JEANNE MARCHIG INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR ANIMAL WELFARE EDUCATION Animal welfare in the veterinary curriculum at the R(D)SVS: Preliminary findings

Where are we now? 1. Initial audit of the use of animals in teaching 2. Survey of attitudes of students towards animal sentience across all years

1. Survey of animal numbers Animal, Type, No. used/ year, Source, Status and Brief description of use 1a. Could the educational aim of your course be achieved through the use of fewer animals, using alternatives? 1b. If Yes, please indicate what resources you would require to facilitate this 1c. If No, please state why this is the case 2. Please give any further comments on the use of animals in teaching here

Issues: Animals in veterinary teaching Discrepancy between courses in the quality of data. Poor response rate to survey (50% of courses) Data complicated:  by animals owned by staff/students  by cadavers used as they come in and not planned/registered?  by use of animals in various modules (eg 5 teaching horses), but no ‘counts’ of use made.  By lack of engagement with the survey!

Issues: Animals in veterinary teaching Poor understanding of the questions? Eg. Status of animals was not specified in 80% of surveys Problems with the course organiser’s awareness of actual numbers of animals used in teaching the course content?

Preliminary RESULTS: Animals used, source LivingCadav er Source Dog48 Clinical cases & staff/ student owned Cat18Clinical cases & staff/ student owned Mouse Rat6 Commercial Rabbit6Commercial Frog Cow3004Farm Sheep3002Clinical cases Horse62R(D)SVS Chicken Other6Clinical Cases

Suggested reduction/ replacement options More handling per animal would be an option (according to a few) Comments on replacement: veterinary teaching and especially differential diagnosis requires the use of living animals, both healthy and diseased

2. Student survey on animal sentience Background information Ownership/ work experience with different species Understanding of welfare of different species Source on knowledge on the welfare of different species The sentience of different animal species

How sentient would you say these species are? 1 (not at all) – 9 (just like us)

Sentience rated by Student year group Decreasing trend in rated sentience for pets (cats and dogs) in females (from 8.2 in year 1 – 7.4 in year 5) Increasing trend for production animals (sheep, chicken, pigs) in females (from 6.6 in year 1 – 7.4 in year 5) No change in sentience levels given by males

Student Background & Sentience Pet-owners (cats & dogs) rated sentience for pets higher than rest – 82% owned/ owns a dog – 57% owned/ owns a cat Students that grew up in an urban setting rated sentience in pets higher than rest Students that grew up in a rural setting rated sentience in production animals lower than rest

My understanding of their behaviour and welfare is… 1 (poor) – 5 (excellent)

My understanding of their welfare is mainly based on… Percentage student agreement per knowledge source a b a: Lower compared to all other species b: Higher compared to all other species

Suggestions for future opportunities Improved annual audit of all animals & cadavers (and sources), used in teaching at the R(D)SVS Focus student groups – to help validate/comprehend students self-assessed understanding of animal welfare. Dissemination of information to staff - relating to potential refinement/replacements to animal use in pre- clinical practicals. Monitoring the effect of different interventions and replacement models on students’ knowledge and attitudes towards animal welfare throughout their training.