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Communications to the rescue in a no-fly zone

Alistair Lawrence presenting (opens in new window)

The Communications Unit came to the rescue this week when doctor’s orders not to fly forced SAC’s Professor Alistair Lawrence to cancel a trip to Australia, where he was due to meet officials at the Bureau of Animal Welfare (part of Victoria State’s Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in Melbourne) and to speak at a number of workshops and events.

Thanks to the resources and expertise available at the Unit, Alistair, whose back problems prevented him from making the long flight, was able to record a presentation on film to send to his Australian colleagues.

The first element of the visit should have involved discussing setting up an animal welfare campaign with representatives of the DPI  in Victoria. As Acting Head Sustainable Livestock Systems, Alistair is currently leading a DEFRA-funded project in collaboration with Moray House (University of Edinburgh) to research children’s perspectives on caring for animals, results from which were seen to be valuable in developing animal welfare educational programmes in Australia.

Alistair was also due to speak about the challenge of educating young people on animal welfare issues at a conference on alternative farrowing options for pigs, hosted by the Australian Animal Welfare Science Centre.

SAC’s Dr Emma Baxter will give a presentation at the conference on the “PIGSAFE” project (Piglet and Sow Alternative Farrowing Environment) which is run by SAC and Newcastle University, in close collaboration with stakeholder groups from the industry and animal protection societies. The project aims to design a system based on the combination of pig biology and commercial practicality to develop alternative farrowing accommodation that optimises both pig welfare and economics.

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