Extension and Engagement

The second annual CAWS Symposium was held May 19, 2016, and focused on current welfare challenges and strategies to address them in pets, food animals and laboratory animals. Speakers from academia and industry were featured, including talks by Dr. Ed Pajor, University of Calgary, who gave the keynote address on improving animal welfare and Dr. Andrew Luescher, Purdue Professor Emeritus, who spoke on the psychological suffering of dogs in a human environment.

There were 135 in attendance for the day long symposium which included, in addition to the talks, graduate student poster presentations and a Q and A session by an Animal Welfare panel comprised of specialists from Cargill, AbbVie Research and Development, and the Humane Society of the United States.

Graduate students and CAWS members Megan LaFollette (center) and Amy Robinson-Junker (left) discuss their posters with Symposium attendees.

CPB Graduate student Shankar (left) with Symposium attendees during poster session.

Symposium attendees during the Q and A session with the panel of representatives from Cargill, AbbVie Research and Development, and the Humane Society of the United States.

Andrew Rowan, President and CEO of Humane Society International, speaks at the Symposium.

2015

On May 21, CAWS welcomed 140 attendees from seven different universities, as well as industry personnel affiliated with the companion, laboratory and food animal industries, along with private practice veterinarians, legislative aides, and media representatives. Topics included public perceptions of agricultural animal welfare, ethics, the role of animal welfare in biomedical research, and current issues in companion animal welfare science. A major highlight of the program was the corporate panel on animal welfare which included representatives from McDonald's, Cargill and Merck. Academic speakers included Bernie Rollin, Colorado State University, Joe Garner, Stanford University, James Serpell, University of Pennsylvania, Chris Wolf and Janice Swanson, Michigan State University, Alan Beck and Bill Muir. The program was sponsored by AgSeed, Merck, Elanco and Dean Foods. Winners of the CAWS poster competition judged by representatives from MARS Petcare and Cargill included Elizabeth Byrd, Agricultural Economics, Carissa McCray, Agricultural Economics and Shankar Yadav, Comparative Pathobiology.