A selection of animal welfare news from around the world

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Please note that the articles below do not reflect opinions of TAWC. Although we aim to provide comprehensive coverage, there are likely articles that we’ve missed.

O/S = Overseas source
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News 1-12 November 2020

Cross-sectoral

  • Why are animals mistreated? (Rural News O/S)
  • Other major countries have animal protection laws. Why not China? (South China Morning Post O/S)
  • The Need for Ethical Consistency in Animal Advocacy (Sentient Media O/S)
  • Research to use artificial intelligence to identify sick livestock (Univ Bristol O/S)
  • Ceres Tag adds behavior, pasture feed intake monitoring (Feedstuffs)
  • Tyson workers to replace some federal inspectors at US beef plant, with pork and poultry companies following suit (The Pig Site O/S)
  • The UK’s first fully-vegan butcher is about to open, selling meat-free pastrami, ‘lobstah’ salad, and soya burgers. Take a look inside. (Business Insider)
  • Virtual reality to help teach farm animal welfare (Feedstuffs O/S)

Dairy

  • Kyabram vet awarded prestigious Nuffield Scholarship to investigate cow welfare (Dairy News)

Pork

  • Could Crate-Free Pork Become the New Industry Standard? (Civil Eats O/S)

Poultry

Red Meat

  • Low stress stock handling in the Nuffield spotlight (Farm Weekly):
  • Numnuts win confirms retailer support for lamb pain relief (SheepCentral)
  • Peak bodies unite on sheep ‘fit to load’ requirements (SheepCentral)
  • The Australian Lot Feeders’ Association has announced an initiative that encourages all Australian feedlots to make a pledge to provide cattle under their care with access to shade (ALFA)
  • Cattle deaths prosecution options running out as minister flags animal welfare legislation overhaul (ABC)
  • ‘In the sun they’d cook’: is the US south-west getting too hot for farm animals? (Guardian O/S)

Wool

  • Non-mulesed wool sale plan as PETA suggests lamb statue (SheepCentral)

Transport & abattoir

  • EFSA has published an assessment of the welfare of cattle at slaughter (EFSA O/S)
  • Exclusive: livestock ships twice as likely to be lost as cargo vessels (Guardian)
  • 2020 Young Livestock Exporter Achiever of the Year (BeefCentral)
  • Live exporters land six-month ‘audition period’ days out from ‘enormous change’ to industry rules (ABC)

Aquaculture

  • Draft released – Canada’s first farmed salmonids ‘Code of Practice (Food Canada O/S)
  • The Continued Fight over Farming the Oceans (Civil Eats O/S)

Research & teaching

  • ARRP Fact Sheet 1: Environmental enrichment for pigs. The Animal Research Review Panel has developed a fact sheet to support the provision of environmental enrichment for pigs used for research and teaching (ARRP)
  • California Teen Develops ‘Monkey Fright’ Video Game for PETA (PETA O/S)
  • An end to animal testing: How animal-friendly affinity-reagents are transforming research (Select Science O/S)
  • Of mice and men: Could COVID spell the end of animal testing? (Corporate Knights O/S)

Racing & sports

  • Melbourne Cup fancy Anthony Van Dyck euthanased after breaking down mid-race (ABC)
  • Jockeys get no benefit from using a whip in horse racing, landmark study finds (Guardian)
  • Racing confronts its grim reality (SMH)
  • PETA buys small stake into ownership of multiple Ohio horse tracks, including Thistledown (Cleveland.com O/S)

Zoos, aquarium & wildlife

Pets & companion animals

  • South Korea starts to close dog meat farms as attitudes change (Independent O/S)
  • Is there a puppy heaven? Owners think so, headstones in pet cemeteries show (LiveScience O/S)

Other/Publications

  • Earwax test could reveal stress levels (BBC O/S)
  • Veit, W., Browning, H. Perspectival pluralism for animal welfare. Euro Jnl Phil Sci 11, 9 (2021)
  • The Interconnectedness Of Human, Animal And Environmental Health (UniMelb)
  • The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies wins 2020 Global Animal Welfare Award (Zenopa O/S) and YouTube
  • Paul McGreevy wins Global Animal Welfare Award (USyd)
  • Thompson, K.; McManus, P.; Stansall, D.; Wilson, B.J.; McGreevy, P.D. Is Whip Use Important to Thoroughbred Racing Integrity? What Stewards’ Reports Reveal about Fairness to Punters, Jockeys and Horses. Animals 2020, 10, 1985
  • Veit, W., Browning, H. Perspectival pluralism for animal welfare. Euro Jnl Phil Sci 11, 9, 2021
  • Tiemann, I.; Hillemacher, S.; Wittmann, M. Are Dual-Purpose Chickens Twice as Good? Measuring Performance and Animal Welfare throughout the Fattening Period. Animals 2020, 10, 1980
  • Rault J-L., Waiblinger, S. Boivin, X. and Hemsworth, P.H. (2020)  The power of a positive human–animal relationship for animal welfare. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7:590867
  • Does training method matter? Evidence for the negative impact of aversive-based methods on companion dog welfare. Ana Catarina Vieira de Castro, Danielle Fuchs, Stefania Pastur, Liliana de Sousa, I Anna S Olsson. bioRxiv 823427 (pre-print)

Podcasts/Presentations

Policy

  • A new animal welfare Act for Victoria. The Victorian Government is seeking feedback on proposals for a new animal welfare Act.  (VicGov)
  • Denmark to cull its entire mink population over coronavirus mutation fears (CNN O/S)
  • EU food origin labels should be placed on the cards, stakeholders say (EurActiv O/S)
  • Empathy For Animals In Short Supply: We Need A Minister For Animal Welfare (ScoopNZ O/S)
  • NSW Agriculture Minister pushes for ‘eight-fold’ increase in penalties for animal cruelty offences as COVID-19 sees surge in ‘unscrupulous’ breeders (ABC)

Conferences, Seminars & Events

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