and to improve the lives of animals kept in Europe. 

Cathy said - 

‘It has been really interesting to hear the latest animal welfare developments in the EU, and it feels now that there are a lot of actions starting to happen to improve animal lives, especially for farmed animals.’

Photo credit: Marianne Farish, SRUC

Hayley Walters delivers webinar for MSAVA

JMICAWE’s veterinary nurse, Hayley Walters, was invited by the Malaysian Small Animal Veterinary Association (MSAVA) to deliver a webinar to its members and non members last week. The topic was ‘Maintaining welfare standards during hospitalisation’ and was attended by over 170 delegates. 

Hayley talked about how to handle, examine, and house cats and dogs in the most positive ways possible in the clinic, thereby reducing stress for the patient, and considering their veterinary experience from the animal’s perspective. 

Hayley also covered how welfare can be improved in each section of the clinic the animal moves through, understanding dog body language and what you might see before a dog has to bite, and how to recognise and score pain in cats and dogs. 

Hayley said, 

“So much emphasis is placed on the physical health of an animal when being treated in the clinic and whilst that IS important, it shouldn’t be our only focus. We cannot break animals down to their biological values and thought needs to be given to their emotional state. Fear and stress are detrimental to an animal’s health and there are many simple, practical steps we can put in place to mitigate this and ensure their time in the clinic is as positive as possible.”

Hayley received many questions after her webinar and looks forward to working with MSAVA again in the future. 

AWES holds their 4th Annual Veterinary Welfare and Ethics Conference

The Animal Welfare and Ethics Society (AWES), a student-led society part of the R(D)SVS, have just held their 4th annual conference virtually this year. The topics spanned from ethical dilemmas of treating British Wildlife, pain management in small animal practice, to the role of vets in forensics. 

Below is a reflection by the conference organiser Yuko Okumura: 

The conference started in 2017 with Morgan Brown, a fourth year student, who wanted to provide a platform for active discussion and dialogue around veterinary ethical dilemmas. Her main goal was to better equip students once they were practicing vets and prepare them for the potential challenging welfare issues they would face.  Morgan wanted the conference to be accessible, and from the start, had aimed to keep the conference affordable.  

Whilst the virtual world certainly has its challenges, it also offered AWES an opportunity this year to welcome international speakers for the first time. We were able to reach delegates like never before - from both UK and international vet students, staff, and animal care professionals. Some such speakers were an animal welfare lecturer from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, a dog groomer, and a vet from Australia, to name a few. 

As with our previous conferences, we aimed to cover various species groups (farm, equine, small animals, exotics) and were able to welcome experts of each field. These experts ranged from but were not limited to: the technical director of the Humane Slaughter Association, a board member of the Michigan Horse Welfare Coalition, and the co-director of Human Behaviour Change for Animals. The conference also tried to take on a holistic approach to discuss how society and human attitudes continually shape animal welfare, the importance of the welfare of the vet, and an evaluation on the Scientific Procedures Act from a legislative perspective.  

One of the talks that resonated with me personally was the discussion on farm animal welfare by Dr. Matt Dobbs from the Animal Welfare Foundation. Matt spoke with passion about how as young vets, awareness alone was not enough; that we would have to feel empowered enough to be active drivers of change.

He emphasised our duty to call out and question long-held beliefs within this industry, to constantly challenge our own understanding and knowledge about animal welfare and ethics and doing so through evidence-based research. These sentiments most certainly resonate with the aims and objectives JMICAWE strives to do on a daily basis.

If you would like to watch the recordings from the conference- register here: 

https://forms.gle/NP6r5Eb9cSesnim98

More information about the conference and the AWES society can be found on our website: 

https://www.animalwelfareandethicssociety.com/2021-virtual-conference

JMICAWE spends a year Working From Home!

Bluebell (Director Cathy Dwyer's dog)
playing in the snow. 

We have just reached a milestone that no one expected or wanted – it is now a whole year since the JMICAWE team packed up our bags, plants and coffee mugs, said goodbye and headed off to work from home in the light of the pandemic, never expecting that we would still not be back in the office a year later! 

Whilst we all remain healthy, thankfully, and are blessed that we are able to carry on working from our homes via Teams, Zoom and every other means of communicating, it has been a difficult time for many. Most of the JMICAWE team have been relying on our pets for comfort – whether that is dog walking, riding horses or enjoying a cuddle with the cats that occasionally make an intervention into the Team meetings. So we are all appreciative of the benefits to our mental health and well-being that our pets bring. 

