Supporting Animal Welfare for 25 Years

November 28, 2022

Supporting Animal Welfare for 25 Years

Since launching, the Animal Welfare Program has played an important role in informing policy for those working in industry, government and not-for-profit organizations.

Research has aimed to improve the lives of animals, including dairy cattle, mice and rats, pigs, dogs and many more. Here are some highlights of the last 25 years.

1997

UBC launches the Animal Welfare Program (AWP), hiring David Fraser and Dan Weary as inaugural NSERC Industrial Research Chairs (NSERC IRC) in Animal Welfare. The first NSERC IRC was made possible by industry donations from the BC SPCA, the BC Dairy Association, BC Cattle Industry Development Fund, BC Veterinary Medical Association, and other groups involved with animal welfare or animal agriculture, with funds matched by NSERC.

1998

Launch of first undergraduate course Animal Welfare and Ethics of Animal Use (now APBI 315).

2002

UBC hires Marina (Nina) von Keyserlingk as its third faculty member in the AWP.

David Fraser appointed a founding member of the Working Group on Animal Welfare that guided the World Organisation for Animal Health (Paris) in developing global standards for animal welfare.

2003

David Fraser and Dan Weary successfully renew the NSERC IRC, with supporting industry partners.

2005

David Fraser appointed Member of the Order of Canada for his work as a pioneer in the field of animal welfare science.

2006

Dan Weary Chairs the Scientists’ Panel on knowledge input into Recommended Codes of Practice for Canada’s National Farm Animal Care Council; the recommendations of the Panel led to Canada’s policy creating a Scientist’s Committee for each code.

Nina von Keyserlingk appointed to the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), representing the Canadian Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. CCAC governs the use of animals used in research and teaching.

2008

David Fraser, Dan Weary, Nina von Keyserlingk renew the NSERC IRC for the next 5 years, with supporting industry partners.

2009

The Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle is created by the National Farm Animal Care Council. AWP researchers and alumni participate in committees developing the 2009 version of the code, and provide advice in subsequent versions.

2012

Nina von Keyserlingk awarded the Canadian Farm Animal Industries Award in Extension and Public Service (Canadian Society of Animal Science).

David Fraser wins the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, awarded by the Governor General of Canada.

2013

AWP alumni Cathy Schuppli (PhD 2004) appointed as Clinical Professor in the AWP.

2014

Dan Weary, Nina von Keyserlingk, David Fraser successfully renew the NSERC IRC with industry partners.

Dan Weary elected President of the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada, and wins the Charles River Excellence in Refinement Award for his work on lab animal welfare (Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing).

2015

Society for Humane Science, Canada’s first non-profit charity aiming to stop the use of animals in science, is co-founded by Lesley Fox and AWP alumni Elisabeth Ormandy, Sara Dubois, Geoff Urton.

AnimalKind, BC SPCA’s welfare accreditation and referral program for animal-related businesses, is launched by several AWP alumni, including Nicole Fenwick, Sara Dubois, Erin A. Ryan.

2017

AWP alumni Kristen Walker (PhD 2010) is hired into the tenure-track educational leadership stream and expands course offerings to include Applied Animal Behaviour, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Compassionate Conservation, and field courses.

2018

Nina von Keyserlingk awarded the Hans Sigrist Research prize in the field Sustainably Produced Food of Animal Origin (Hans Sigrist Foundation at University of Bern).

Humane Canada awards the UBC Animal Welfare Program its Leadership in Animal Welfare Innovation Award.

2019

Dan Weary and Nina von Keyserlingk successfully renew the NSERC IRC with industry partners. The NSERC IRC in Animal Welfare becomes the longest-running NSERC IRC program with partners from the agriculture sector.

UBC hires Alexandra (Sasha) Protopopova as the newest faculty member to investigate the welfare of companion animals in shelters, pet homes and service work.

2020

Sasha Protopopova is awarded the NSERC Industrial Research Chair (2020-2025) in Animal Welfare, with funds provided by the BC SPCA.

The UBC Animal Program is ranked #1 amongst Animal Welfare Centres globally based on publications per organization (Animals). Researchers receive >5000 citations in a year in scholarly publications.

2022

25 years after launch, 86 students have completed graduate degrees (52 MSc, 34 PhD), and the AWP program offers 15 unique undergraduate courses.

Sasha Protopopova leads the new Human-Animal Interaction Lab to facilitate research on canine cognition and animal-assisted interventions.

