The European Commission has decided to award the Swedish Centre for Animal Welfare (SCAW) at SLU almost one million Euros for a pilot project with the aim to test the feasibility and usefulness of a coordinated network for animal protection and welfare within the EU.

For more information, click here.

A new Animal Welfare Strategy Paper: European Commission seeks quality upgrade

The 19th of January 2012, The European Commission adopted a new four- year strategy (2012-2015) that aims to further improve the welfare of animals in the European Union.

The Commission Communication identifies the lack of enforcement of EU legislation by Member States in a number of areas as one of the major issues adversely affecting animal welfare in the EU. Another brake on full and even implementation is the fact that the market does not provide sufficient economic incentives for compliance.

The Communication also notes that many of the parties involved lack sufficient knowledge about animal welfare, while it points out gaps in EU legislation which make it harder to ensure adequate welfare conditions for some categories of animals.

 Viewed against the background of the diversity of climatic, terrain and farming systems in which it must be applied, this area of European law calls for change.

Read the pressrelease in full text  here.

You can read the action plan in full text here  

Seminar

A seminar regarding Consequences from animal based assessment in legislation and public control was held on the 4th of October 2011. Over 90 people from county administrative boards, the Ministry for Rural Affairs, the Swedish Board of Agriculture, universities and other stakeholders participated. 

Here you can read more about the different projects that was presented at the seminar.

The film from the seminar was published on the following link: http://spectare.ucl.slu.se/nlfak/2011/AnimalWelfare/AnimalWelfare_2011.html

Can fish feel pain and experience suffering?

The conference ”Can fish feel pain and experience suffering” took place on 30th November 2010 at KSLA in Stockholm. There was a great deal of interest and the conference could be followed on the web.

Summary from the conference

Assessment of different stunning methods

International consensus meeting

An international consensus meeting entitled "Harmonisation of the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research", will be held at Oslo Airport Gardermoen 26-28 September this year. This will be the fourth in a series of very useful meetings where we have discussed the challenges of using animals in research. Previously we have addressed fish and wildlife. We will focus both on the challenge of conducting animal research on the farm, and the challenges associated with bringing farm animals into the laboratory. The new EU directive that comes into effect on January 1st 2013 will have implications for farm animal research, and one of the things this meeting will do is focus on international guidelines. The meeting will also serve as continuing education for those involved in research using farm animals. Read more about the meeting here.

Research

In the case of research, our mission is to gather the scientific expertise in the area of animal welfare, both within SLU and at other universities and polytechnics. Together with them, we identify gaps in our knowledge and areas where the scientific situation is unclear. One example is that areas of the current legislation is based upon older research and has not always been updated with modern scientific knowledge and newer results.

Education

SCAW will help you if you need continuing education in animal welfare. You may be an animal welfare officer, building inspector, district veterinary officer, lawyer or advisor.

SCAW focuses on continuing and further education courses for all those working in the animal welfare arena. SLU guarantees and supports courses in the animal welfare sector in general.