Two new studies on attitudes toward the use of genetically-engineered animals in science
Post-doctoral scholar, Elisabeth Ormandy, and colleagues in the Animal Welfare Program and at the Canadian Council on Animal Care recently published two articles on the use of genetically-engineered animals in research. The first article describes public attitudes towards animal research, and the effects of invasiveness, genetic engineering, and regulation. The second article described the views […]
David Fraser co-authors paper in Science
Prof. David Fraser is co-author of a paper on “Sustainable Intensification in Agriculture: Premises and Policies” in the journal Science, released today. A policy known as sustainable intensification could help meet the challenges of increasing demands for food from a growing global population. The goal of sustainable intensification is to increase food production from existing […]
Better methods for drying off dairy cows
Cows are healthiest when they are given some downtime between lactations. When human mothers stop breastfeeding, they typically do it gradually, but standard practice on many dairy farms is to dry off cows abruptly. In a new study just published in the Journal of Dairy Science, UBC Animal Welfare Program researchers compared methods and found […]
Plenary presentation on animal suffering
The Animal Welfare Program’s Dan Weary gave a plenary presentation at the 47th Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology. Dan’s presentation was entitled ‘A new science of animal suffering’. Click here to read more about the ideas presented.
Dan & Nina Win Award for Bovine Welfare
The Canadian Association of Bovine Veterinarians has recently announced Drs. von Keyserlingk and Weary will receive the 2013 Metacam 20 Bovine Welfare Award!
Ph.D. student Gosia Zobel wins prize for best presentation
Gosia Zobel, a PhD student in UBC’s Animal Welfare Program, took home the coveted award for best student presentation at the University of Guelph’s 6th Annual Animal Welfare Symposium. Gosia’s presentation discussed emerging health and welfare issues for dairy goats. Her energetic and simple presentation style earned the audience’s approval.
AWP research on lameness featured in Hoard’s Dairyman
Recent results from benchmarking research on cow lameness and hock injuries were featured in this article in the current issue of Hoard’s Dairyman. Hoard’s is one of the most influential magazines serving the dairy industry.
A good life for lab animals?
Most discussion on the welfare of laboratory animals focuses on harm reduction, including methods of handling and euthanasia that are less likely to cause pain or distress. UBC researchers are now trying to change the focus to what constitutes “a good life” for lab animals. This week Dan Weary delivered the Keynote Address on this […]
More news on sow stalls
The Retail Council of Canada, including heavy hitters such as Safeway, Costco, and Walmart have announced they will transition to buying from pig farms that do not use gestations stalls for sows. To find out more read this article. For some context on what this might mean for other sectors in animal agriculture, see this […]
Hock injuries in dairy cows
Lameness, mastitis and transition-cow diseases are widely recognized as serious animal welfare and production-limiting issues. Hock injuries should raise similar concerns, though they’ve received much less attention, say Dan Weary, University of British Columbia dairy scientist and cow behavior expert and fellow animal welfare expert Marina (Nina) von Keyserlingk in Vancouver, Canada. Read more: http://www.agriview.com/news/dairy/hock-injuries-animal-welfare-concern-deep-bedded-maintained-stalls-best/article_33f91dd6-b356-11e2-820b-001a4bcf887a.html