Leading animal welfare organisations today welcome the launch of the new Gateway to Animal Welfare web portal launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The portal provides access to a wide range of resource material on the welfare of farm and working animals, including material provided by animal welfare societies and farming organisations.
The new web portal demonstrates the increasing importance being given to animal welfare by the world’s intergovernmental organisations. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) began producing Guidelines on Animal Welfare in 2005, and the International Finance Corporation published its Good Practice Note on Animal Welfare in 2006.
Following last year’s successful FAO Open Forum on Capacity Building for Animal Welfare and an associated meeting of experts, the web portal can be seen as a thoroughly practical way of building and disseminating global knowledge about the theory and practice of animal welfare science.
Speaking on behalf of the Brooke, Compassion in World Farming, Humane Society International, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and World Society for the Protection of Animals, Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion, said, “Our animal welfare organisations congratulate the FAO for this important and landmark initiative. The new web portal will bring the latest research findings and practical methodology concerning animal welfare to a global audience. The resources provided will enable farmers, advocates, policy makers, and others to more effectively engage in capacity building to raise standards of animal welfare throughout the world.”
