Episodes

It’s the end of the year, so we took the chance to review the podcast. I still can’t believe that we’ve being doing this for a year now and had the chance to talk to so many people, about the great work they’re doing in relation to animal welfare. It would be great, if you get a chance to go through the back catalogue and listen to some of the older episodes, but we wanted to highlight a few different things. Education – this has been discussed in every single episode – in relation to the vete...

Welcome to the next episode of The Animal Welfare Conversation. This week we are joined by Prof Simon Girling. Simon has worked with zoological collections for the past 15 years, and has been involved with many different reintroduction programmes in Scotland and across the UK. In this episode we find out what it takes to successfully reintroduce a species. The Scottish Beavers Reinforcement Project | BIAZA Scottish Beavers | Beaver reintroduction | Scottish Wildlife Trust Saving Wildcats | Scot...

In this episode we were lucky enough to catch up, earlier this year, with Mike Flynn MBE, Chief Superintendent of the Scottish SPCA, and we caught up just before he retired, to find out more about his 37-year career protecting animals both across Scotland and further afield. We consider the achievements of this career and challenges of working in animal welfare, including organising the largest dog-fighting capture in Europe, in 1991, that resulted in 31 arrests and convictions. We highlight th...

Trigger warning This is part 2 of an episode that we recorded with Dr Paula Boyden, Veterinary Director at Dogs Trust. This extra episode focusses on domestic abuse, and how the work of the Dogs Trust and The Links Group supports people, and provides foster homes for the dogs of people who find themselves affected by domestic abuse. 16 days of activism against gender based violence takes place from 25th November until 10th December - you can find out more about this here. If you are interested...

In this episode we catch up with Dr Paula Boyden, Veterinary Director at Dogs Trust, to find out more about their work. Dogs Trust is the largest dog welfare organisation in the UK, rehoming 14,000 dogs a year and many of you will be familiar with their work. Alongside their rehoming work, they work across public affairs, outreach, and dog behaviour. A current focus for them is the push for stronger legislation to address puppy smuggling, a topic which we find out more about, as well as discussi...

In this episode we sit down with Professor Cathy Dwyer of SRUC and Edinburgh University. Prof Dwyer will be known already, to many of our listeners, as an advocate for animal welfare. There were so many take-aways from this episode that it's difficult to highlight a few main points, but here goes - sentience, current challenges in animal welfare, generating and applying evidence to animal welfare, education, and influencing government policy to name a few! We also reflect on people, rather tha...

In this episode we focus on the work of the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, otherwise known as the USPCA. Established in 1836, the USPCA is the second oldest animal welfare charity in the world, and we were delighted to have the chance to talk to Nora Smith, Chief Executive. The USPCA work across many different areas of animal welfare including rehoming, working with wildlife, providing veterinary care, animal cruelty investigations, community support and campaigning, ...

Episode 17 - What impact does behaviour have on animal welfare? With Nikki McLeod BSc(Hons) PGDip(CAB) NCert(Behav) RVN ISFM CertFN & AdvCertFB In this episode we focus on animal behaviour and the impact behavioural problems can have on animal welfare. We consider how important it is for all veterinary professionals to understand animal behaviour both to prevent and cure problems. We also focus on veterinary nursing, and the need for veterinary nurses to play a key role in improving animal wel...

Welcome to the latest collection of conversations, focussing on the world of animal welfare. We’re going to start this season by considering pain, analgesia and arthritis, with Professor Stuart Carmichael. Did you know that 40% of all dogs, across all ages, have pathological osteoarthritis? And that the condition can be detected in dogs as young as 6 months of age. Or that 80% of cats over 10 years old with have arthritis? In this episode we consider osteoarthritis, consider how this can affe...