However, it is also important that we remember to take care of our pet’s welfare too, so it is a mutually beneficial relationship. Of increasing concern is that the high demand for puppies during the pandemic has created the perfect opportunity for unscrupulous breeders to offer puppies, often at very high prices, that have come from puppy farming backgrounds. 

As it is currently not possible to visit the puppy at home with its mother, it is harder than ever for buyers to be able to check that their prospective new puppies have had a proper start in life, and the mother has been properly taken care of. A number of charities in the UK have put together a resource that is designed to help UK buyers be assured that their puppies and parents have been kept under good conditions: https://puppycontract.org.uk/. You can also find more resources about Covid and pet welfare on the JMICAWE website here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/jeanne-marchig-centre/covid-animals

Perhaps you have not been able to work from home and have time on your hands, or are considering a change in career? Whilst we have not been able to do our usual travelling and visits to run workshops etc, the JMICAWE team has been hard at work creating online resources to support animal welfare education, often in collaboration with others. We have worked with Wild Welfare to create an educational resource looking at welfare of c
aptive wildlife, and have developed our own resources to support veterinary nursing students. 

We have worked with the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India to develop a postgraduate distance learning course on animal welfare which launched last year, and has an amazing 850 students on the course. We are also working with University of Queensland and collaborators in China to develop a course on animal welfare for students in China. And our Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are still freely available and continue to be very popular. You can find out more about all our activities by signing up for our newsletter, following us on social media, and checking out our courses and resources on our webpage: https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/jeanne-marchig-centre. Lastly, we hope to be able to meet up again in person very soon, but until then we hope to be able to keep you entertained and educated in animal welfare via other means.

Bird-brains or Chicken Einsteins? The truth about poultry cognitive abilities

Bird-Brains: Celebrating Poultry Day

Chickens are often overlooked and misunderstood. The term “bird-brain” is often used as an insult amongst us humans! However, a chicken’s brain (like all bird brains), is highly  complex with impressive cognitive abilities. They might be the most consumed terrestrial meat on the planet, with nearly 70 billion chickens processed for human consumption every year, but most people will never get the opportunity to get to know a chicken and spend time with them. Chickens have been shown to be emotional and intelligent, with some similar cognitive capacities to pigs, dogs and primates.

Chickens are emotional beings and science has shown us they are able to express depression after an injury and aspects of maternal empathy when their chicks become distressed. They can also do basic maths from a young age, performing addition and subtraction of coloured objects. Furthermore, they can demonstrate self-control and will choose to wait for longer periods in order to get the best rewards. Anyone who has spent time with chickens know they are chatty birds and science has documented over twenty different vocalisations they use to communicate. Even more impressive is that each of their vocals (e.g., calls, whistles, peeps, etc.) actually convey information, which references specific cues in their environment. For example, they have different alarm calls for different predators! Chickens can also deceive each other in order to gain the upper hand in social contexts - for example males will fake food calls in order to attract females, but females have also learnt to ignore males which food call too often!

It’s fair to say there is much more to chickens than the simplified “bird-brain” image. Students who have been given the opportunity to spend time with chickens and train them with positive clicker-training methods are reported to be surprised in how bright chickens can be. Knowing all that we do about the cognitive and emotional capabilities of chickens it might be time to re-think the term “bird-brain”!

If this has stimulated your interest to learn more about chickens, you can also take our MOOC in chicken behaviour and welfare here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/chickens

Blog Post by Dr Jessica Martin

Hayley Walters speaks to Royal Veterinary College, London

JMICAWE’s veterinary nurse Hayley Walters was requested by rival vet school The Royal Veterinary College, London, to speak to their student veterinary nurses who are close to graduating.

Hayley was delighted to have been personally chosen by the students to talk about the opportunities veterinary nurses have once qualified. Hayley has spent a large portion of her career working overseas in low to middle income countries either in the charity sector or teaching and it was on this that she was talking.

 

Developing countries face many challenges in veterinary education and care and Hayley was keen to ensure that the students understood why these challenges exist in order to better prepare them should they choose to work overseas. Religious, cultural, and economical reasons, plus drug availability all play their part in a  different experience in veterinary education and care and it is important that this is understood in order to not only be helpful when working in overseas projects, but also not to offend anybody. Hayley said -  

“British veterinary nurses are trained to a high standard. Many of our skills are easily transferable to other species and, with a little bit of thinking outside the box when necessary, is valuable in situations where funds and resources may be limited.”

 

Hayley was inundated with questions at the end regarding which charities to choose to work for so stressed that students do their research before going to ensure the charity is legitimate, the charity requests you are a veterinary nurse, and has good standards of animal welfare.

