Previous General Assemblies

November 2021

EASVO General Assembly

Brussels and Virtual Meeting, Belgium and GoToMeeting

On 11th November 2021, the EASVO General Assembly took place in Brussels and virtually by "GoToMeeting"

A small group of our of members were pleased to meet in person in Brussels, with the rest of the GA attending virtually, ably supported by Wiebke from the FVE team. We agreed to support all of the items for vote on the FVE General Assembly agenda, including our votes for the nominees for FVE VP and the Finance Committee, and enjoyed interesting discussions on several issues.

As usual a significant proportion of our discussions were on Animal Welfare and we were grateful to be joined by Sean Wensley, chair of the FVE AWWG, to discuss the FVE papers for vote, on welfare friendly farrowing systems for pigs and the FVE AW strategy. We then heard a report from Conny, who had represented the FVE and EASVO at an OIE workshop on welfare during the long distance transport of animals. During these discussions we agreed to recommend that FVE and the AWWG consider the prioritisation of Pig AW issues in the FVE AW Strategy and the output of Conny’s report on the OIE workshop.

Importantly we also discussed EASVO business, and heard that our finances were in good health. We also reviewed our statutes in light of the exceptional disruption to EASVO’s work, caused by Covid-19, and after adopting a new clause, the GA voted in favour of the current EASVO board continuing to serve for a further 2 year term.

In our roundtable we discussed some of the challenges and opportunities that OVs have faced during Covid-19, we have continued to respond to the challenges of Animal Health notifiable diseases, but we also have worked effectively in multi-disciplinary teams and this provides an excellent framework for the future. We all agreed that this is a valuable agenda item and that we would like to spend more time on it at our next GA, when we hope to finally meet in person in London.

And last, but not least, we agreed to develop the EASVO strategy, by correspondence, for further discussion and potentially adoption, at the June GA in London.

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June 2021

EASVO (Virtual) General Assembly

Virtual Meeting, GoToMeeting

On 10th June 2021, the EASVO General Assembly took place virtually by "GoToMeeting"

Sadly we were, again unable to meet, in person, in London for the GA this year so, instead, we held a busy and valuable “virtual meeting” 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.

Our main discussions were on Animal Welfare and we were grateful to be joined by Sean Wensley, chair of the FVE AWWG, to discuss the FVE papers for vote, on sustainable husbandry systems for laying hens and best practice for the euthanasia of horses, and the FVE AW strategy that is out for consultation. During this discussion we agreed to recommend that FVE and the AWWG consider how they define/use the terminology around “animal mental health”/psychological wellbeing of animals and also consider how to present documents for different audiences as they develop the AW strategy. We also discussed the work of the ad hoc FVE working group on welfare during long distance transport following our recommendation to the FVE GA on this at the last meeting.

From Germany, Conny, spoke about the One Health challenges posed by the rise in the illegal dog trade/puppy smuggling and the internet sales of pets and, recognising that work is already underway, we call on the FVE to continue to show leadership in this area. We will also consider proposing a joint session with UEVP (practitioners) to discuss these challenges at a future GA.

And finally, we reflected on the integration of an EASVO strategy with the developing work plan for the FVE strategy. We agreed that a small group of EASVO members, led by Romano, will develop a draft strategy for further discussion/adoption at the November GA.

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