The AWP, celebrating Dr. David Fraser’s 50 years of research

Shaping Indigenous Curriculum at LFS

November 28, 2022

Shaping Indigenous Curriculum at LFS

Michael Wesley

As a recent graduate of UBC’s Dietetics program, Michael Wesley is dedicated to making an impact in his community and fostering relationships across the province.

Wesley is part of the Gitanmaax Band, nestled between the Skeena and Bulkley River. He worked various jobs in the trades industry before embarking on this career change: “I wanted to do something that would be more impactful and meaningful to myself and the community I grew up in.”

Wesley now has his own business, Indigenous Health and Nutrition Consulting, where he is committed to providing culturally safe nutrition care for Indigenous communities.

Wesley first became aware of dietitians after watching TV one night and seeing a list of professions who could make an impact on the world’s health – dietitians were among the top three.

“When I started thinking about a career change, I learned that dietitians in Kamloops were working in population health and doing food security initiatives,” says Wesley. “That was interesting to me because growing up, I experienced food insecurity and my main motivation was to address food insecurity with youth in the communities.”

As the only dietitian training program in the province, UBC’s Dietetics Program is committed to meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous communities: “We are very fortunate to learn from graduates such as Michael. Decolonization requires intentional ongoing commitment – this is a process that will take years so this work is just the start,” says Tamara Cohen, Director of Dietetics.

Wesley has been part of shaping Indigenous curriculum at LFS, leading a guest lecture for dietetic undergraduate and Master of Nutrition and Dietetics students at xʷc̓ic̓əsəm, the Indigenous Health Research & Education Garden located at the UBC Farm.

He explains that it is unrealistic for students to learn the complexities of Indigenous health in a single lecture, but wanted to lay the foundation for students to become familiar with the health disparities in the community.

“We talked about the complexities of Indigenous health, the role of colonization, and Indigenous knowledge, which is not well-represented in the academic fields,” explains Wesley. “We also talked about the different types of diseases that are present in the community and how they got there because they weren’t there before colonization.”

Wesley is open to teaching students about Indigenous health but says he is also still learning: “Because colonization had such an impact on our culture and communities, there is so much that is missing and we’re all just trying to put the pieces back together.”

Besides collaborating with researchers at LFS, Wesley has worked with public health dietitians at Interior Health. He is currently working with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), revising the food costing report to include Indigenous voices from rural communities. This past summer, Wesley travelled to communities in Northern B.C., speaking at conferences for Elders and youth.

“I initially wanted to become a dietitian to address food insecurity issues so that’s where I hope to do more work in the future and work directly with communities.” When asked about his greatest accomplishment, Wesley does not hesitate to mention his family: “The first thing that comes to mind is my children. They were born when I started going to university and I can’t believe how far they’ve come.”

Retiring Faculty Member: David Fraser

November 28, 2022

Retiring Faculty Member: David Fraser

Animal Welfare Program co-founder retires

David Fraser came to UBC after a diverse
career that included doing the first scientific research on the welfare of sows (1975) and the role of highway de-icing salt in road accidents involving moose (1981). He also had a side-career writing humorous verse as “poet laureate” of CBC’s national Saturday afternoon Radio Show in the 1990s, and
published some scientific findings in verse.

In 1997, UBC approached him to move to Vancouver with co-worker Dan Weary to create the Animal Welfare Program.

Dr. Fraser has had many national and international roles in the animal welfare field. Among others, he was the founding secretary of Canada’s (former) Expert Committee on Farm Animal Welfare and Behaviour, a founding member of the National Farmed Animal Health and Welfare Council (now
Animal Health Canada), a founding member of the Animal Welfare Working Group of the World Organisation for Animal Health, and chairman of the international Expert Consultationon animal welfare of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. His contributions were recognized by his being appointed Member of the Order of Canada in 2005.

He says his proudest accomplishment is to leave the Animal Welfare Program in excellent hands, with Dan Weary, Nina von Keyserlingk and Sasha Protopopova as faculty members, six adjunct and associated faculty, 15 undergraduate courses being taught to hundreds of students each year, and roughly 100 MSc and PhD graduates who now occupy positions around the world in the humane movement, agriculture, veterinary medicine, government and academia.

His fondest memories at UBC are of the dozens of graduate students and hundreds of undergraduates who shared his interest in animal welfare.

To young academics he provides this advice: don’t hide your enthusiasm for your subject.

Retiring Faculty Member: Tony Farrell

November 28, 2022

Retiring Faculty Member: Tony Farrell

Professor Anthony (Tony) Farrell, a former Canada Research Chair in Fish Physiology, Culture and
Conservation (Tier 1) retired this year. We asked him some questions about his distinguished career.

Can you name some achievements that made you proud?

