GLOBAL OUTREACH AND IMPLEMENTATION
OVERVIEW
The Animal Welfare Program is dedicated to outreach activities that apply its research to improving the lives of animals. With so little scientific research on animal welfare world-wide, Program members are in steady demand for lectures and seminars throughout Canada and the world. Program members have lectured in Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, the UK, and the USA. We have also hosted visiting researchers and students from 22 countries.
Outreach also involves providing expert advice on animal welfare to decision-making bodies. Members of our faculty sit on the animal welfare advisory bodies of the World Organization for Animal Health (Paris), the Food Marketing Institute (Washington), the Burger King Corporation (Miami), Canada's National Farm Animal Council, the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada (Ottawa), and the Canadian Council on Animal Care (Ottawa). They also act as advisors for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Rome), and for the development of animal welfare standards in organic production here in Canada. This year they will additionally be helping the US Department of Agriculture in a study of dairy welfare that will span 17 states.
Finally, the Peter Stratton Memorial Lecture is an annual public talk hosted by the Program. Past lectures have included hatchery fish welfare (2006) and the no-kill controversy in animal shelters (2004).
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OUTREACH MEDIA
"Finding a Cow's Comfort" - The Leading Edge: Innovation in B.C. coverage of dairy cattle welfare research being done by our Program. This video features interviews with Drs. von Keyserlingk and Weary and shows viewers some of the facilities at the research dairy in Agassiz.
- "Firm Steps: Identifying Lameness in Dairy Cattle" is a CD-ROM produced by Alberta Agriculture and Food. It is designed to be of use to dairy producers, veterinarians, educators
and others in the dairy industry interested in teaching or identifying lameness in dairy cattle at an early stage.
The program also helps producers to:
- reduce the severity and cost of lameness
- take steps that will help to fix the problem
- improve the welfare of their dairy herd
Reseach conducted by UBC Animal Welfare Program and expertise of its members contributed to the development of this product. The product was funded through the Renewal Chapter of the Agricultural Policy Framework, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative that aims to make Canada the leader in food safety, innovation and environmentally responsible agriculture production.
Order Form (.pdf)
- reduce the severity and cost of lameness
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Program graduate Leanne McConnachie's thesis work (M.Sc. 2007) was featured on a recent taping of the show MoneyTalk on BNN. Watch it here.
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