JEANNE MARCHIG INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR ANIMAL WELFARE EDUCATION

Animal welfare in the veterinary curriculum at the

R(D)SVS: Preliminary findings

Where are we now?

1. Initial audit of the use of animals in teaching

2. Survey of attitudes of students towards animal sentience across all years

1. Survey of animal numbers

• Animal , Type, No. used/ year, Source, Status and Brief description of use

• 1a. Could the educational aim of your course be achieved through the use of fewer animals, using alternatives?

• 1b. If Yes, please indicate what resources you would require to facilitate this

• 1c. If No, please state why this is the case• 2. Please give any further comments on the

use of animals in teaching here

Issues: Animals in veterinary teaching

• Discrepancy between courses in the quality of data.

• Poor response rate to survey (50% of courses)• Data complicated:

by animals owned by staff/students by cadavers used as they come in and not

planned/registered? by use of animals in various modules (eg 5 teaching

horses), but no ‘counts’ of use made. By lack of engagement with the survey!

Issues: Animals in veterinary teaching

Poor understanding of the questions? Eg. Status of animals was not specified in 80% of surveys

Problems with the course organiser’s awareness of actual numbers of animals used in teaching the course content?

Preliminary RESULTS: Animals used, source

Living

Cadaver

Source

Dog 48 Clinical cases & staff/ student ownedCat 18 Clinical cases & staff/ student owned

Mouse

Rat 6 CommercialRabbit 6 Commercial

Frog

Cow 300 4 Farm

Sheep 300 2 Clinical cases

Horse 6 2 R(D)SVS

Chicken

Other 6 Clinical Cases

Suggested reduction/ replacement options

More handling per animal would be an option (according to a few)

Comments on replacement: veterinary teaching and especially differential diagnosis requires the use of living animals, both healthy and diseased

2. Student survey on animal sentience

Background information

Ownership/ work experience with different species

Understanding of welfare of different species

Source on knowledge on the welfare of different species

The sentience of different animal species

How sentient would you say these species are?1 (not at all) – 9 (just like us)

Sentience rated by Student year group

Decreasing trend in rated sentience for pets (cats and dogs) in females (from 8.2 in year 1 – 7.4 in year 5)

Increasing trend for production animals (sheep, chicken, pigs) in females(from 6.6 in year 1 – 7.4 in year 5)

No change in sentience levels given by males

Student Background & Sentience

• Pet-owners (cats & dogs) rated sentience for pets higher than rest– 82% owned/ owns a dog– 57% owned/ owns a cat

• Students that grew up in an urban setting rated sentience in pets higher than rest

• Students that grew up in a rural setting rated sentience in production animals lower than rest

My understanding of their behaviour and welfare is…1 (poor) – 5 (excellent)

My understanding of their welfare is mainly based on…

Percentage student agreement per knowledge source

a

b

a: Lower compared to all other species

b: Higher compared to all other species

Suggestions for future opportunities

• Improved annual audit of all animals & cadavers (and sources), used in teaching at the R(D)SVS

• Focus student groups – to help validate/comprehend students self-assessed understanding of animal welfare.

• Dissemination of information to staff - relating to potential refinement/replacements to animal use in pre-clinical practicals.

• Monitoring the effect of different interventions and replacement models on students’ knowledge and attitudes towards animal welfare throughout their training.