Near the top of my list was being awarded a prestigious Canada Research Chair Tier I position, being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and becoming President of the Society of Experiment Biologists (UK-based). My many editorial roles with various scientific journals, especially the prestigious Fish Physiology book series, which recently had its 50th anniversary, and the award-winning Encyclopedia of Fish Physiology, certainly gave me great pride and enjoyment. However, publishing two separate papers in one year in the prestigious journal Science while at UBC is perhaps my proudest achievement.

Were you able to influence people or create the changes you wanted to in your field?

This is really for others to say. I certainly feel that I advanced the field of cardiovascular physiology with my research, which amounted to around 500 refereed publications and many book chapters and reports. I did help the Canadian government with fish management issues on many occasions and policy may have changed as a result. But most of all, I hope that the many undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who passed through my research lab became better people, especially as researchers.

Perhaps such recognition came when I was awarded an Honorary PhD from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Seeing the Canadian flag flying in the centre of the plaza (a recognition of the country of origin for a recipient of an Honorary degree inside) made me feel especially proud.

How did you balance teaching and research?

I didn’t! I simply worked hard and for long hours, hoping my family would understand. I was never a good role model for work-life balance. Back then I had too much energy and too many ideas for my own good.

What advice would you give someone who wants to work in academia?

Decide on your work-life balance before setting career goals. Family is all that is left after retirement so treat them as a priority before retirement. Nonetheless, once you have made your career goals, give’er all you can while having fun in the process.

Retiring Faculty Member: David McArthur

November 28, 2022

Retiring Faculty Member: David McArthur

David McArthur retires this year and reflects on his research and career at UBC. In 1995, he started as a Research Associate in Plant Science with berry industry and government grants. Gradually, McArthur transitioned to a Lecturer position teaching Agroecology 1 & 2, Horticulture, Horticultural Techniques, and Wine Science 1 & 2.

What was your area of research?

My master’s thesis at UBC (MSc Horticulture 1987) researched the interactive effects of nutrition and gibberellins on cranberry and strawberry growth and fruiting. At University of Alberta (PhD Plant Physiology 1992), I researched the morphology, growth and physiology of arbuscular mycorrhizae potato. I continued researching mycorrhizae with confocal laser scanning microscopy as a postdoctoral fellow until 1995. As a postdoctoral fellow at UBC starting in 1995, I continued my cranberry research, focussing on hormone/floral physiology.

What achievements make you proud?

My later cranberry research showed decreasing daylength was the environmental stimulus for floral induction and this was inhibited by gibberellins. Floral induction was prevented by the presence of gibberellins (applied or endogenous) in apices. I presented a model for the mechanism of biennial-bearing of cranberry shoots. Shoots with seeded fruit had relatively high gibberellin and amylase levels in their apical zone (GA3 promotes amylase activity and growth). Gibberellins from seeds could cause inhibition of floral induction in fruiting shoots – hence, the biennial bearing pattern.

Also, I brought many experiential learning opportunities to students. Students learned tree physiology, grafted and pruned their own apple trees. They studied methods at berry and organic vegetable farms, ranches, greenhouses, and then designed sustainable agroecosystems.

Were you able to influence people or create positive change in your field?

My research on floral induction helped target the focus of genetic studies/breeding programs of cranberry to enhance factors promoting floral bud set.

I consulted with the BC Vintners Quality Alliance program, set up a modified “wine judge” training program and trained new judges for many years, helping to maintain B.C.’s reputation for “fine wine.”

In Wine Science, learning about both the perils of alcohol and pleasures of wine appreciation perhaps provided many enthusiastic students a useful perspective.

Milestones and News & Notes

November 28, 2022

Milestones

UBC Supports Regenerative Agriculture and Agritech

Sean Smukler, Chair of Agriculture and Environment, joins a 17-person Advisory Group on Regenerative Agriculture and Agritech. The BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food created this advisory group to find ways of building resilient food systems and to support farmers in strengthening B.C. food production. Smukler will share his expertise in soil science and climate change adaptation.

Student Services Team Wins President’s Award

The LFS Student Services team, led by Christine Klaray, Director, Student Academic Services, won a UBC President’s Staff Award for Wellbeing for the creation of ROOTSS (Reach Out, Orientation, Transition & Study Skills). ROOTSS guides new-to-LFS students in academic transition, building social connections and improving wellbeing. Notably they launched ROOTSS a year earlier than planned to support incoming students during the pandemic.

