« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE IN SCOTLAND - IMPLEMENTING THE ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE STRATEGY
1. INTRODUCTION
Animal Health and Welfare is important to a wide range of people: animal keepers, industry groups, welfare organisations, consumers and the wider public. Almost half of Scotland's agriculture industry is livestock based. It is particularly important, therefore, within the context of the Scottish farming industry and its contribution to the wider rural economy. Much of the focus of this document is on farmed and managed animals. Future Implementation Plans will say more about what is happening more widely.
The Animal Health and Welfare Strategy recognises that the primary responsibility for animal health and welfare rests with animal keepers. While most exercise that responsibility with diligence and real concern for the animals in their charge, we accept that standards of animal husbandry can be improved. This Implementation Plan sets out the steps to drive up standards across Scotland. Its aim is to make best practice common practice and to seek ways to continually improve the conditions in which animals are kept.
The Animal Health and Welfare Strategy sets out challenges to keepers to:
Take responsibility for the health and welfare of their animals, continually raising standards over time;
Exploit opportunities offered by improving scientific knowledge and the veterinary profession to raise standards;
Maintain and promote consumer confidence in food and food production;
Make appropriate and responsible use of veterinary services and medicines;
Use best practice.
Good animal husbandry is both ethically imperative and makes sound business sense. By embracing this new approach keepers will unlock the potential benefits of enhanced animal health and welfare standards and accrue the dividends in terms of:
Healthier and more contented animals;
Lower costs e.g. emergency veterinary fees, lost output arising from poor health and welfare;
Improved product quality; and ultimately
Enhanced business profitability.
While this document sets out a ten-year vision for higher standards of animal health and welfare, the Scottish Executive by itself cannot deliver these benefits. The power to do so lies in the hands of animal keepers themselves. The challenges are considerable but Scotland is not starting from scratch. We have a number of advantages and there is much existing work that we will be able to draw on:
Strong and positive working relationship between the Scottish Executive, industry and other stakeholders;
Rigorous science base, providing input to the direction of the Strategy as well as enhancing husbandry practices;
Well respected tradition of good quality research being undertaken in Scotland, capable of contributing to industry practice and performance;
Positive framework set out by A Forward Strategy for Scottish Agriculture which highlighted the significant contribution which attention to animal health and welfare can have on farm business profitability;
Existing work underway by Government e.g. the National Scrapie Plan, the operations of the State Veterinary Service;
Existing work underway by the industry e.g. the Sheep Scab Initiative and Orkney Health Scheme, and other organisations such as the SSPCA.
A Ten Year Strategy
Improvements cannot, and will not, happen overnight. The Strategy sets out a vision for the next 10 years. This Implementation Plan records where we are now and what we currently need to do but that will change over time. The Implementation Plan will be regularly updated to not only highlight where progress has been made or is needed but also to identify new areas of attention and, equally importantly, to identify new opportunities. In doing so the Scottish Executive will work with animal health and welfare stakeholders to prepare these plans and will ensure that there is a strong scientific contribution to the development of policy and its implementation.
« Previous | Contents | Next »