International Women’s Day, 8th March 2021

 For the 2021 International Women’s Day we are delighted to celebrate the contribution that women have made to animal welfare, veterinary medicine, and One Welfare. The theme of this year’s International Women’s day is #ChooseToChallenge. This is so relevant to the work that many women do, and especially to those of us who work to improve animal welfare. So often we need to choose to challenge the status quo in animal management, to raise our voices to ask questions about whether this is the best approach for animals, and to remind others that animal lives matter too. In the past, and maybe still in the present, we risk being labelled as ‘fluffy’ or ‘bunny-huggers’ or a range of other derogative comments by those who do not want to consider that animals may be sentient and that actions towards them may cause suffering.

However, women have had a long history of challenging current thinking and practices to improve animal welfare. The book of a 19th Century novelist, Anna Sewell, about the life of a horse, Black Beauty, challenged the ways that horses were treated when horses were providing traction power everywhere, and argued for the ethical treatment of animals. In the early 1900s Dorothy Brooke was horrified at the treatment of ex-British army horses abandoned in Egypt and challenged the status quo by rescuing many horses and founding the charity The Brooke. In 1952 Rukmuni Devi Arundale was the first woman to be nominated to the Indian Parliament’s Council of States, and a passionate advocate of animal welfare, founding the Animal Welfare Board of India in 1962. Rachel Carson, a marine biologist from the US, is credited with advancing the global environmental movement through her book, Silent Spring, published in 1962, which brought arguments about conservation and environmentalism to the general public for the first time. And in 1964 Ruth Harrison wrote a pivotal book, Animal Machines, which exposed to the public the practices in modern livestock farming, and sparked a whole field of animal welfare science, and animal welfare legislation in the UK and beyond. Each of these women challenged the current thinking and practices, and showed that there could be another way. 

As more women become veterinary professionals and animal welfare scientists, and more women are engaged in working to improve animal welfare, we stand on the shoulders of these giants in choosing to challenge way animals are treated and working to make a difference for animal lives.

We thank you all.

Recognising the importance of wildlife welfare for World Wildlife Day

Wednesday 3rd March marks the 2021 World Wildlife Day (https://www.wildlifeday.org/), which this year will celebrate forest-based livelihoods and seeks to promote forest and forest wildlife management for people, animals and the planet. The aim is to promote a sustainable future for humans, forests and forest-dwelling wildlife species, recognising the need for practices that protect these crucial natural systems.

Here at JMICAWE we have had a long term focus on the welfare of wildlife, whether these are free-living or captive, recognising our responsibilities to ensure that they are protected and to consider where veterinary medicine can play a role in their welfare. As we are all aware with the current pandemic, the relationships between ourselves and wildlife are tightly intertwined in ensuring the health of the planet and those who live on it. JMICAWE vet, Dr Heather Bacon, is an expert in bear and zoo animal medicine, and is involved with several groups and organisations to help promote wildlife welfare. She has contributed to workshops on the welfare of bears and other captive wildlife, including conducting the world’s first ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis of a pangolin, one of the most trafficked animals in the world. In collaboration with Wild Welfare, JMICAWE has developed an accessible and interactive digital resource ‘Wild about Welfare’ to help promote the welfare of captive wildlife through a focus on good husbandry and meeting an animal’s welfare needs (https://wildwelfare.org/uk-charity-tackles-global-animal-welfare-issues-with-digital-education-programme/ or https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/jeanne-marchig-centre/cpd/wild-welfare).

JMICAWE director, Prof Cathy Dwyer, also chairs the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, which has a remit to consider the welfare of free-living wildlife in Scotland. The Commission has just published a report on the welfare of wild deer in Scotland (https://www.gov.scot/publications/management-of-wild-deer-scottish-animal-welfare-commission-response/), and is currently considering the welfare of beavers, and the welfare implications of the management of wild rodents. Both Heather and Cathy will be speakers at the forthcoming Wild Animal Welfare Committee conference on 19th April, which will address the topic: Wild Animal Welfare: Does it matter? Can it be assessed? How can it be optimised? See https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8028284674528591630 for more information and to register for the conference.

New definition of animal sentience published in Scotland

Animal sentience has become an important concept in animal welfare – as modern views on animal welfare become focused on what the animal feels or experiences, then determining which animals can feel or experience, and how this might be defined, has become relevant. In EU legislation following the Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force in 2009, there is formal recognition that animals are sentient beings (1). This is then associated with a requirement to ‘pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals’. Since then this concept has become an important part of the animal welfare legislation of many countries outside of the EU.

