The AWWC was formed in 2009 thanks primarily to the efforts of Drs Roger Clarke of Australia and Ray Butcher, a UK-based veterinarian, who dedicated their careers to advancing animal welfare and had the foresight to ensure that animal welfare was enshrined as one of the WSAVA’s four key ‘pillars’.
What is our Vision?
The global veterinary community works together to promote good animal welfare for all companion animals.
What is our Mission?
The Animal Wellness and Welfare Committee goal is to make animal welfare an everyday consideration for small animal practitioners and to ensure that WSAVA is a proactive and respected partner within international welfare circles by combining advocacy with mutual respect and consensus building.
What are our Objectives?
- Educate and motivate veterinarians and their teams to continuously improve animal welfare by promoting good practice guidelines, building capacity, and raising awareness
- Address animal welfare issues through collaborations with other WSAVA committees or external partners and the education of veterinary teams.
Committee Resources
Videos
WSAVA Sentient Beings
"Assessing welfare " from Sentient Beings by WSAVA.
Genre: Podcast
Activity Reports
Chairs
Dr Heather Bacon
Heather Bacon is a veterinarian and the academic lead for the veterinary programme at the University of Central Lancashire. She has worked internationally on veterinary education and animal welfare projects for 15 years and was previously responsible for developing and teaching veterinary undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the University of Edinburgh in animal welfare, behaviour and veterinary ethics. Additionally, she works with many charities, veterinary and political organisations to develop veterinary educational initiatives around the world, with a focus on improving the welfare of captive and free-ranging wildlife, and free-roaming dogs. Heather also delivers UK zookeeper training courses in animal health, behaviour and welfare, and is a DEFRA appointed zoo inspector. Previously, she worked as the Veterinary Director at the Animals Asia Foundation, an NGO working to end the trade in bear bile across Asia. Heather graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, and from the University of Liverpool with a degree in Conservation medicine.
Members
Dr Katherine Polak
Dr. Katherine Polak leads the Companion Animals & Engagement team for Humane Society International (HSI), working to improve companion animal welfare around the world through humane management of street dog populations, community engagement, veterinary training, and ending the cruel dog and cat meat trade in Asia. Before joining HSI, Dr. Polak managed animal welfare programs and campaigns across Southeast Asia with Vienna-based FOUR PAWS.
Dr. Polak is a veterinary specialist, double-boarded in veterinary preventive medicine with the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and in Shelter Medicine with the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. She holds master’s degrees in both forensic medicine and public health and has authored numerous scientific papers. She is a frequent speaker at veterinary conferences and co-editor of the book Field Medicine for Small Animal Medicine published by Wiley Publishing. Dr. Polak currently serves as Courtesy Faculty at the University of Florida, where she teaches International Shelter Medicine.
Dr Cheryl Good
Dr. Cheryl Good is a small animal practitioner in Michigan, USA. She graduated from Michigan State University, College of Veterinary Medicine in 1988 with a B.S. and DVM degree. She is the Chief Veterinary Officer and practices at Dearborn Family Pet Care in Dearborn, Michigan. She was the medical director for the local animal shelter ran by Friends For Animals of Metro Detroit for 25 years. Dr. Good was a member of the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) Board of Directors for 7 years and is a Past President. Dr. Good is a founding board member of the Veterinary Virtual Care Association (VVCA) and is the Chief Veterinary Officer of The Bridge Club. The Bridge Club is a video-based community allowing all professionals to network remotely, create real and authentic connections to help advance the profession, develop new partnerships and grow their businesses. She is married to Mark Good and has three grown children, Miranda (Colin), Ian (Jess), and Alan (Hannah), 2 grandchildren and 1 on the way. Dr. Good and Mark have 3 cats and 1 dog who share their home and also 4 grandpups and 2 grandcats. Dr. Good Is very excited to be able to work with like minded veterinary professionals on the WSAVA Animal Wellness and Wellfare Committee to help all animals and people thrive in our global community.
