Animal welfare and the OIE
David Bayvel, MAFBNZ's Animal Welfare Director, attended the seventy-fifth general session of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) earlier this year in his role as Chair of the OIE Permanent Working Group on Animal Welfare.
He also represented the OIE at meetings with the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR), the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS), the International Association of Colleges of Laboratory Animal Medicine (IACLAM) and the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA). Some points of interest arising from the general session and from David's visit are:
- New Zealand continued to emphasise, at the general session, the importance of ensuring that animal welfare guidelines remain outcome focused and as non-prescriptive as possible.
- Formal Memoranda of Understanding were approved between the OIE and ICLAS and the OIE and the World Society for the Protection of Animals. A resolution was also passed supporting the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (see Universal Declaration for Animal Welfare meeting on page 21).
- There was strong backing for enhanced animal welfare scientific support in all five OIE regions, and the Centre for Animal Welfare Science and Bioethical Analysis at Massey University was approved as an OIE Collaborating Centre.
- An interesting discussion was had on the use of the French term bientraitance as an alternative to bien-être. The former has a connotation of treating an animal well, whereas the latter is focused on the animal's perceptions and incorporates mental or psychological aspects of animal welfare.
- The OIE's Permanent Animal Welfare Working Group confirmed plans for the second OIE animal welfare conference Putting the OIE Standards to Work: Towards the Implementation of the OIE's Animal Welfare Standards, to be held in Cairo, Egypt, from 20–22 October 2008.
- The Permanent Animal Welfare Working Group strategic priorities are progressing:
- aquatic animal welfare – member country comments on guidelines will be reviewed by the working group
- companion animal welfare – a first draft report from the Ad Hoc Group on Stray Dog Control has been prepared
- wildlife and zoo animal welfare – a scoping paper has been drafted on harvesting and culling of wildlife
- laboratory animal welfare – an ad hoc group is to be formed with representation from major international laboratory animal science organisations (see below)
- terrestrial animal welfare – a scoping paper has been completed proposing the formation of an ad hoc group on housing and production of livestock. It is anticipated that this group will meet during the first half of 2008.
- The laboratory animal meetings listed above and a joint meeting between the OIE, ICLAS, IACLAM and ILAR provided an opportunity to further develop the relationship between the OIE and the international laboratory animal science community and to identify participants for the OIE Laboratory Animal Ad Hoc Group meeting, to be held in Paris from 5–7 December. Membership of this group includes David Bayvel (New Zealand), Dr Gilles Demers (Canada), Dr Ekaterina Rivera (Brazil), Dr Kathryn Bayne (United States), Dr Judy MacArthur Clark (United States/United Kingdom), Professor Souilem Ouadji (Tunisia), Dr Tsutomu Miki Kurosawa (Japan) and Dr Christophe Jaubert (France).
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Page last updated: 30 April 2008