The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC), set up in 2020, is chaired by JMICAWE director, Prof Cathy Dwyer. As part of the remit of SAWC, consideration of animal sentience and the impact of any changes in legislation on welfare will be reported to the Scottish Government annually. One of the first jobs undertaken by SAWC was to provide a definition of animal sentience to guide the work of the Commission, and this has just been published (2). SAWC defines animal sentience as:

‘the ability to have physical and emotional experiences, which matter to the animal, and which can be positive and negative’

SAWC also reflects on which species are considered to be sentient and for whom consideration of animal welfare is important. This includes all vertebrates (mammals, fish, birds, amphibians and reptiles), cephalopods (such as octopus) and the decapod crustaceans (such as crab and lobster). Important parts of this definition are that it recognises the capacity of animals to have both positive and negative emotions, whereas previous definitions have focused only on negative emotions (such as pain or fear). In addition, including some invertebrates in the list of animals considered to be sentient recognises that welfare is relevant to a wider group of animals than previously considered, and recognises the accumulation of scientific evidence that supports sentience in these species.

1 - https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/welfare_en 

2 - https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-animal-welfare-commission-statement-on-animal-sentience/

Free digital education programme launched

The Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education, in collaboration with Wild Welfare have launched a free digital education programme aimed at anyone working with captive wildlife.

The interactive resource addresses knowledge gaps that may result in captive animal suffering and gives animal care staff the tools they need to provide optimal welfare for animals living in captive facilities such as zoos, aquariums and wildlife centres.

 

Each module has a learning document and an interactive quiz, with questions and activities to encourage knowledge retention and inspire learning. The programme is fully accessible from a computer or mobile device.

 

To access the Wild Welfare free digital education resource: https://wildwelfare.org/resources-elearn-programme/

For further information about continuing professional development resources offered by JMICAWE: https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/jeanne-marchig-centre/cpd

https://www.scotsman.com/education/edinburgh-university-and-uk-animal-welfare-charity-collaborate-education-programme-captive-wildlife-keepers-3110093

 

Welcome to Dr Kevin McPeake!

Kevin McPeake has recently joined the University of Edinburgh Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies as a Lecturer in Clinical Animal Behaviour. Kevin graduated from the University of Glasgow as a veterinary surgeon in 2005, and has worked in a range of first opinion small animal practices across the UK. 

In 2011, Kevin completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Companion Animal Behaviour Counselling before setting up a behaviour referral clinic in the North East of Scotland until 2014. He then moved to the University of Lincoln to undertake a project researching a novel anti-anxiety medication for dogs and remained there to complete a 5-year post combining a residency in veterinary behavioural medicine and has recently submitted his PhD research on frustration in dogs. 

Five days into his new role with the University of Edinburgh Kevin received the welcome news that he has passed his behavioural medicine board exams and is thus now a Diplomate of the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine. Kevin will be setting up an animal behaviour clinic within the Hospital for Small Animals allowing veterinarians to refer canine and feline behaviour cases for assessment and treatment.

"I am delighted to be starting my new role at the University of Edinburgh. Joining a team of leading experts in animal behaviour and welfare as well as the multi-disciplinary specialists within the Hospital for Small Animals is an exciting prospect and I look forward to working together with colleagues to advance the field of veterinary behavioural medicine. I am keen to share my knowledge through teaching on the MSc in Clinical Animal Behaviour as well as integrate behavioural medicine as a core subject in the undergraduate curriculum.”

New Year Honours for Dr Heather Bacon

We would like to wish all our friends, colleagues and supporters a very Happy New Year and every best wish for 2021.  For all of us 2020 has been a very difficult and trying year, so we are delighted to be able to kick 2021 off with some fantastic news: Heather Bacon, who has been with JMICAWE from the very beginning in 2011, has been given an OBE (Officer of the order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s New Year Honours list, in recognition of her work in veterinary education, animal welfare and charity work in the UK and abroad. 

This is one of the highest honours that can be bestowed on a UK citizen, and is a wonderful and very well deserved recognition of the enormous amount of work that Heather has done, and continues to do, in the service of animal welfare. There is not space here enough to do justice to everything that Heather has achieved, but this includes her work for the vet school in organising and delivering teaching to undergraduate veterinary students and postgraduate Masters
students in animal welfare in veterinary contexts, dog and cat behaviour and welfare, veterinary ethics and captive wild animal welfare. She has organised and delivered workshops and training in animal welfare, veterinary practice and ethics across Asia, including in China, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and elsewhere, and plays a pivotal role in the development of online training materials for veterinary education in animal welfare and dog population management. 