New Research Program at BC Children’s Hospital

To help establish his research program at BC Children’s Hospital, new faculty member David Wright received a BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) Investigator Establishment Award of $250,000. Wright joined UBC as a Professor in Exercise, Metabolism, Nutrition & Health, and is appointed in FNH in LFS and the School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Education (home department).

Canada Research Chair in Micronutrients and Human Health

Crystal Karakochuk is a new CIHR Canada Research Chair in Micronutrients and Human Health (Tier 2). Crystal is an Assistant Professor in the Food, Nutrition and Health (FNH) program with strong collaborations in the province, working as an Investigator at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and Women’s Health Research Institute.

Professional Dietetics Program Launches

The Master of Nutrition and Dietetics welcomed its first class of students in September. This 28-month graduate professional program is based on national competencies and accreditation standards for entry into the dietetics profession. Curriculum will cover advanced clinical nutrition, food provision management, leadership, business and entrepreneurship, counselling, Indigenous Peoples’ health, social justice and professional dietetic practice.

UBC Killam Research Prize

Marina von Keyserlingk in the Animal Welfare Program received a 2021 UBC Killam Research Prize in the Science category. The UBC Faculty Research Awards Committee selects recipients for Faculty Research Awards to recognize research excellence and scholarly achievements.

Students Contribute Ideas to Community Learning

Gail Hammond received a Students as Partners (SaP) in Course Design grant for the project, Amplifying learning in a fourth-year community experiential learning course: Implementation of innovative practical and theoretical activities. SaP in Course Design supports UBC Vancouver undergraduate students working in partnership with faculty to redesign courses, and positions students as collaborators in the university’s academic mission.

News & Notes

Christine Scaman Retires

Associate Professor Christine Scaman retires after 27 years with UBC. She served in many leadership roles with LFS, as Program Director of the Food, Nutrition and Health Program and Associate
Dean, Academic. Her research area of focus was primarily food chemistry, specifically investigating carbohydrates and enzymology.

Investing in New Research Technology

The following projects recently received investment from BC Knowledge Development Fund to support the development of leading-edge technology used in research.

UBC Nutritional Epidemiology and Big Data Analytics Laboratory led by Mahsa Jessri
Environment Economics Research Unit led by Frederik Noack
Controlled-Environment Facility for Crop Pathology and Genetics Research (CEF-CPG) led by Gurcharn Singh Brar
Integrated SOILRES platform for advanced study of soil processes driving agroecosystem resilience under climate change led by Jean-Thomas Cornelis
Automated growth and screening platform for elucidating crop water requirements led by Thorsten Knipfer

New Faculty Profile: David Wright

November 28, 2022

New Faculty Profile: David Wright

David Wright joined UBC as a Professor in Exercise, Metabolism, Nutrition and Health, with a joint appointment in LFS and the School of Kinesiology. Previously, he was a professor at the University of Guelph where he recently held a Canada Research Chair in Lipids, Metabolism and Health (Tier 2).

Wright also holds a concurrent appointment as an investigator at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR), where his lab is currently located with multiple ongoing projects.

Wright’s research interest has always been in the entanglement of nutrition and exercise: “I’ve always believed that exercise and nutrition go hand in glove. I don’t think you can really understand one without understanding the other.”

One of his current projects focuses on identifying ways to counteract the side effects of antipsychotic drugs: “We’ve been using exercise as a model to try to identify pathways that we can target that might ‘mimic’ some of the beneficial effects of exercise.”

Wright noticed a doubling of the prescription of antipsychotic drugs in North America over the last decade. Some of these drugs, including those prescribed for schizophrenia, anxiety, and bipolar disorders, have significant metabolic side effects such as weight gain and rapid increases in blood sugar with each dose.

“Once individuals take these drugs, they are pretty much on them for their entire life. I think it’s really important that we come up with some ways to mitigate these metabolic side effects,” says Wright.

On a personal level, Wright, who enjoys the outdoors, is excited to be back in Vancouver where he grew up. Professionally, he wishes to bridge LFS and the School of Kinesiology.

“I am really looking forward to being able to facilitate some further collaborative research between those academic units.”

New Faculty Profile: Bruna Donatti Castro Falci

November 28, 2022

New Faculty Profile: Bruna Donatti Castro Falci

Bruna Donatti Castro Falci joined the Food, Nutrition and Health Program as a Lecturer in June 2022, teaching in the Dietetics and the new Master of Nutrition and Dietetics programs. Before coming to Canada, she worked in clinical nutrition and as a Lecturer for 11 years in Brazil after earning her BSc in Nutrition Science at Centro Universitário Newton Paiva.

