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Seminar on Animal Welfare

Rationale of the Seminar

There is a worldwide increasing interest and an extreme sensibility in the humanitarian treatment towards animals. Animal health is the basic aim for OIE, and it is an essential component of animal welfare. This is why the OIE has been granted this mandate by the General Assembly of Delegates and has taken as a commitment to reach a consensus shared by its 174 members in order to establish guidelines on animal welfare elaborated on scientific bases. Two global conferences on animal welfare have been organised in 2004 and 2008 by the OIE to provide a forum for explanation of the OIE’s initiatives on animal welfare and foster the implementation of standards internationally. Veterinary Services are the best placed to deal with the issue of animal welfare and must take greater responsibility in this domain. To cover all the aspects of animal welfare, OIE created a permanent working group on animal welfare in 2002. Since 2005, the OIE International Committee has approved four chapters that currently appear in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code on transport of livestock by land, sea and air, slaughter of animals for human consumption and killing of animals for disease control purposes. Those standards are regularly updated and new ones are under development. Still, regarding the current state of animal welfare legislation and practices worldwide, we observe huge differences. Even though there is already a consensus in support of OIE animal welfare standards, more action is needed to improve their effective implementation.

Specific objectives

• to provide animal welfare national focal points with information on OIE international standards on animal welfare that have been already adopted and those under development.
• to raise awareness and promote the adoption and implementation of these standards at national level in the region.
• to discuss the level of implementation of animal welfare standards among countries of the region, and to identify future needs for improvement.

   

Agenda

List of participants

Few photos of the Seminar

Presentations (powerpoint)

History, objectives and work of the OIE in animal welfare (Dr Sarah Kahn, OIE)
OIE International Standards : transport of animals by sea, land and air ; slaughter of animals; killing of animals for disease control purposes (Dr Leopoldo Stuardo, OIE)
OIE International Standards : stray dog population control (Dr Paolo Dala Villa, OIE Collaborating Centre-Teramo)
Results of the OIE animal welfare questionnaire (Dr Sarah Kahn, OIE)
Role of Council of Europe in the development and implementation of welfare standards and legislation in Europe (Dr David Pritchard, Council of Europe)
Role of veterinarians in the private sector and animal welfare (Dr Jan Vaarten, FVE)
Role of veterinarians in the European public sector on setting up and implementing animal welfare standards (Dr Andrea Gavinelli, EC)
Work of Non Governmental Organisations in support of the setting up and implementation of the OIE Animal Welfare Standards (Dr David Wilkins, ICFAW)
Farmer organisations work in support of the setting up and implementation of the OIE Animal Welfare Standards (Dr Klaas Johan Osinga, IFAP)
Implementation of the OIE standards in the countries of the region - Practical experience : killing animals for disease control purposes (Dr David Pritchard, Council of Europe)
Implementation of the OIE standards in the countries of the region - Practical experience : slaughter of animals for human consumption (Dr Muzaffer Aydemir, Turkey)
Implementation of the OIE standards in the countries of the region - Practical experience : transport of animals (Dr Garry O'Hagan, Ireland )
Development of an OIE Animal Welfare Regional Strategy. The RAWS experience in Asia (Dr Allen Bryce, Australia)

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