Heather contributes to the work of the British Veterinary Association, Federation of Vets of Europe, and the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, including leading conference sessions and contributing to animal welfare publications.  She also works with many charities in the UK and overseas, including Animals Asia, Wild Welfare, DogStar, Fostering Compassion, the Bear Care Group, Dog’s Trust, and The Winton Foundation for the Welfare of Bears, often giving her specialist veterinary expertise in bear and zoo animal medicine and welfare for free. 

If this was not enough Heather is also a Defra-certified zoo animal welfare inspector, and has worked closely with the charity Animals Asia for many years both as their previous veterinary director, and more recently to deliver collaborative veterinary and zoo animal welfare education in Asia.

We feel very honoured to have Heather as part of the JMICAWE team. She has already received many other awards and recognition from the veterinary community for her work in animal welfare and we are delighted with this recognition of her achievements from her Majesty.   

World Horse Welfare Conference - 'The Horse-Human Partnership - What's in it for the Horse?'

Education identified as the most important factor in improving the horse-human partnership

As we cope with the global pandemic, it is becoming ever more common to attend conferences and meeting without leaving home. Last week JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, attended the first entirely virtual annual conference of World Horse Welfare, focused on the theme of the ‘The Horse-Human Partnership – What’s in it for the Horse?’ from her own desk, and supplying her own coffee and biscuits! The conference made great use of the opportunities provided by the virtual environment and opened with a poll asking participants to choose which issue they considered the most lacking in horse welfare. Overwhelmingly (58%) of participants chose mental wellbeing as the key issue, with a good (humane) death a distant second with 18% of votes. It was heartening to see the complete acceptance of animal mental state, and a movement away from only considering physical welfare, being so clearly expressed by participants.

The conference dealt with the main topic by considering the welfare and interests of horses as leisure animals, working animals and engaged in sport (racehorses), as well as considering the benefits that humans can get from positive interactions with horses. Madeleine Campbell, from the Royal Veterinary College, gave a comprehensive overview of recent research focusing on the expression of emotions in horses, and how this can help to improve our understanding of what the horse might be experiencing in our interactions with them. Peter Thornber, from the Commonwealth Veterinary Association, then gave a thought-provoking talk, which discussed the complex and often dependent relationships between working equids and the families that rely on them for their livelihoods, and the work of International Coalition for Working Equids to help improve the welfare of both equids and humans. Across the globe, the horse and other equids play varied but important roles in human lives, and have done so for many thousands of years, and we are now starting to consider the horse-human relationship from both sides of the partnership.

The Conference included a number of polls and discussion topics, and it was clear that concepts of the modern horse-human partnership has moved on from the idea that a leisure horse needs a ‘job or purpose’. The role of the horse as a companion, a means of improving owner mental well-being, and with interests in its own quality of life, was supported by nearly all participants and panellists. The Conference wrapped up with a poll asking what one word might improve the horse-human partnership from the perspective of the horse. In agreement with the remit of JMICAWE, Education came out as the most important factor, with empathy, respect, compassion and understanding also considered very important issues.

The whole conference is available to watch as a recording for those interested in learning more here: https://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/about-us/our-organisation/our-conference

JMICAWE's Hayley Walters is guest speaker at Veterinary Nursing Evening

Veterinary nurse (VN) Hayley Walters spoke at The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ virtual ‘Veterinary Nursing Evening’ this week. During the evening, over 70 newly registered VNs were formally welcomed to the register; and the achievements of several nurses who have completed their Advanced Diploma were recognised.

It is the second year running Hayley has been a special guest speaker at this very happy event. Last year it was held at London Zoo where Hayley talked about her career as a veterinary nurse and how the qualification led her to work with moon bears in China and Vietnam, street dogs in Bosnia and teach in vet schools in India and Sri Lanka. 

This year Hayley gave the talk from her home in Nottingham and focused on the challenges of working in low to middle income countries, and why they exist for the veterinary profession.

“Working in developing countries, once I’d qualified as a veterinary nurse, was something I’d always wanted to do, and I have had amazing experiences whilst doing it. It is something I would recommend to any VN who has a passion for combining their job with travelling. It is an exciting thing to do with your life, but it is also a productive way of helping animals who are less fortunate than our UK pets. However, it can also be upsetting to see some of the welfare challenges that exist so this talk was to highlight a few of the difficulties, why they exist and what to do when you are faced with them.”

Hayley will receive a donation for her chosen charity ‘DogStar Foundation’ in Sri Lanka as a thank you for her time.