Earlier this year, our Model Animal Welfare Act book became available on our website for purchase. We want to ensure that maximum use is made of this valuable resource, especially as it is the culmination of almost four years of blood, sweat and tears! Researching and writing the Model Animal Welfare Act involved an extensive comparative law exercise, taking into account existing guidance and best practice in the field; with further refinement after consultation with leading law experts across the world. The end product is a template and guidance document for those interested in enacting new legislation or improving existing animal protection legislation; including best possible structures, systems and provisions to protect the welfare of animals.

As we set our sights on our goals and resolutions for 2017, we have a unique opportunity to assess our advocacy for animals and incorporate a fresh approach to our strategies in the coming year.

2016 was a busy year for WAN. We do everything it takes to achieve policy change for animals across the world, and this year this has taken us to Paris, Washington, D.C., Addis Ababa, Malawi, and Guadalajara, Mexico, working for progress for animals everywhere.

We are proud to announce that the Model Animal Welfare Act, released earlier this year for viewing and download on our website, is now available as a paperback book! We know exactly what you're thinking—just in time for the holidays! 

Last week, I was excited to have had the opportunity to attend the World Organisation for Animal Health’s (OIE’s) 4th Global Animal Welfare Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico. Together with WAN co-founders Wim de Kok and Janice Cox, and Model Animal Welfare Act co-author Dr. iur. Sabine Lennkh, we joined numerous other animal protection organizations (APOs) in representing the interests of animals at the conference.

Our co-founder and board director, Janice Cox, was recently interviewed by our colleagues at the Global Animal Law Project (GAL)! In the interview she discusses our recent Model Animal Welfare Act, advocacy at the UN, and her dreams for animals in the future. GAL is a platform that provides a database of animal law provisions around the world, allows animal law professionals to connect to an international animal law community, and allows for practitioners to contribute their own ideas into the GAL “matrix.”

An African First!

WAN’s Janice Cox has just played a part in helping to shape the first Regional Animal Welfare Strategy (RAWS) covering Africa. Every continent but Africa has now agreed on a RAWS, leaving Africa lagging behind. However, the process is now off to a start, thanks to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an African Regional Economic Community (REC) representing eight eastern African countries including the horn of Africa. IGAD is now the first REC in Africa to validate a RAWS.