Focusing on animal welfare.

It is a fundamental irony that the UK proclaims to be a nation of animal lovers, yet tolerates an unacceptable amount of animal harm either wilfully or through ignorance.

Three years ago the BVA published a list of all the key animal welfare problems in the UK. It found 120, ranging from solitary living for rabbits, enforced group living in cats, and lameness in cattle and sheep.

But where should legislation, research and educational effort be focused to tackle these welfare issues? With so many, how can you prioritise?

This week Vet Record publishes a paper that attempts to answer that question. Funded by the Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), a team of welfare researchers at Edinburgh university set about determining the welfare priorities for the most common farm and companion animals in the UK.

They identified more than 650 welfare issues and then asked welfare experts to score them by severity, duration and prevalence on a six-point scale, and then rank them (by score and discussion in a workshop).

Their results can be found here: https://bit.ly/2VT9JMv

As you might expect, consensus was not easily achieved – how do you compare the relative welfare harm of an overworked horse with an overstocked dairy cow, or an overfed cat with an overbred dog?

Most areas for concern relate to a lack of knowledge about how to care for animals optimally

Importantly, though, alignment was found around the most important treatments or behaviours that cause welfare problems. They also agreed a list of 11 overarching areas of concern – most relating to a lack of knowledge about how to manage and care for animals optimally.

This issue of Vet Record focuses on animal welfare. In it we carry an interview with Neil Hudson, the newly elected Tory MP and the first vet elected to parliament since 1884 (pp 8–9). For him, animal welfare is a key driver for his politics – so much so, he has become the party’s poster boy on the matter.

In his interview, he talks about the Agriculture Bill currently making its way through parliament and his determination to amend it so that all food imports would be required to meet UK standards.

‘We are a nation that really values animal welfare very highly,’ he tells Josh Loeb, saying the UK should be a ‘beacon to the rest of the world on our farming and animal welfare standards’.

Also in this issue, vet David Williams tackles welfare concerns in horse racing and outlines the various animal welfare concerns associated with this industry. He makes a strong case for action to reduce the number of injuries and deaths suffered by racehorses (see p 38).

On pages 4 and 5, we report on the rise in the number of people buying puppies during lockdown. As demand has soared so too have prices – by more than four times for some breeds. And, despite repeated warnings about the risk of conformational deformity and associated health problems, demand is strongest for the brachycephalic breeds.

As the AWF research has discovered, people’s ignorance about animals and their welfare is one of the main drivers of welfare problems. Just why are so many finding brachycephalic breeds so appealing? On page 5, we report on one interesting theory presented at the recent Universities Federation for Animal Welfare conference. People are apparently drawn to animals with paedomorphic faces and pain-like features because it triggers a nurturing response.

Perhaps paedomorphic dogs may have seemed like the perfect companion in a lockdown, when we all had to emotionally adjust to a loss of control in our lives. But what will happen when all restrictions lift? Will rescue centres have to pick up the caring for huge numbers of dogs that are no longer required or are costing too much? That is a concern.

When BVA published its list of welfare concerns in 2017, it said the veterinary profession had a responsibility to highlight and address them. It is good to see vets on the case.