Small Project and Travel Awards
UFAW helped fund the second Wild Animal Welfare Committee (WAWC) conference ‘Who are the Guardians of Wild Animal Welfare?’, by supporting the attendance of Professor Donald Broom (emeritus Professor of Animal Welfare, University of Cambridge and 2016 UFAW Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Animal Welfare winner).
The WAWC conference, held on 27 March 2019, drew on the experience and expertise of over 70 speakers and delegates to help explore the concept of wild animal guardianship. Dr Broom’s talk on ‘Wild animal welfare, sentience and law: international perspectives’ described humans’ understanding of animal welfare viewed through the prism of scientific knowledge about animal sentience. He noted that there is more persuasive evidence of sentience in some categories of animal, such as cephalopods and decapod crustaceans, than for some other groups, such as insects. Professor Broom’s presentation also addressed the scientific evidence relating to sentience, from research demonstrating that crows have the ability to add numbers up to eight, to hermit crabs avoiding noxious stimuli, such as coming into contact with electric shocks. Professor Broom concluded by advocating a science-based approach to developing policy impacting upon animals and that citizens should consider the impact of their individual activities and choices, such as tourism, upon wild animal welfare.
Presentations by speakers from the Committee and invited guests were followed by audience workshops and discussions around the theme of guardianship. Round table discussions produced a wide range of recommendations for improving guardianship of wild animal welfare in the UK, and a general discussion, led by a panel including Professor Donald Broom, on these followed. Dr Goddard (WAWC Chair) concluded in his summing up, that the view of the delegates to the conference was that legislative and policy change cannot be avoided if the welfare of wild animals is to be adequately and properly protected.
