I was surprised to learn that many Animal Protection Organisations (APOs) do not recognise the importance of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)’s work on animal welfare – and that some remain completely unaware of this work. This is the long-awaited international policy framework for Animal Welfare (AW), which we can use to push and prod obstinate governments to take action for the animals!

I had been nursing a burning desire to write another blog on the Animal Protection Movement for some weeks, when an excellent speech by Arundhati Roy came across my desk. Entitled ‘The NGO-isation of the Resistance’. Watch it now - it is a ‘must-view’!

The Paris Climate Conference

The next annual Conference of the Parties (COP 21) of the UN Framework on Climate Change – also called the 2015 Paris Climate Conference - will take place in Paris from November 30th to December 11th. This issue is in the words of Pope Francis: “a principal challenge for humanity”, and this will be a crucial conference, as it needs to achieve a new international agreement on the climate, applicable to all countries, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C. It is expected to attract close to 50,000 participants including 25,000 official delegates from government, intergovernmental organisations, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society.

World Animal Net has just sent out for comment a new draft report on stray dog control. Oh no ... not another stray dog control report, you may think?! But this one is based on new research, and takes a fresh approach: It examines the content, implementation and practical impacts of the OIE’s international standard on stray dog control – and includes recommendations for advocacy by animal protection organisations.

This project has caused me to reflect on the painfully slow progress of rolling out humane stray control measures across the world. Just why is this, when the main principles of stray control have been known for more than 15 years?

I recently returned from Paris, where I attended the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)’s General Session of the World Assembly (24-29 May, 2015). World Animal Net is a member of the International Coalition for Animal Welfare (ICFAW). The only animal protection organisations present were World Animal Protection (as an OIE partner), ICFAW and the Brooke (both as observers). I was one of the two ICFAW delegates.

Stress and compassion fatigue have long been recognized as real and ever-present threats for animal protection workers and volunteers. If not tackled effectively, these can ruin the animal protection missions of committed, altruistic individuals (and sometimes also their personal lives).

The first time I became aware of the many ways in which the development of industrial animal agriculture was harming humans, animals and the environment in ‘developing’ countries was back in 1999-2000, when I worked with fellow researchers Sari Varpama and WAN’s Wim de Kok on a major project for Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), funded by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). This culminated in a set of research reports entitled “The Livestock Revolution: Development or Destruction”, which included in-depth research into the detrimental impacts of industrial livestock development in ‘developing’ countries and findings from in-country investigations in Brazil, Thailand, India, South Africa and China.

I find it unconscionable that animal welfare and human-animal relationships have not yet been mainstreamed in development policy and international development work. This despite the fact that there is a myriad of reasons why no country’s development should take place without giving full consideration to the situation and welfare needs of the sentient fellow animals sharing our territory, our homes, our work, our livelihoods, our leisure, and often our lives.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the day to celebrate the life and achievements of this great man.

Martin Luther King was a leader in the movement for racial equality in the United States. He was also an advocate of non-violent protest, and became the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

I joined the animal protection movement a quarter of a century ago, moving from a government policy position to join the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) – now World Animal Protection – as its Regional Director for Europe. I arrived with my ‘rose-tinted glasses’ firmly in place; full of longing to work for a cause that really mattered to me.