Donatti’s interest in nutrition sparked when she discovered how food choices can impact health in regards to prevention and treatment of many conditions. Yet not only is nutrition a human matter, but also a deep ecological concern from her perspective. To Donatti, ecology and human health are deeply integrated, as one inevitably affects the other.

“I’ve also been studying a lot about how our food choices impact the environment, how very small changes can make such a big impact on the environment.”

After receiving her MSc in Human Nutrition at McGill, Donatti worked as a clinical dietitian at McGill University Health Centre, where she supported patients’ recovery from upper GI and thoracic surgery. Donatti made sure that optimal nutrition was provided to her patients to maintain or re-establish their nutritional status, considering its significant influence on morbidity and mortality.

Having left McGill, Donatti has found her passion for teaching rekindled. She is excited to mold a new program at UBC, share her experience, and also see each of her students evolve into a mature professional.

“When we are sharing knowledge, we learn so much. I love to learn from the students and grow from their feedback. As a Lecturer, I love to see how the students evolve.”

New Faculty Profile: Amelia MacRae

November 28, 2022

New Faculty Profile: Amelia MacRae

Amelia MacRae bought her first horse at age 12, using her savings from babysitting jobs. Since that time, she’s had horses most of her life.

“My parents say my first word was ‘horse.’ Horses are incredible animals, and I’ve always been fascinated and drawn to them.”

As a new Animal Welfare Program Lecturer, MacRae is able to share with students her passion and deep respect for animals. She is no stranger to LFS, however, having been a Sessional Lecturer since 2019. She teaches third- and fourth-year applied biology courses on such topics as animals in society, animals and global issues and equine biology, health and welfare. She also teaches first-year science writing.

Originally, MacRae obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria, but after working for a short time, she decided to return to school to obtain the prerequisites for veterinary medicine. She enrolled in UBC’s Land and Food Systems, graduating from the Global Resource Systems program. It was during this period that she met Professor David Fraser, who introduced her to the field of animal welfare.

“It was like a whole other world of animal work opened up for me. I decided then to pivot away from veterinary medicine and instead pursue an MSc in Applied Animal Biology under David’s supervision.”

Her master’s research focused on trying to improve the health outcomes of orphaned seal pups by adjusting their diet and feeding protocols. Her study more than doubled the survival rate of pups undergoing rehabilitation. Subsequently, MacRae was hired by the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre as a Rehabilitation Specialist, working over the next decade with a wide variety of marine mammals.

To further her goals of better understanding animals and improving their welfare, MacRae then completed her doctoral degree, focusing on the identification of non-invasive indicators of pain in seals and social buffering in horses.

Amelia MacRae

November 28, 2022

Amelia MacRae

Lecturer, Applied Biology

amelia.macrae@ubc.ca

Education

PhD Applied Animal Biology, University of British Columbia

MSc Animal Science, University of British Columbia

BSc Global Resource Systems, University of British Columbia

BA English, University of Victoria

Teaching

APBI 414: Animals and Global Issues

APBI 316: Equine Biology, Health and Welfare

APBI 314: Animals and Society

LFS 150: Scholarly Writing and Argumentation in Land and Food Systems

Selected Publications

MacRae, AM., McGreevy, P., Daros, R.R., and Fraser, D. 2021. Can surface eye temperature be used to indicate a stress response in seals (Phoca vitulina). Animal Welfare 30: 91-100.

Dai, F., Leach, M., MacRae, A.M., Minero, M., and Dalla Costa, E. 2020. Does Thirty-Minute Standardised Training Improve the Inter-Observer Reliability of the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS)? A Case Study. Animals 10:781.

MacRae, A.M., Makowska, I.J., and Fraser, D. 2018. Initial evaluation of facial expressions and behaviours of harbour seal pups (Phoca vitulina) in response to tagging and microchipping. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 205: 167-274

MacRae, A.M., Fraser, D., and Haulena, M. 2012. The provision of supplementary heat for hand-raised harbour seal pups (Phoca vitulina). Journal of Wildlife Rehabilitation 32: 7-11.

MacRae, A.M., Fraser, D., and Haulena, M. 2011. The effect of diet and feeding level on survival and weight gain of hand-raised harbour seal pups (Phoca vitulina). Zoo Biology 30: 532-541

Fraser, D. and MacRae, A.M. 2011. Four types of activities that affect animals: implications for animal welfare science and animal ethics philosophy. Animal Welfare 20: 581-590.

Tagged with: Applied Animal Biology, Applied Biology, Faculty

Tagged with Applied Animal Biology, Applied Biology, Faculty
Categories: Profile Faculty, Profiles

Supporting Animal Welfare for 25 Years