finalreportp Project code: AHW.119 Dr Prepared by: RJ Dixon University of Sydney Faculty of Veterinary Science Date published: April 2006 ISBN: 1 74036 909 2 PUBLISHED BY Meat & Livestock Australia Limited Locked Bag 991 NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2059 Exploring animal welfare education materials Meat & Livestock Australia acknowledges the matching funds provided by the Australian Government to support the research and development detailed in this publication. This publication is published by Meat & Livestock Australia Limited ABN 39 081 678 364 (MLA). Care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication. However MLA cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information or opinions contained in the publication. You should make your own enquiries before making decisions concerning your interests. Reproduction in whole or in part of this publication is prohibited without prior written consent of MLA. Exploring animal welfare education materials Abstract This document reports a survey of current animal welfare education materials relevant to the red meat industries and available to primary, secondary and tertiary (including TAFE and Vocational Education and Training - VET) students. The survey was informal, yet systematic, using email, telephone, database and internet searches. A number of relevant groups were identified, representing different interests: those that were potential users of animal welfare education resources and/or providers of education and training, and those that were potential producers of animal welfare resources. Both Australian and international sources were searched. The survey found only limited educational resources in animal welfare focussed on the livestock industries. Although they included video, CD ROM, teaching manuals, print and internet publications there was a lack of relevant Australian material that could be presented in the Australian context. Educational curricula were ad hoc with idiosyncratic features and little benchmarking. Many of these curricula did not align with relevant competencies. Recommendations included the development of a Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) website specifically for the welfare of livestock animals, the continuance of the MLA’s development of a module for animal welfare in its quality assurance Level 2 of Livestock Production Assurance (LPA) and the development of articulated resources and programs that were flexible in their applications Page 2 of 51 Exploring animal welfare education materials Executive Summary The Australian Animal Welfare Strategy (AAWS) (Anon, 2005) was endorsed in 2004 and had three goals. In summary, these were: Goal 1: Achieve a national approach and commitment to high standards of animal welfare Goal 2: Achieve improvements in animal welfare based on national and international benchmarks. Goal 3: Achieve effective communication, education and training across the whole community. Education has a key role in all of these goals. Meat Livestock Australia (MLA) has developed its own Animal Welfare Strategy which is in alignment with the AAWS. The MLA Animal Welfare Strategy lists education/communication as one of the six priority areas for investment. It was with this in mind that the MLA contracted an initial review to determine the available resources and programs for education on the welfare of extensive livestock animals. Australia’s livestock production industry is largely dependent on the export market and consumers overseas are beginning to be concerned about a number of animal welfare issues involving cattle and sheep. Issues of concern include drought, certain standard invasive husbandry conditions and the transportation of livestock. It is inevitable that Australia’s approach to animal welfare will come under more international scrutiny and impact on our markets. The project objectives were to: • Develop a summary of the key animal welfare educational materials available and the perspective from which they are presented • Determine the level of demand for animal welfare education resources • Explore the activities of other organisations in this field • Develop a list of key contacts within the field of animal welfare education at the primary, secondary and tertiary level • Make recommendations on what education materials could be developed by MLA for primary, secondary, vocational or tertiary students. The survey found a number of educational resources in the form of video, CD ROM, teaching manuals, print and internet publications were available. However, many of these were sourced from overseas and had only limited value in the Australian context. There were a number of courses offered at various levels of education (from primary to post-secondary) and those responsible for these courses were reliant in finding and developing their own materials for animal welfare. These materials generally reflected the interest and experience of individuals developing them. No resources were found for livestock (cattle and sheep) for primary education. All individuals contacted across all educational sectors expressed a need for appropriate and relevant resources. From this perspective there is no benchmarking or coordinated national approach. Three recommendations followed on from this survey. The first would have an immediate impact, namely, that MLA develops an animal welfare website to be a valuable ‘shopfront’ proactively aligning MLA with the welfare of livestock animals. The second recommendation was that MLA continues the development of an animal welfare module for its quality assurance program within Level 2 of Livestock Production Assurance (LPA). The final recommendation was for the development of articulated resources and programs that were flexible in their applications. As such these resources could be used with minor modifications in all educational programs (for example, in Page 3 of 51 Exploring animal welfare education materials primary and secondary curricula for English, social studies, civics, science and agriculture). A number of topics were recommended to be included as resources and in programs. These included sentience (consciousness), pain and stress, behaviour, the five freedoms, codes of practice, animal welfare and environment, handling, animal husbandry, transportation, yard and shed design, slaughter, disease and its control, and standard operating procedures. In conclusion, there is a dearth of resources to teach the welfare of extensive livestock animals across all educational sectors. This lack is further exacerbated by very little relevant Australian material. MLA has a number of options to fill this gap and the consequence will be the alignment with the AAWS and with market expectations. The impact of any recommendation operationalised by MLA and the industry would take several years before being able to be assessed. However, implementation will ultimately be to the national benefit. Page 4 of 51 Exploring animal welfare education materials Contents Page 1 Background......................................................... 7 2 Project Purpose .................................................. 8 3 Methodology........................................................ 8 3.1 Data collection................................................................................8 3.2 Education sectors surveyed .........................................................9 3.3 Data analyses .................................................................................9 4 Results and Discussion ..................................... 9 4.1 Results ............................................................................................9 4.1.1 Existing Audits of Educational Materials...........................................9 4.1.1.1 LandLearn (Victorian Department of Primary Industries)...................... 9 4.1.1.2 Sheep Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). ..................................... 10 4.1.2 Education resources for animal welfare or related areas ...............10 4.1.3 Australian training programs/packages that include animal welfare11 4.1.4 International training programs/packages that include animal welfare............................................................................................12 4.1.5 Australian education programs in which animal welfare topics could be incorporated ..............................................................................12 4.1.6 Vocational Educational Training (VET) Competencies...................12 4.1.7 Quality Assurance Programs..........................................................12 4.2 Demand for animal welfare educational resources...................12 4.2.1 Primary/secondary sector...............................................................13 4.2.2 Vocational educational training ......................................................13 4.2.3 Tertiary education...........................................................................14 4.3 Discussion ....................................................................................14 5 Recommendations............................................ 15 5.1.1 Recommendation 1 ........................................................................15 5.1.2 Recommendation 2 ........................................................................15 5.1.3 Recommendation 3 ........................................................................16 Page 5 of 51 Exploring animal welfare education materials 6 Impact on Meat and Livestock Industry – five years