Dr Franck Peron
Dr. Franck Péron graduated from Alfort French National Veterinary School in 2008 and then studied animal cognition before specializing in neurosciences, gaining his PhD in ethology from Paris Ouest University. Board-certified in Animal Welfare since 2016, he is a member of several national and international animal ethical committees and member of the iCatCare Feline Wellbeing Panel since 2020.
Authors of 20 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters on animal behaviour, cognition and welfare, Dr. Péron has been working for a short time in the pharmaceutical field before joining the petfood industry and is now part of the R&D innovation team at Royal Canin
Dr Prabin Thapa
Dr Prabin Thapa is a Veterinarian who graduated from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences in 2006. Since his graduation, he has served in various organisations and has gained diverse work experiences. Immediately after his graduation, he started his private practice focussing on small animals. During that time, he also provided consultation services and trainings to community people (farmers group) in rural areas. In 2009, he joined Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre where his primary job responsibilities included animal birth control activity and responding to the rescue calls. After working for 7 years at the KAT centre, he joined in a project named, Manumitra as a Veterinary Coordinator for Humane Society International, which was formed based on a tripartite agreement between Kathmandu Metropolitan City , Jane Goodall Institute and Humane Society International to manage dog population in `Kathmandu `Metropolitan and promote responsible ownership. At Manumitra, he provided technical interventions to ensure animal welfare and bridged the gap between government and private parties. After the completion of a project with HSI, he served as an independent consultant for the International `Aid for Protection and Welfare of Animals (IAPWA) which was also supporting Manumitra. Dr. Thapa also served as an external tutor for the Madrid University , Spain for a year during his he guided internship students in animal birth control interventions.
Dr. Thapa has received a month-long training on veterinary orthopedic and soft tissue surgery from Belgium. He has attended several workshops, talk programs , conferences both nationally and internationally. He also completed an internship course at the Charleston Animal Society, South Carolina, USA. Dr. Thapa is a life member of the Nepal Veterinary Association and Veterinary Practitioners Association of Nepal.
Dr. Thapa joined an an Executive Director for the Animal Health Training and Consultancy Services (AHTCS), Pokhara from December 2022. .
Dr Kat Littlewood
Kat is a Lecturer in Animal Welfare within Tāwharau Ora (School of Veterinary Science) at Massey University in New Zealand. She is a registered veterinary specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics, and Law. She is a One Welfare expert interested in the social acceptability or 'Social License to Operate (SLO)' of how animals are managed.
Kat is passionate about enhancing veterinarians’ understanding of their role as animal welfare experts. She also works to operationalise the Five Domains Model for animal welfare assessment and training. The most recent update of The Model includes consideration of how human-animal interactions might impact the welfare of animals.
Kat’s research employs social science approaches to improve our understanding of complex human-animal interactions and ethically challenging situations. She aims to develop a nuanced understanding of why and how people manage animals. Major research themes: Understanding how different people conceptualise animal welfare; Exploring how human values, attitudes, and behaviours influence animal welfare; Developing systematic scientific strategies to evaluate animal welfare; and Implementing animal welfare policy and standards.
Adinda Rana Fauziah
Adinda Rana Fauziah is a veterinary student from Indonesia who has a strong interest in animal welfare. Adinda earned a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (Hons), IPB University in 2021 and is currently pursuing her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. She has served as a journal creator for Standing Committee on Animal Welfare (SCAW) with the International Veterinary Student Association (IVSA) in 2018, then continued to serve for various positions in IVSA until 2020.
In 2020, she collaborated with a shelter vet to write shelter management guidelines for Indonesia. That led her to volunteer at an animal shelter and realising her passion for improving animal welfare. Since then, she has been learning more about reoccurring animal welfare issues and the complexity of tackling them.
By being the Student Ambassador for WSAVA’s Animal Wellness and Welfare Committee, she hopes to get a more comprehensive understanding of animal welfare and possible strategies for addressing the issues to help tackle animal welfare issues in Indonesia.
Dr Oscar Umana
Executive Board Liaison