On 24th November 2022, the EASVO General Assembly took place in Malta.
We were delighted to meet in person in Malta, ably supported by Wiebke from the FVE team. We agreed to support all of the items for vote on the FVE General Assembly agenda and enjoyed interesting discussions on several issues.
Excitingly we adopted our new EASVO Strategy and, in line with that, agreed to financially support EASVO representatives in the new Animal Welfare and Food Safety and Sustainability Working Groups (AWWG and FS&SWG).
We then welcomed our guest speakers, Claire White from the UK’s NFU in a joint session with UEVH speaking about her role as a “vet in industry”, Allan Muir from the European Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians speaking about developing guidance for the implementation of the AH Regulations in Zoos and Estelle Hamelin from WOAH speaking about long distant transport, HPAI and updates on digital developments by WOAH and its members.
We also joined all the other FVE Sections in a joint session where we discussed our different perspectives on the subject of veterinary professional career pathways and the importance of the independence of the veterinarian. A particular thanks goes to our speaker from the International Veterinary Students' Association who spoke from the perspective of current veterinary students.
And, last but not least, we had our usual update on the AWWG with Mette Uldahl (FVE VP) and, while there were no FVE papers on animal welfare for vote, we held a useful discussion on the key issues facing EASVO members for consideration in establishing the work plan for the new AWWG. We also heard from members on issues as diverse as the successful identification of the incursion of a new orbivirus (EHDV) in Sardinia and Sicily, the implementation of the Article 25 Animal Health Regulation Vet visits, the status of animals in rewilding programmes, and food waste and the sustainable food chain. On the final point we agreed to recommend that this, and the important perspective of the impact on our farmed animals of food waste, is taken forward in the new FS&SWG.
